Rare cutthroat trout in Abrams Creek will see improved stream habitat

July 29, 2019 Colorado Trout Unlimited

Trout Unlimited, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Buckhorn Valley Metropolitan District No. 1 (District) completed their ambitious restoration project on Abrams Creek to preserve a rare population of cutthroat trout threatened in part by reduced flows during irrigation season.

Among other benefits, increased flows are expected to:

Increase physical/wetted habitat and riparian cover along approximately 3.5 miles of stream.
Improve in-stream habitat connectivity and quality, allowing trout to more easily move to the best habitat and holding areas.
Enhance sediment transport, which helps keep river cobble and spawning habitat clean and healthy.
Increase aquatic insect productivity, improving cutthroat food resources.
Create deeper pools for trout refuge.
Maintain cooler water temperatures in lower Abrams.

Moreover, a permanent fish screen will be installed at the point of diversion on Abrams Creek that will help protect the trout population by reducing losses due to entrainment in the ditch.

For more than a century, however, Abrams Creek has been dewatered by irrigation diversions that drastically reduce its flows in late summer and fall. The trout have been hanging on, but they’re seriously pressured. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has called this population the “highest priority” for cutthroat conservation efforts in Western Colorado. In 2016, Trout Unlimited’s Mely Whiting helped negotiate a deal with the local irrigation company, Buckhorn Valley Metro District, which agreed to pipe their irrigation ditch and thereby reduce leakage by 40 percent, with the water savings going back into the creek to keep the fish healthy.