Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Kayakers Dan Steaves, Eric Parker and David Farkas find themselves surrounded Thursday by the toxic mine waste that began flowing Wednesday into the Animas River from the Gold King Mine north of Silverton.

By Chase Olivarius-Mcallister , Mary Shinn and Shane Benjamin Herald staff writers

Acidic wastewater from an abandoned mine above Silverton coursed its way through La Plata County on Thursday, turning the Animas River orange-brown, forcing the city of Durango to stop pumping raw water from the river and persuading the sheriff to close the river to public use.

Residents lined the banks of the Animas River on Thursday afternoon to watch the toxic wastewater as it flowed through Durango city limits. But the sludge slowed as it snaked its way through the oxbow in the Animas Valley, and the murk didn’t arrive until after 8 p.m.

The accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Gold King Mine in San Juan County. A mining and safety team working on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency triggered the discharge, according to a news release issued by the EPA.

The EPA’s team was working with heavy equipment to secure and consolidate a safe way to enter the mine and access contaminated water, said Richard Mylott, a spokesman for the EPA in Denver. The project was intended to pump and treat the water and reduce metal pollution flowing out of the mine into Cement Creek, he said.

The disaster released about 1 million gallons of acidic water containing sediment and metals flowing as an orange-colored discharge downstream through Cement Creek and into the Animas River.

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YOUR HELP IS NEEDED: Project Bay Bones Survey

Do you fish for bonefish in south Florida? If you do, then we need your help. Bonefish and Tarpon Trust has partnered with researchers at Florida International University to create PROJECT BAY BONES to investigate changes in South Florida waters and how these changes may affect the quality of bonefishing. We need your help to fill in critical knowledge gaps on how bonefishing has changed in south Florida over the years. In the absence of scientific data on the health of bonefish populations, angler knowledge is an invaluable source of information. Thus, public participation is vital to the conservation of bonefish and to ensuring high quality fishing in the future!

You can help us by filling in a 10-15 minute survey and telling us about your fishing experiences. This survey is different than previous surveys on the bonefish fishery because it is tied into a larger study that is examining environmental changes in South Florida over time. Bringing all of these data sets together should help us better understand bonefish.

Click here to take the survey

We are looking for bonefish anglers of all levels and years of experience, including fishing guides. Your participation in this study is greatly appreciated and we thank you in advance!

For further information or if you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

Cherokee NC’s newest attraction – the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians – is now open. Through exhibits and videos visitors will learn about past fly fishing legends, the evolution of rods and reels, basic knots, fly-tying, types of gear, types of gamefish, regional fishing waters, and the history of fly fishing in the Southeast.

The museum is open daily (off-season schedule may vary). The website, FlyFishingMuseum.org, has hours of operation, directions, and exhibit information, as well as membership and donation opportunities.

The museum is the recipient of start-up grants from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation and tremendous support from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. Two other large donations include a grant for the Tailrace Exhibit from Tennessee Valley Authority, and a $20,000 donation by Southern Trout Magazine.

“We’re pleased that Southern Trout has been so generous in its support of the museum,” says curator Alen Baker. “The donation is largely in the form of advertising, which is great for the museum as the magazine is well-read by fly fishermen.”

The museum is centrally located in Cherokee – next door to the Visitor Center, and across from the Fairgrounds and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. The back deck of the museum building overlooks the Oconaluftee River; and the Museum is within walking distance of Oconaluftee Islands Park.

Cherokee is the home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and some of Western North Carolina’s most acclaimed trout waters. Adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee is 1 hour west of Asheville, 2 hours from Knoxville, Greenville/Spartanburg & Chattanooga, and 3 hours from Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Atlanta.

www.flyfishingmuseum.org