Town of Gypsum: LEDE Reservoir Enlargement

A municipality with water rights exceeding storage capability.  A recreational fishery on public lands in need of water.  A severely disturbed stream ecosystem in need of reclamation.

Two years later, and overcoming many bureaucratic obstacles, LEDE reservoir stores more than twice its previous capacity and does not run dry in the summer, so local fishermen are ecstatic. The town now has a physical water supply to match its water rights, and the Little Lime Creek system is once again a meandering stream corridor surrounded by a diverse wetland complex.

A sage observation rings true amid the complexities of federal, state and local jurisdictions and regulatory requirements:  ”Chance favors the prepared mind.”