Colorado Trout Unlimited Named Council of the Year

We're proud to share that Colorado Trout Unlimited has been recognized as Trout Unlimited's Council of the Year! This national honor celebrates the dedication of our volunteers, chapter leaders, members, and partners who work together to protect Colorado's rivers and trout.

With more than 12,000 members and supporters across 23 chapters, Colorado Trout Unlimited (Colorado TU) has built a strong grassroots conservation community rooted in education, advocacy, and hands-on conservation. Each year, our volunteers contribute more than 44,000 hours to protecting and restoring Colorado's watersheds, demonstrating what we can accomplish when we work together.

A United Voice for Colorado's Rivers

Our chapters are the foundation of Colorado TU. From local restoration projects to statewide conservation priorities, their work connects communities with the rivers and watersheds they care about.

Together, we've built a trusted, nonpartisan voice for Colorado's rivers, working alongside anglers, landowners, Tribal Nations, public agencies, and conservation partners to advance practical, science-based solutions.

Through our Advocacy Committee, we help volunteers engage in public policy discussions and advocate for clean water, healthy watersheds, public lands, and protections for wild and native trout.

We also support our chapter leaders through shared resources, training, and opportunities to collaborate across the state, helping turn statewide priorities into meaningful local action.

That collaboration takes many forms. In 2026, chapter volunteers tied and donated more than 2,300 flies through our Tie-4-the-Future Challenge to support youth education programs. Our growing network of STREAM programs is also helping chapters and community groups introduce more young people and families to fishing and conservation.

Building Community Through Conservation

Our work is about connecting people with rivers and giving them opportunities to get involved in protecting them.

Troutfest Colorado has become one of our largest community celebrations, bringing thousands of people together for a day at the ballpark celebrating community, conservation, and education. Through hands-on activities, youth programs, casting instruction, and opportunities to connect with TU chapters and conservation partners, the event welcomes families, anglers, and new volunteers into our conservation community.

Education remains one of the strongest ways we build those connections.

Our Trout in the Classroom program now includes more than 100 tanks across Colorado, giving thousands of students the opportunity to raise trout and learn firsthand about aquatic ecosystems, water quality, and watershed conservation.

Our longstanding River Conservation & Fly Fishing Camp provides teenagers with an immersive experience in conservation, fishing, and leadership. Last year, the volunteer-led camp awarded more than $12,000 in tuition scholarships, helping make the experience accessible to more young people.

These programs help build the next generation of river champions while strengthening the connection between our chapters and the communities they serve.

Leadership That Makes a Difference

This recognition also reflects the commitment of the volunteer leaders and staff who support our chapters and programs.

Under the leadership of Past Chair Barbara Luneau, current Chair Dave Haeusler, our Executive Committee, and dedicated staff, we've continued investing in volunteer development, mentorship, organizational improvements, and planning for the future.

That leadership was put to the test when a rapidly advancing wildfire forced the evacuation of our youth camp. Camp leaders safely evacuated students, spent the night alongside them in a Red Cross shelter, and kept families informed throughout the emergency.

Their response was an extraordinary example of the care and responsibility our volunteers bring to everything they do.

This Award Belongs to Our Entire Colorado TU Community

Being named Council of the Year is an honor, but more importantly, it's a recognition of the people who make Colorado TU what it is.

From chapter leaders and conservation volunteers to educators, advocates, donors, and partners, each plays a role in protecting the rivers we love. Our success is built on their commitment, collaboration, and willingness to give their time and talents to something bigger than themselves.

To everyone who has helped make this possible, thank you. This award belongs to all of us.

We look forward to continuing this work together, strengthening our chapters, welcoming new conservation champions, and protecting Colorado's rivers for generations to come.

Every River Needs a Champion.

Young Anglers Take to the Arkansas River

Bringing “Every River Needs a Champion” to Life: The 2nd Annual Cañon City High School Fly Fishing Tournament

By Jonathan Haas, Interim President of the Bighorn Canyon Chapter of Trout Unlimited

On a bright October weekend along the Arkansas River, high school anglers did more than compete. They stepped into the current of a tradition still being built, measured not only in inches of trout but in the steady handoff of a river from one generation to the next.

The 2nd Annual Cañon City High School Fly Fishing Tournament, held October 9–10, 2026, brought 15 student teams to the banks of the Arkansas River for two days of catch-and-release fly fishing and conservation learning. Hosted by the emerging Bighorn Canyon Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the event showed what's possible when a local community makes developing the next generation of conservationists a priority.

Friday set a different tone than a typical competition morning. Students spent the day fishing open water, then gathered at Observer Ranch for dinner, stories, and a program that connected the weekend’s fishing to the longer work of caring for the Arkansas River and its tributaries. Natalie Flowers, Director of Education for Colorado Trout Unlimited, spoke with the students about TU opportunities for young adults and handed out TU swag. Trevor Tuck of Trout Unlimited shared his own path, which began in Cañon City and led to his work with TU National. Once again this year, every student also received a raffle prize Friday night before the competition began. The ranch’s lodging partnership, which directs a portion of bookings back to the chapter, turned even the practical details of where people slept into quiet support for what comes next.

Saturday belonged to the river and a live leaderboard. Teams drew from 15 beats, fished two sessions under clear catch-and-release rules, and tracked their results through an AI scoring system. Between sessions, they ate together at Centennial Park. At the end of the day, they stood for awards, surrounded by the sponsors, volunteers, and families who had made the larger weekend possible.

For the adults who make the tournament happen, the weekend means more than logistics. Taylor Edrington, owner of Royal Gorge Anglers and the event’s title sponsor, grew up fishing the Arkansas River and has spent his life sharing that fishery with others. His shop’s support reflects a deeper commitment to helping the next generation learn the river he knows so well. Debbie Betts, who also calls the Arkansas River her home water, has spent much of her life championing the river. She was instrumental in securing the sponsorships that helped expand the tournament while continuing to advocate for the water she loves. Paul Vertrees has sponsored the Cañon City High School Tiger Fly Fishing Club, an official Trout Unlimited Fly Fishing Club, for the past 16 years. His long-term investment in the school’s anglers helped build the foundation this tournament now stands on. Together with the other volunteers who marked the beats the night before, trained on the scoring system, and kept the day moving, they turned an idea into a weekend the students will remember.

When the scores were final, Michael Porter and Hugh Jacobs finished in first place. For Porter, the win marked back-to-back titles after he and Michael Stickley took the inaugural event in 2025. Finn Van Meter claimed both the largest brown trout and the largest rainbow trout, a rare double that underscored the quality of fish moving through the beats. Their success, and the effort of every team on the water, gave the weekend its clearest measure.

What expanded this year was not only the field of 15 teams and beats or the addition of a full Friday program. It was the sense that the tournament now sits inside something larger. As the Bighorn Canyon Chapter takes root, focusing on the Arkansas River through Bighorn Sheep Canyon and the waters that feed it, the high school event has become one of its clearest expressions: a place where students learn to read water, handle fish with care, and understand why those habits matter. The sponsors who wrote checks and donated prizes proved again that people are willing to invest in this stretch of river and its future anglers.

This tournament puts Trout Unlimited’s “every river needs a champion” tagline into action. The students who fished these beats are already learning what it means to care for the Arkansas River, and the adults who organized, sponsored, and volunteered are helping raise the next group of champions. None of it is guaranteed to continue. Youth events succeed only when enough people decide they are worth the effort. This October, enough people did. The students fished. The community showed up. A new chapter took another concrete step on its home water. And somewhere between the first session and the final awards, it became clear that the Arkansas River will have another group of young anglers who already know how to leave it better than they found it.

The tournament will return next October. The adults who organized, sponsored, volunteered, and coached are already looking forward to it with the same energy the students bring to the water. That shared anticipation, as much as any result from this year, is what will carry the event forward.

Colorado Trout Unlimited Supports Colorado Proposition 137

Measure would invest existing sporting goods sales tax revenue in wildfire prevention, healthy watersheds, conservation, and outdoor recreation

DENVER, Colo. - Trout Unlimited and Colorado Trout Unlimited today announced its support for Colorado Proposition 137, a statewide ballot measure that would dedicate a portion of existing sales tax revenue from sporting goods and equipment to protecting Colorado’s water, forests, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation opportunities.

For Trout Unlimited, one of the most important provisions of Proposition 137 is its investment in wildfire risk reduction and watershed health. Severe wildfires can have lasting impacts on rivers and drinking water supplies, damaging stream habitat, increasing erosion and sediment, and affecting communities far downstream.

“Healthy rivers start with healthy watersheds,” said David Nickum, Executive Director with Colorado Trout Unlimited. “Colorado Proposition 137 would provide important resources to reduce wildfire risks, restore forests and watersheds, protect habitat, and help ensure Colorado’s rivers and streams remain healthy for fish, wildlife, and communities.”

Proposition 137 would allow Colorado to retain and dedicate a portion of existing state sales tax revenue from sporting goods and equipment to conservation and outdoor programs. The measure does not increase the state sales tax rate.

Funding would support a range of efforts, including wildfire risk reduction, forest health and restoration, watershed protection, land and water conservation, wildlife habitat, state parks, outdoor education, and access to outdoor recreation.

Wildfire and watershed protection are closely connected in Colorado. The measure specifically directs resources toward programs that reduce wildfire risk while protecting water supplies and improving the long-term health of forests and watersheds.

“Whether you fish, hunt, hike, farm, or simply depend on clean water, healthy watersheds matter,” said Drew Peternell, Colorado State Director with Trout Unlimited. “Proposition 137 creates an opportunity to make a lasting investment in the lands and waters that define Colorado.”

Colorado Proposition 137 will appear on the statewide ballot for the November 3, 2026 general election.

About Trout Unlimited

Trout Unlimited is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing together diverse interests to care for and recover rivers and streams so future generations can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. In Colorado, TU members, chapters, staff, and partners work across the state on watershed restoration, advocacy, education, and community-based conservation.

Media Contact:

Emily Olsen

Vice President, Rocky Mountains – Trout Unlimited

Emily.olsen@tu.org

720-219-0682

Colorado TU's Statement on Amendment 83

Colorado TU supports the right to hunt and fish and Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s current regulation of those rights as they exist in Colorado. We believe Colorado has a solid and effective, science-based approach to wildlife management based on the principles found in the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and recognizes the right to hunt and fish. We share the concern over growing efforts to limit those rights, and we have stood with other sportspeople in pushing back on efforts in the General Assembly and before the Parks and Wildlife Commission on issues such as bans of beaver trapping and fur sales.

We support the intent of Amendment 83 in protecting Colorado’s heritage of hunting and fishing and we look forward to working with our fish and wildlife conservation partners to minimize any unintended consequences or in clarifying undefined terms through the guidance (or statutory change if necessary) that will be adopted to apply the Amendment’s language in practice.

Chapter Highlights: Conservation, Community, and Fall Events

Across Colorado, Trout Unlimited chapters are bringing people together to support healthy rivers, introduce the next generation to conservation, and raise funds for work in their local watersheds. From a record-setting CarpSlam in Denver to fall gatherings, raffles, and events on the water, here are a few highlights from chapters around the state.

Denver Trout Unlimited: CarpSlam Raises Record $111,000

Denver Trout Unlimited’s 20th annual CarpSlam raised a record $111,000 for the Denver South Platte River, making 2026 the event’s biggest fundraising year yet. The support will help fund river cleanups, pollution protection, restoration, and other work along the South Platte, including $10,000 for the DSP River Cleanup Series through 2027. Volunteers have already helped remove 16,000 pounds of trash and litter from the river in 2026.

The milestone event also celebrated 20 years of CarpSlam with strong competition on the water and the creation of the CarpSlam Hall of Fame, recognizing people who have played an important role in building the tournament and supporting the Denver South Platte.

Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited: RISE for OUR WATERS

Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited’s RISE for OUR WATERS returns October 7 in Edwards for an evening celebrating the local river community and supporting the chapter’s conservation and education work. The gathering includes dinner, drinks, music, contests, and live and silent auctions, with proceeds supporting projects including Gore Creek restoration, water quality monitoring, work on Abrams Creek, cleaning stations, and youth education. An online auction and raffle will also run September 30 through October 7 for those who can’t attend in person.

Cutthroat Chapter: Annual Raffle

The Cutthroat Chapter’s annual raffle is back, giving supporters a chance to win prizes while helping fund the chapter’s conservation, education, and community engagement work. Tickets are available now, with the drawing taking place November 17 during the chapter meeting at Lone Tree Brewing. Every ticket helps support the chapter’s work in local watersheds and communities.

Southern Colorado Greenback Chapter: Cast for Conservation

The Southern Colorado Greenback Chapter will host the second annual Cañon City High School Fly Fishing Tournament October 9–10 along the Arkansas River. Open to students in grades 9–12, the event combines competitive fly fishing with hands-on conservation education, responsible angling practices, and an opportunity for students to build a stronger connection with the river.

The two-day event includes an open fishing and welcome evening on Friday followed by Saturday’s competition, awards, and dinner. Royal Gorge Anglers returns as the tournament’s title sponsor.

Yampa Valley Fly Fishers: Fishable Feast

Yampa Valley Fly Fishers will bring fishing, food, and conservation together for Fishable Feast on October 3 at Yampa Valley Ranch. Guests can spend the afternoon on a guided fly fishing experience along the Yampa River before gathering for dinner, storytelling, and community with author and angler Kirk Deeter. Dinner-only tickets are also available.

Proceeds from the event support Yampa Valley Fly Fishers’ youth education programs and conservation work throughout the Yampa Valley, helping the chapter continue connecting people with the waters that make the region special.

Trout in the Classroom Reaches More Students Than Ever

Colorado TU is kicking off another record-breaking year of Trout in the Classroom, connecting more students than ever with Colorado’s rivers and watersheds. For the 2026–27 school year, 105 tanks at 98 schools and sites across Colorado will reach an estimated 22,000 students, educators, and community members. The program now spans communities served by 20 TU chapters statewide.

Trout in the Classroom reaches students from preschool through high school, and this year the program is expanding into higher education with new tanks at Adams State University and the Getches-Wilkinson Center at the University of Colorado Law School. These tanks will give students hands-on opportunities to learn about watersheds and carry that understanding into their future work.

The Trout in the Classroom Team, including Dr. Martin Harris, Statewide TIC Coordinator, Maddie Onstott, Eastern TIC Coordinator, and Audrey Kenney, Western TIC Coordinator, have coordinated trainings throughout the summer and are working hard to ensure all of our sites, schools, and participants are ready for eggs, which will arrive October 26 and 27, depending on location. 

Reach out to your local TU Chapter to help deliver rainbow trout eggs to eager students and educators. 

This program could not exist without our incredible volunteers, supporters, educators, donors, and staff. If you are interested in supporting the growth of the Trout in the Classroom program, we are continuing to seek new donors, sponsors, volunteers, and funding support. Please reach out to Natalie Flowers, Education Director, to explore collaborative opportunities. 

We will also be offering an educational session on the TIC program at our Fall Rendezvous. We hope you can join us in early November!

River Education in Action

Colorado Trout Unlimited's STREAM Program, part of the Headwaters Education initiative, kept youth engaged throughout July with hands-on lessons focused on rivers, watersheds, and aquatic ecosystems. STREAM is a STEM-based river stewardship program that also incorporates Recreation and Arts to help young people connect with nature through watershed exploration, trout education, and river conservation activities.

Adams County 4-H

In early July, Colorado Trout Unlimited partnered with CSU Extension Adams County 4-H Youth Development Camp for a two-day exploration of two locations in the South Platte River watershed.

On the first day, middle school campers gathered at Waterton Canyon and Lake Lehow near Littleton, where the South Platte River emerges from the mountains. Participants sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates and recorded water quality measurements, including temperature, turbidity, pH, and dissolved oxygen. The group identified stoneflies, mayflies, caddisflies, damselflies, crayfish, and frogs, concluding that the river's cool, clear water supported good overall water quality.

Two days later, the group reconvened in Brighton, where the South Platte River flows through the Adams County Fairgrounds after passing through the Denver metropolitan area. Sampling revealed a different macroinvertebrate community, including small mayflies, planaria, leeches, and bloodworms. Water temperature was warmer and turbidity was higher, indicating fair water quality and conditions more suitable for species tolerant of warmer water.

Campers discussed the differences between the two locations and what the changes in water temperature, clarity, and aquatic life could tell them about river health. Comparing the sites helped participants see firsthand how conditions can change along a single river and how those changes affect the species that live there.

The program also included the Greenback Cutthroat Trout Life Cycle board game and an introductory fly casting lesson, where campers practiced their casting skills by catching Velcro trout.

Together, the activities gave campers a better understanding of how water quality, habitat, and aquatic life are connected throughout a watershed.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Colorado

In mid-July, the STREAM Program traveled to Steamboat Springs, partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Colorado and volunteers from the Yampa Valley Fly Fishers Trout Unlimited Chapter.

Over two days at Fetcher Park, youth from Steamboat Springs and Craig participated in aquatic macroinvertebrate sampling and fly casting instruction. Although recreational use of the Yampa River was temporarily restricted due to elevated water temperatures, special permission was obtained for educational sampling activities.

Campers discovered populations of caddisflies, mayflies, and midges, giving them an opportunity to learn what aquatic insects can reveal about river conditions, even during a period of drought and elevated water temperatures.

Fly casting lessons and catching Velcro trout provided another hands-on way for participants to connect what they were learning about rivers and aquatic habitat with outdoor recreation.

Many participants were already familiar with outdoor recreation and angling, but the program gave them a closer look at their local watershed and the ecology of the Yampa River.

Brighton Recreation Center Funshine Summer Camp

The final STREAM event of July took place at Vikan Middle School in Brighton in partnership with the Brighton Recreation Center's Funshine Summer Camp.

Youth ages 7–11 participated in the Trout Survival Game, an interactive activity that follows a trout's journey from egg to adulthood.

Each participant began with a cup of orange lentils representing trout eggs within a redd, or spawning nest. As they moved through the trout life cycle, campers encountered the natural and human-caused challenges trout face along the way.

At each stage, participants saw their original number of "eggs" decrease, illustrating how relatively few trout survive from egg to adulthood and how water quality, habitat, predators, drought, and other factors can affect survival.

A concluding discussion encouraged participants to reflect on what they learned about trout, river ecosystems, and the conditions aquatic species need to survive.

Building Future River Stewards

Throughout July, Colorado Trout Unlimited engaged youth from different communities through hands-on learning focused on river ecology, water quality, trout conservation, and watershed stewardship.

From sampling aquatic insects and testing water quality to exploring the trout life cycle, participants had the opportunity to investigate Colorado's rivers for themselves. Along the way, they learned how water, habitat, and aquatic life are connected, and why understanding those connections is an important part of caring for Colorado's rivers and streams.

Comment on the BLM's Proposed Oil and Gas Rule

Public lands are essential for sustaining our hunting and angling traditions. Energy development and conservation can be compatible, but it takes the right policies to strike this balance.

Significant progress was made in 2024 when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued updated regulations to modernize oil and gas development on public lands. These updates better balanced energy development with conservation while also ensuring that taxpayers are not left holding the bag when bad actors in the oil and gas industry default on their obligations to reclaim lands and waters impacted by oil and gas drilling.

Unfortunately, the BLM just released a new proposed regulation to do away with most of these improvements in the federal oil and gas leasing system. Further, the proposal would significantly curtail public involvement, limit science-based decision-making, and reduce opportunities for hunters and anglers to weigh in on the proposals to develop oil and gas resources in the areas we know best.

The agency is providing a 60-day comment period for the public to comment on this proposal, and your voice is essential to help inform the agency’s decision and avoid policy changes that would upset the balance between energy development and conservation.  

Public Lands – Celebrating America’s 250th

By David Nickum, CTU Executive Director

Earlier this month, the United States celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – the birth of our nation. While the Semiquincentennial was recognized in a host of ways including in Washington, DC, my wife and I decided to celebrate the occasion through visiting one of America’s most notable innovations: the establishment of protected public lands for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. We went to the Flat Tops and visited Trappers Lake, the cradle of wilderness.

Some of you may know the story of Arthur Carhart. Carhart was a US Forest Service employee who in 1919 was charged with surveying the area around Trappers Lake for the purpose of designating cabin sites and a road that would provide access all around the lake. He completed his assignment, but in seeing the remarkable beauty of the area in its natural state, he submitted along with his survey a memo to his superior at the Forest Service – Aldo Leopold – suggesting that rather than developing the Trappers Lake area it should instead be preserved in its natural state. He wrote:

There are great values of this type to be found in the several forests of the Nation, which in order to return to the greatest total value to the people, not only of the Nation, but of the world should be preserved and protected from the marring features of man made constructions. These areas can never be restored to the original condition after man has invaded them, and the great value lying as it does in natural scenic beauty should be available, not for the small group, but for the greatest population. Time will come when these scenic spots, where nature has been allowed to remain unmarred, will be some of the most highly prized scenic features of the country.

Leopold and the US Forest Service accepted his recommendation, and for the first time in its history the US Forest Service set aside an area to be protected in its wild, untrammeled state. More than 40 years later, the Wilderness Act was adopted as law and the concept of wilderness protection began proliferating to other largely pristine areas. Today, more than 3.7 million acres of Colorado are protected as designated Wilderness – including the Flat Tops Wilderness, centered around Trappers Lake and the landscape that inspired Carhart’s visionary proposal.

Whether you are fishing for cutthroat trout in Trappers Lake, paddling on it in a canoe or kayak, or hiking the scenic Carhart Trail that encircles the lake, this corner of the Flat Tops remains an inspiring place a century after Carhart’s momentous visit. It reflects both the beautiful landscapes and great ideals of our nation, and was for me a perfect place to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. I’m proud to be associated with Trout Unlimited and all of you who are part of our TU community that celebrates, and works to protect, such remarkable places and the fish that call them home.

A Native Trout Rescue Built on Years of Conservation Work

On July 4, 2026, a controlled burn reaches the ridge above the hatchery and merges with the edge of the Willow fire. USFWS Photo/Josh Homer

When the Willow Fire threatened the Leadville National Fish Hatchery in late June, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moved quickly to protect some of Colorado’s most important native trout.

Over three days, crews moved more than 148,000 fish, including approximately 5,000 greenback cutthroat trout and 1,500 Hayden Creek cutthroat trout. The fish were carefully transported to hatcheries and waters across Colorado, with different populations and age classes kept separate to protect their genetics.

Approximately 250 Hayden Creek Cutthroat trout are released into Iowa Gulch near Leadville. Some fish were stocked in regional waters ahead of schedule, or as part of retirement from their broodfish role. Release arrived for more than 142,000 rainbow trout into Twin Lakes, Mount Elbert Forebay and Hayden Meadows reservoirs; 250 additional Hayden Creek Cutthroat Trout went into the Arkansas River; and more than 500 greenback cutthroats went into Joe Wright Reservoir.

The emergency response was extraordinary, but it was only possible because of years of preparation, science, and partnership.

The greenback cutthroat trout at Leadville are part of a long-term effort to recover Colorado’s state fish within its native range. The Hayden Creek cutthroat trout trace back to a population rescued from wildfire in 2016. Both populations represent years of careful conservation work and important opportunities for future restoration.

The rescue also shows why long-term investment in native trout conservation matters. When wildfire, drought or other threats put isolated populations at risk, strong partnerships, experienced hatchery teams and carefully managed broodstocks can help protect decades of progress.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deserve tremendous credit for the speed, care, and coordination behind this effort. Their work protected not only thousands of fish, but also the future of ongoing native trout recovery across Colorado.

Read the full story in Colorado Outdoors Magazine to learn more about the Willow Fire evacuation and the people who made it possible.