ROAR Welcomes You!

Whether you call us "ROAR," or our full name "Rags Over the Arkansas River," our organization is dedicated to preserving and protecting the headwaters of the Arkansas River, the Bighorn Sheep Canyon, its inhabitants and the communities that depend upon them.

Our founding project has been to formally oppose Christo and Jeanne Claude's "Over the River" project. This project involves suspending horizontal fabric panels within a 45 mile stretch over the Arkansas River's Bighorn Sheep Canyon. Hence the name "Rags Over the Arkansas River." The acronym ROAR soon became our primary moniker.

Public sentiment against "Over the River" continues to grow, as evidenced in the many letters we are receiving through this website. Read one recent letter. We do appreciate hearing from you. We would ask that you also consider writing comments of your concerns to the Fremont County Commissioners prior to their public hearings on OTR Corp.'s permit application.

On Nov. 7, 2011, BLM released its final ruling, the Record of Decision (ROD), permitting OTR to occur but under extensive restrictions. It is important to remember that OTR Corporation needs more than the ROD to do this project, including various other permits. We are still reviewing the 65 page decision, especially within the context of further agency hearings and these other necessary permits. Also – this does not affect the state lawsuit over the Parks Board MOA.
Read the decision and related information from BLM.

Prior Info & News:
AHRA State Park Advisory Board vetoes OTR.

July 22, 2011 - Local Businesses and Citizen Group Sue State Parks, Demand Public Process in “Over the River” Decision. Read about it.

To our members and supporters:

ROAR's Board of Directors would like to thank every one of you who took the time to write and submit letters the BLM regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and the Final EIS concerning Christo's proposed "Over the River" project.

As for ROAR's official objections, our comments fall into two major categories:

1. Management Policy in the proposed project area.

These included such items as conflicts with current and historical management missions and directives, protection of specific wildlife and environment in the project area, restricted surface activities (such as drilling), visual intrusion, and other management directives.

2. Specific adverse affects that will result from all phases of the 3-year presence of OTR.

Our comments cited specific and significant impacts to area residents, such as safety and emergency response; major traffic delays; economic impacts to area businesses and jobs, particularly to recreation industries; environmental degradation to wildlife, habitat, air and water quality.

This is NOT over yet! And please, keep in mind that we can still use your support. We have filed a lawsuit against Colorado's Department of Parks and Wildlife. Click on the Paypal logo at left, or contact ROAR to find out how you can help. We appreciate you!

ROAR has worked very hard to provide information and analysis on "Over the River." We have left some of our older documentation here on our website so that you may learn or review some of the details of OTR. One project analyzed OTR's construction and traffic management plans as presented to the BLM for the EIS. View the definitive In-Depth Traffic Analysis Report.

Please note: Some links throughout this website to 3rd party websites may have been deleted or changed by those site managers.

Also note: Some older documents on this website may contain information which has been updated, deleted, or altered since the document was written.

How to find out more about OTR

Click through our website links to learn about:

• How the influx of the projected 344,000-400,000 tourists will create a traffic nightmare on the narrow 2-lane canyon highway (U.S. 50).
• How emergency and fire personnel will have great difficulty responding to accidents or fires in the canyon or surrounding area.
• Concerns as to the increase in visitors also bringing more litter and human waste to the canyon.
• Permanent defacement of the riverbanks.
• Bighorn sheep, elk, deer and other wildlife kept from accessing the river for water.
• Bald and golden eagles kept from fishing and hunting.
• Difficulty, or even impossibility, of fishing of these waters.
• Negative economic impact on commercial and recreation industries that travel the canyon daily.