Developer, Environmental Group Join Forces in Plan to Drain Horsetooth Reservoir

In a move that raised eyebrows throughout Colorado, the radical environmental group “Save The River Or Else!” and multi-millionaire real estate developer Neville Barns-Wallace joined forces and voices in a press release announcing a proposal to drain Horsetooth Reservoir. In the newly-vacated area, Barns-Wallace’s development group, Upkeep, Inc., would build the planned low-income housing subdivisions known as New Stout, Highball and Tallboy. The joint press release stated, “Draining this outdated dinosaur of a water-retention system will solve multiple problems that we face in Northern Colorado. Firstly, an estimated 1000+ acres of land will be opened for development right next to the saturated communities of Fort Collins and Loveland; that land will be utilized for affordable housing for a growing area. The consequence of that will be a dramatic reduction in home costs to a beleaguered Northern Colorado. Besides that, we will finally and decisively save the Cache la Poudre River from being drained into oblivion. That will re-invigorate our wildlife and fisheries and restore the Poudre watershed and ecosystem almost to what it was before white settlement. There is absolutely no downside to this! We are so proud of the fact that two sides as different as ours sat down to hash out this ambitious plan.”

As we at the Focopolitan Tribune see it, this is truly a testament to the power of compromise, dialogue and communication across ideological lines and diverging interests. (If only our politicians could pull that off…) Focopolitan Tribune reporter Ludwig Schnee contacted “Save The River Or Else!” spokeswoman Fern Greene. In a brief exchange, Greene talked of the group’s motivation in the proposed project. “We REALLY want to save the river, and we’re willing to put our money where our mouths are. When we hear other people talking about how they’re against the Northern Integrated Supply Project, we cringe. How can you oppose NISP, but favor Horsetooth? You either go big or go home, baby! Let’s not have double standards.”

Barns-Wallace, for his part explained the what and the how of his part in the proposed plan. “First off, I looked at a map of Fort Collins and I just couldn’t find a decent place to build, but the other night, I was watching TCM, and I saw [the 1955 film] The Dambusters. The idea came to me like the flash of a lightbulb. As I recall, I even shouted out, ‘Eureka!’ Why not drain the reservoir, which is good for nothing other than boating, and build housing in the newly-opened area? This is how I propose we do it: we’re gonna sink a hundred tons of high explosive in a shaped charge to the bottom of the North side dam and voila! Problem solved. That way, it won’t take as long as just letting the water out gradually via that dinky little canal, and we can get to work on the project faster. After that, it’s all build, baby, build!”

Neither side was particularly clear about the issue of water supply for the new community, and for that matter the city of Fort Collins. County commissioners were flabbergasted over the proposal. When county commissioner Tom Donnelly questioned Barns-Wallace over the problem of where water would come from, Barns-Wallace replied, “From the faucet…duh.”