U.S. Water News Online
SALIDA, Colo. -- Outfitters along the Arkansas River this year have taken a $24 million hit because of drought conditions.
The Colorado River Outfitters Association estimated rafting brought more than $60 million to the Upper Arkansas River regional economy last year.
Rafting is estimated to be down this year about 40 percent, and may not exceed $36 million.
Rafting outfitter Dennis Wied, who has owned and operated Raft Masters in Canon City for 13 seasons, said his business was down about 33 percent, and he believes riverwide commercial boating is down 50 percent.
Canyon Marine owner Greg Felt said he had about 15 percent fewer customers in his rafting business but in dollar terms the impact was much worse.
River ranger Stew Pappenfort of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area office in Salida has been on the river more than a quarter-century. Pappenfort predicts rafting numbers will be down 40 percent this year.
The recreation area's number cruncher, Mike Walker, said he will not have exact figures from rafting company owners until Nov. 1, but he, too, predicts boater numbers will be significantly less than normal.
Because of the low water this year, the fishing industry should have experienced a boon. That is not the case for Felt, who also offers float fishing trips.
``There has been no increase in float fishing trips as I anticipated. There has been a bigger decline in float fishing than rafting,'' Felt said.
Felt believes that information about the drought's effect on fish -- such as high water temperatures and less oxygen content causing stress -- may have scared anglers away.
The Royal Gorge Bridge was down 16 percent in visitor numbers by the beginning of September, looking at the worst tourism year in its history, general manager Michael Bandera said. He blamed the decline on twin threats of fires and drought. ``We were up on attendance until the June 2 (Iron Mountain) Fire, then attendance dropped 30 to 40 percent immediately,'' Bandera said.
It wasn't long before the huge Hayman Fire was the only national news coming out of Colorado, and ``tourists started thinking the entire state was on fire,'' Bandera said.
Fishing guide Rod Patch, who operates the Arkansas River Fly Shop on busy U.S. 50 in Salida, also has had less business this summer despite the fact that the river's brown trout are healthier than they ever have been.
``It is slower than normal. We depend a lot on tourism traffic coming through town and we didn't see that traffic this summer.
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