Early this summer in their home mountains of southwest Colorado, Tamara Gulde and Lynn Padgett were visiting a favorite scenic site that was not what it once was.

Perched near 9,600 feet off the Million Dollar Highway above Ouray, Crystal Lake was significantly lower.

“We saw a couple of fishermen up there. They were sitting there trying to fish,” Gulde said. “We actually moseyed over there and talked to them to let them know there were no fish.”

The Ouray city councilwoman alongside Padgett, the Ouray County commissioner, were sorry to report this.

But they were pleased to report an effort afoot to return Crystal Lake to its former glory.

At the urging of the two longtime locals along with several other regional governments, first responders and environmental and tourism groups, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper recently announced proposed legislation that would transfer the lake from the owning U.S. Forest Service to the city of Ouray.

The city has pledged to refill the lake, as locals call it; it was historically a small, natural body of water before a dam was built to create a larger reservoir. The Forest Service in 2023 reported a 46-foot crack in that dam, prompting a drawdown last year.

Before then, the reservoir “provided critical water storage and augmentation” for Ouray, Mayor Ethan Funk said in a statement.

“For over 90 years, Crystal Reservoir has been a part of a colorful history and a favorite recreation location,” he added. “Crystal Reservoir is deeply missed by all who knew her, and we want her back.”

Especially around this time of year, when hikers, photographers and drivers from afar have flocked to the water reflecting the hillsides awash in fall color.

If pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson’s 1901 photo is any indication, the scene has been cherished for generations. Among letters pleading for the lake’s transfer, Ouray County Historical Society President Kevin Chismire attached that photo showing the water decades before it was expanded by the Full Moon Dam.

“Thereafter, the reservoir served as a source of water security, drought resilience and water conservation for the city of Ouray,” Chismire wrote. “Moreover, the lake has become the source of multiple tourist endeavors into the high country from the days when then-Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr feasted on trout he caught in the lake to today’s countless numbers of tourists who stop on their journey across the Million Dollar Highway …

“All these high-country thrills and endeavors ceased after the recent draining of the reservoir by the U.S. Forest Service.”

Locals were “devastated,” Gulde said.

And also alarmed and suspicious, Padgett explained.

She was among county commissioners who early last year listened to a Forest Service official’s update on what had been deemed a “high-hazard” dam. The agency expressed worry of a crack growing and the dam failing and sending a life-threatening flood downstream.

Commissioners were “shocked,” Padgett said. “Then of course our response has to be, ‘Well, we’re worried about public safety, too. We’re the first responders. But it needs to be based on reality.’”

That was the question of a 15-page letter sent to the Forest Service by county attorneys in March, almost a year after the Forest Service announced the reservoir’s drawdown.

Citing the agency’s own documentation along with that of a state engineer, the letter pointed to discrepancies in the dam’s reported condition and associated risks. The letter claimed “a number of key documents and actions demonstrating noncompliance with (National Environmental Policy Act) requirements.” The county attorneys quoted the Forest Service official during the commissioners meeting, during which the official floated the dam’s removal as a potential solution among other possibilities, “but we don’t want the liability of a high-hazard dam.”

Padgett’s conclusion, having reviewed documents from over the years: “The Forest Service wasn’t excited about owning it. They saw it was a liability and something that required maintenance money.”

The Forest Service declined an interview request “due to active legislation” regarding the reservoir’s proposed transfer.

The agency’s maintenance money was short, Padgett sympathized, adding: “It’s easy to get really bummed out and dwell on the substance of that, but it’s better to figure out where we go from here, and what’s the best outcome. And the best outcome in my opinion is honoring why it was acquired in the first place.”

The Forest Service acquired Crystal Reservoir through a local task force that rallied around preserving former mining sites and private lands along the Million Dollar Highway. In announcing the acquisition in 2003, the local district ranger called the land around the reservoir “one of the crown jewels in the Red Mountain area,” with “world-class mountain views, outstanding ecological, recreational and historical values.”

A former leader of that task force, Bob Risch, wrote in support of the reservoir’s transfer to the city — “given its placement upstream and economic impact.”

The water storage is important to economic drivers such as Ouray Hot Springs and the ice climbing park, said Gulde, the city counciilwoman. She emphasized a safety component as well.

“The vital role of Crystal Reservoir in wildfire response became all too clear during the recent Snowshed Fire in the Ironton-Red Mountain area,” Ouray County Sheriff Justin Perry said in a statement. “Thankfully, the fire didn’t grow larger, but had it spread even slightly, we would have faced serious challenges in securing water from alternate sources for aerial support and water drops.”

As far as costs for potential dam repairs and for future maintenance and operations, Gulde said that was uncertain.

But fellow city councilmembers have sounded in full support of the transfer, “even if we have to make cuts in certain places to make sure this goes through,” she said. “It’s that important.”