3 Reasons Why The Voluntary Flow Management Program Is Rad

The Arkansas River Valley is a unique place to visit for many reasons. Our favorite reason is due to the Voluntary Flow Management Program that has been put into place to control the water flows from the reservoirs, through the river and to other downstream reservoirs.

Hang in there as we explain what this means.

First of all, while the reservoirs are limiting the amount of water released each day to travel downstream, they first work hand in hand with the recreation industry, downstream farmers, municipals, and the Colorado State Parks and Wildlife to determine when higher river water would be beneficial to everyone. They have decided that for the recreation businesses throughout the Arkansas River Valley, that it is best to have higher water flows during peak tourist season. This guarantees rafters more fun out on the river.

The cities and other users of the water from the Arkansas River have favored this flow program plan, especially because rafters are not consumers of the water, we simply float on it. The Colorado State Parks and Wildlife favor from this program as well when the VFMP takes into account the spawning and hatching of eggs.

Secondly, the VFMP guarantees the flow of 700 CFS from July 1 to August 15th. At 700 CFS, all sections of the Arkansas River are fun to raft, including the Numbers, Browns Canyon, Bighorn Sheep Canyon and the Royal Gorge. This means that during this time, rafters will have plenty of water to get some big splashes and have a great time floating down the river during their summer vacation.

Finally, this is an amazing program that is the only one of its kind! No other river in the United States has a program set up like this one that regulates the water levels to be beneficial to all users.

Even when the river drops below 700CFS, there is still tons of fun to be had. We are offering rafting trips through September 5th and are still taking reservations. For information regarding rafting trips, please check out our website at americanadvent.wpengine.com or give us a call at 719-395-2409!