31 miles of the Cache La Poudre River were designated as wild and scenic on
October 30th, 1986. A Wild and Scenic River is an entire river, or portion
of one, that is protected from detrimental development, degradation of water
quality and destruction of its natural system by water diversions or dams.
However, the Poudre still has quite a network of plumbing, built long before
1986, to regulate the flow of the river. Reservoirs built on tributaries
hold a reserve of water for late summer irrigation on the plains. A slew of
ditches redirect snowmelt that would normally drain into other river basins
back to the Poudre. This system helps the Poudre maintain good flows often
into late August.

In fact, water from the Poudre was first diverted for irrigation in 1867,
making it the first river in the state to be put to use in this fashion.
Today it is argued that water rights for farmlands are actually more
valuable than the land itself.
Written by Brad Goettemoeller