The future of Joe Rowell Park in Dolores remains uncertain, but last week town officials moved one step closer to securing it.

U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and Dolores Park Planning Committee Chair Marianne Mate gave testimony in Washington D.C. Thursday morning before Senator Larry Craig of Idaho in an effort to regain town ownership of the 25-acre park.

"(The testimony) was very positively received," said Mate. "As Senator Craig said, it’s a very non-controversial bill so there was really no opposition at all."

In 1977 the land, which sits adjacent to the Dolores River, was purchased by the Bureau of Reclamation and leveled with fill dirt as part of the McPhee Dam Project. The land was later transferred to the Forest Service.

Since that time, the parcel has been managed and maintained by the town of Dolores under a 10-year special use permit.

Because the park is owned by the Forest Service, however, any improvements that the town wants to make must first be cleared by the federal government.

"Any improvements proposed by the town must comply with all Federal laws which regulate any ‘ground-disturbing activities’. This includes, for example, planting a tree on Forest Service land,’" Mate said in her testimony.

For each improvement, the Forest Service must conduct three separate impact studies which take approximately three months and cost taxpayers roughly $20,000, Mate said.

Mate said that the town and school board have already made more than $400,000 in improvements to the park, but several more improvements have been put on hold because of these obstacles.

"When you don’t own the land it is quite a bit more difficult to get qualified for grants," she said.

If the town does regain ownership of the park, future projects might include a new playground, improvements to the youth activity center and re-erecting the Fourth Street bridge across the river as a pedestrian walkway, said Mate.

"Since I have been involved, the town and the school board have said that they don’t want to invest any more money until this issue has been resolved," she said.

Senate Bill 1972, proposed by Allard, would allow park ownership to be conveyed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture back to the town of Dolores.

Under Allard’s proposed legislation, the 25-acre parcel of land could only be used for open space, park and recreational purposes and would revert back to the Forest Service if any attempt was made to transfer ownership of any portion of it.

Mate said, "The Forest Service also testified (before Senator Craig) and was very much in support (of Senate Bill 1972)."

"But as policy goes for the Forest Service, they would like to get fair market value for the property," Mate said.

An appraisal done by the Forest Service valued the land at about $250,000.

Proponents of the proposal to transfer the park to the town claim that the $400,000 the town has already invested into the park should be sufficient, said Mate.