Sponsors
The bill transfers the reservoir and nearby public access to local control — expanding fee-free recreation and local decision-making while shifting ongoing costs, legal risks, and development limits onto the city and local community.
Local residents and visitors gain permanent, fee-free public access to ~45 acres including Crystal Reservoir for recreation (e.g., fishing).
The City of Ouray assumes local control of reservoir water storage and management — enabling operations to be matched more directly to community needs — and the federal government bears most initial conveyance costs, reducing the city's immediate financial burden.
Protections in the conveyance prevent reservoir expansion that would harm upstream wetlands, helping preserve local wetland ecology.
The City of Ouray (and therefore local taxpayers) will assume ongoing costs, liability, and responsibility for dam operations, repairs, and maintenance, which could strain local budgets.
The conveyance is by quitclaim and is subject to valid existing rights, and the deed includes a reversionary interest that lets the federal government reclaim the land if conditions aren't met — creating legal/title risk and long-term uncertainty for local planning.
Limitations on development and commercial activities on the conveyed land restrict potential local economic uses (e.g., tourism-related development), reducing opportunities for local businesses.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Transfers ~45 acres, reservoir infrastructure, and Colorado water rights from the Forest Service to the City of Ouray under conditions that preserve public open space and assign dam maintenance to the city.
Conveys about 45 acres of Forest Service land and associated reservoir infrastructure and Colorado water rights to the City of Ouray, Colorado. The transfer is by quitclaim deed, must be done as soon as practicable after enactment, and is subject to existing rights, conditions that preserve the land as public open space in perpetuity, and a reversionary interest if the City fails to meet the conditions. The City must pay for any required surveys, grant easements for existing trails and roads, and assume operation, repair, and maintenance of the dam, reservoir, and related infrastructure. The City must manage the water rights under Colorado law, limit development, avoid expanding the reservoir in ways that harm upstream wetlands (but may deepen the reservoir consistent with its water rights), and comply with other terms the Secretary of Agriculture sets. The Forest Service will finalize and file a map and legal description and may allow continued use of a nearby ditch structure for decreed purposes after the transfer.
Introduced November 4, 2025 by Jeff Hurd · Last progress June 3, 2026