On the weekend of September 14, a group of Colorado TU’s River Stewardship Council (RSC) donors joined CTU staff and a representative from Northern Water for a weekend of fishing and a tour of the Colorado River Connectivity Channel, informally known as the Windy Gap Bypass.
When Windy Gap Reservoir was constructed in the 1980s, it began a steady decline in fish and bug life downstream. Impacts of the dam included blocking fish passage and eliminating the natural movement of stream bed materials (gravel, cobbles) needed to keep spawning and macroinvertebrate habitat healthy. When Northern Water proposed its Windy Gap Firming Project to expand its use of Windy Gap water rights, they agreed to assess how a “bypass” channel might be built and if it could be expected to mitigate those historic impacts from the original dam. A few years and many millions of dollars later, the Connectivity Channel is now a reality, thanks to collaboration among Northern Water, Trout Unlimited, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Grand County, and the Colorado River District, the Upper Colorado River Alliance, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
The project included building a large new berm to decrease the reservoir’s footprint, opening up floodplain area to construct a connecting channel around the reservoir capable of passing water, fish and sediment, thereby reconnecting the upstream and downstream segments of the Colorado River. Construction activities began summer of 2022 and are currently wrapping up.
The Connectivity Channel is an impressive reach of water, with pool-riffle sequences and habitat structure included to help provide quality habitat for fish and for the bug life that sustains them. The Channel will also provide approximately a new mile of river fishing access on its upper portion when it opens for angling use, likely in 2027 – once the channel and riparian areas have had opportunity to stabilize. Approximately six years later, nearly another mile of access will open up on the downstream portion of the channel under an agreement with downstream landowners.
The tour of this project was part of a weekend gathering for members of Colorado TU’s flagship donor society, the River Stewardship Council, members of whom contribute $1000 or more to support Colorado TU’s work each year. Along with the project tour, attendees enjoyed a half-day of fishing on private waters along the Fraser and Ranch Creek, a visit to the Headwaters River Journey museum in Winter Park, and a group dinner and social. Similar tours are organized each year for RSC donors to fish and see work that CTU donor support helps make possible.
