Groundbreaking: Reconnecting the Colorado River

Repost from TU.org by Nick Gann

A Q&A with the woman behind the long effort to reconnect the Colorado outside Rocky Mountain National Park

This week, Trout Unlimited field staff joined U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and a collection of partners outside Granby, Colorado, to break ground on a $33 million river restoration project that is decades in the making.

Senator Bennet and TU project lead Mely Whiting breaking ground

Built to supply water to booming Front Range communities of Colorado in the 1980s, the Windy Gap Reservoir collects water from the Colorado River, pumps it to nearby Lake Granby, and then delivers the water to the Front Range via the Adams Tunnel underneath Rocky Mountain National Park.   

Although the project has helped with the water supply demands of these growing communities, it has also done considerable damage to the river’s fish populations and water quality, leading TU to champion a solution: Build a natural stream channel around the reservoir to improve the quality of this Gold Medal trout fishery and nearly 30 miles of the Colorado River.

At a time when the Colorado River Basin is experiencing a historic drought, people are looking for significant wins to show we can work together to meet multiple needs, combat the impacts of climate change, and make our waterways more resilient.

MELY WHITING, TROUT UNLIMITED

We speak with TU’s lead on the project, legal counsel Mely Whiting, who successfully championed this project for years, and worked to build bridges and partnerships—some of them with former adversaries—to bring the Colorado River Connectivity Project to fruition.

TU: Why is this such a big deal for the Colorado River?

At a time when the Colorado River Basin is experiencing a historic drought, people are looking for significant wins to show we can work together to meet multiple needs, combat the impacts of climate change, and make our waterways more resilient. The Colorado River Connectivity Channel Project is an example of how we can accomplish just that. By building a natural stream channel around the reservoir and reconnecting the river, we are not only preserving the reservoir’s ability to supply water to municipalities, but are also taking steps to improve the resiliency of the river and its aquatic habitat in the face of drought and climate change.  

TU: Why did this project take so long to get off the ground?

Originally proposed as a solution by a local resident in the 1990s, the project required artful negotiations, significant funding, and willing partners to get it across the finish line. Coupled with the historic drought we are experiencing and the increasing demands for water because of the Front Range’s explosive population growth, we knew we had to work together to address these challenges.

We are truly proud of the work we have done with our partners–which include those initially opposed to the project—and the steps we have taken together to overcome our differences and solve these pressing issues. (Ed: See below for the list of partners on this project.)

TU: What was TU’s role as this project evolved?

As with any coalition of partners, you need to remain optimistic, find common ground, and seize opportunities when they appear. Although our role changed over the years to accommodate the needs of the project—ranging from legal challenges to fundraising—the most consistent theme of our work was our pragmatism as an organization. We put the project ahead of needs of singular organizations. Between our local chapters, members, and staff, this formula has proven to produce results across the country for TU as a whole and has helped cement our reputation as a partner across the aisle.

TU: What does this project mean for the future of the Colorado River Basin?

Thinking about all the federal money available for conservation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and now the climate law to combat the historic drought across the Southwest, this project is a prime example of how communities can come together to identify solutions to this challenge. It is going to take everyone working together to decrease our demands on the Colorado River while also respecting the needs of ranchers, energy providers, manufacturers, local populations, outdoor enthusiasts, and other groups dependent upon the same water supply.

TU’s approach proves this is possible and the Colorado River Connectivity Project will stand as an example of the good work to come.

Partners in the Colorado Connectivity Project include:

• U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)

• Federal, state, county government: Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, Municipal Subdistrict; Grand County; Colorado Parks and Wildlife; Colorado Water Conservation Board; Colorado River Water Conservation District; Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

• Corporate: PepsiCo Beverages North America; Frito-Lay; Intel; Coca-Cola; Swire Coca-Cola USA; Climax Molybdenum

• Other partners: Upper Colorado River Alliance; Bonneville Environmental Foundation; RESTORE partners
  
  

Reconnecting the Colorado River

Repost from TU.org by Kara Armano

What is so important about a connected river? Well, to trout, there is an obvious answer: connectivity gives them the ability to survive when adversity strikes. To anglers, there is also an obvious answer: a healthy fishery translates into a better experience on the water. But there is much more to a connected river, and the Colorado River, near its headwaters, is just about to be reconnected. It’s been a long time in the making.  

The Colorado River Connectivity Channel is an effort by Trout Unlimited and many other partners to reconnect a mile of the river near its headwaters. Also known as the Windy Gap Bypass Project, TU and partners aim to improve this section of river near Granby, Colo., for the benefit of trout and aquatic insects, the community and its recreation-based economy. Anglers, will also enjoy the fruits of the project, and the river will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and wildfires along the way.  

The Windy Gap Reservoir blocks the movement of fish and other aquatic organisms and degrades the downstream habitat. The health of the river below this reservoir has declined continuously since it was built in the mid-1980s, with documented losses of 38 percent of macroinvertebrate diversity — including the complete loss of giant stoneflies, the loss of native sculpin populations and the decline of trout biomass in this state-designated Gold Medal trout fishery.  

The upper Colorado River flows into Windy Gap Reservoir inhibiting a healthy ecosystem and a strong fishery, but the Colorado River Connectivity Channel will repair that and reconnect the river for a multitude of benefits.

Owned and operated by Northern Water, the Windy Gap reservoir collects water high in the Colorado River drainage and delivers it across the Continental Divide to provide water for more than half a million customers on Colorado’s northern Front Range. With partners across the divide and years of working to find solutions to the many problems with this system, conservation groups, local governments and local businesses among many others, took the challenges to heart to realize how this channel project will benefit many.  

The goal of the CRCC is to establish a natural river channel around Windy Gap reservoir to reconnect the river and eliminate the reservoir’s negative impacts. The channel is the lynchpin connecting multiple restoration efforts including removal of fish barriers, $6 million worth of channel improvements upstream of the reservoir and floodplain reconnection projects downstream, and a series of projects designed to restore both irrigation and aquatic habitats in the town of Kremmling. These projects are expected to benefit over 30 miles of Colorado River, and they couldn’t be realized without many partners, including agricultural producers as well as the efforts of Grand County’s Learning By Doing.  

Over $26 million has been committed to the project from various sources, including Northern Water, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Grand County, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, GOCO, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Colorado River Alliance, and corporate and private donors. Trout Unlimited and its partners are working hard to raise the additional funds and expect to see construction starting soon and last through summer of 2023.  

When complete, the project is expected to restore lost and declining aquatic species and improve the river’s resiliency in the face of increasing water diversions and climate change. The channel will be open to the public, providing over a mile of Gold Medal trout quality waters for public fishing, providing significant economic benefits to the small Grand County communities that rely on recreation.  

We’ll be sharing photos and information along the progress of this massive undertaking, so be sure to follow along for updates on the project.

CPW surveys fish, gears up for movement study around Windy Gap

Repost: https://www.skyhinews.com/news/cpw-surveys-fish-gears-up-for-movement-study-around-windy-gap/

For the fifth year in a row, Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists, technicians and volunteers waded along the Colorado River with electrified poles and fishnets in hand.

The group followed a roughly 600-foot stretch of the Colorado River behind River Run RV Resort on Tuesday. The poles sent a field of electric current into the water, stunning the fish and making them easier to scoop up into nets.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Aquatic Biologist Jon Ewert explained that since Granby purchased the section of river in 2016, CPW has been conducting fish population surveys for two spots on the Colorado.

There is a similar survey on the Fraser River. Trying to control for variability, the annual surveys occur at the same time each year.

While Ewert is interested in the fish population for any given year, the work also documents long-term trends.

“(A trend) really only becomes obvious once you’ve been doing it for several years and you have kind of a baseline data set established,” he said.

A CPW biologist collects captured fish along the Colorado River on Tuesday. Once all the fish along the 600-foot sample have been collected, the scientists collected population data and then implanted electronic tags for a separate study on fish movement.
Amy Golden/Sky-Hi News

Ewert does not have any reason to expect a major population difference this year, but he’s being extra vigilant following the East Troublesome Fire. He said that reach of the Colorado has been “off color” all year because the water coming through Willow Creek Reservoir has carried material from the burned area.

“One thing I will be watching for is, did we have less successful reproduction? Are there fewer juvenile fish?” Ewert said. “That’s the place I would expect to see that, is if there’s fewer juvenile fish as a result of the extra sediment in the water. I don’t know if that’ll be the case, but that’ll be one thing I’ll be looking closely at.”

Ewert added that he won’t know the results of this year’s population survey until he crunches the numbers later this year.

That’s not all the surveyors were doing Tuesday, though. After catching hundreds of fish and recording the data, the CPW scientists implanted each one with an electronic tag.

Separate from the population study, CPW is beginning work on a large-scale fish movement study for populations around the Windy Gap Reservoir in anticipation of the Colorado River Connectivity Channel.

The channel would loop around the reservoir and be capable of passing water, fish and sediment, thereby reconnecting miles of the Colorado and Fraser rivers, according to Northern Water.

Antennas have been installed in beds of rivers at different places, along with hundreds and hundreds of tags placed in the bodies of fish. The antennas will detect when fish pass, both before and after the planned Windy Gap bypass is installed.

The Windy Gap dam has been a barrier to fish movement since it was built in the 1980s. The bypass as envisioned will slightly shrink the size of the Windy Gap reservoir and allow for a river corridor to reconnect between the Colorado and Fraser rivers east of the reservoir and the Colorado River west of the reservoir.

The long-anticipated connectivity channel is expected to be built in the next few years.

“We’re very excited about the Colorado River Connectivity Project,” Ewert said. “We think it’s going to be a huge benefit to the ecological health of the Colorado River in Grand County. When you reconnect a habitat that’s been fragmented, that’s a huge benefit to all the critters that live in the river.”

The study will record fish movement all around the Windy Gap, establishing a baseline of patterns as they exist now to compare to the movement following the creation of the bypass.

“Hopefully what we’ll be documenting is a lot more fish movement,” Ewert said.

See the full article here: https://www.skyhinews.com/news/cpw-surveys-fish-gears-up-for-movement-study-around-windy-gap/

Colorado River District funds first West Slope water project after passage of 7A

Windy Gap Connectivity Channel is the first project funded by the River District’s new Partnership Project Funding Program

Glenwood Springs, CO — The Colorado River District’s Board of Directors finalized a new program that will fund West Slope water projects and approved funding for the program’s first-ever project.

The Partnership Project Funding Program will fund multi-purpose water projects on the Western Slope in five project categories: productive agriculture, infrastructure, healthy rivers, watershed health and water quality, and conservation and efficiency. Funding for the program was approved by Western Colorado voters as part of Ballot Question 7A in November 2020. These District funds will be directed to projects identified as priorities by communities, water users, and Basin Roundtables in the District.  Importantly, the funds may catalyze additional investment from state, federal and private sources.

The board also approved $1 million towards the first project funded by the program: the Colorado River Connectivity Channel near Windy Gap Reservoir in Grand County. The long-planned yet underfunded project will receive $1 million in support of healthy rivers, watershed health and water quality. The Colorado River District’s financial commitment will allow project proponents to successfully leverage additional funding sources.

“The projects supported by the Partnership Project Funding Program will protect and sustain West Slope water for all of us who rely on it,” said River District General Manager Andy Mueller. “In launching this program and funding our first project, we’re fulfilling our promise to the voters who make our work possible. This and future projects will help build a brighter water future for Western Colorado.”

“On behalf of the citizens of Grand County, we thank our partners at the Colorado River District for their decision to fund $1 toward the Windy Gap Reservoir Connectivity Channel Project,” said Grand County Commissioner Kristen Manguso.

“These funds will help leverage the remaining dollars needed to construct this much needed project that will reconnect the Colorado River around Windy Gap Reservoir and provide so many environmental and hydrological benefits to the Colorado River and Fraser River in Grand County, and downriver, said Grand County Commissioner Richard Cimino.

“Thank you to all that are working so hard to get funding for this important project. This million-dollar award is exactly the kind of project these funds are to be used for,” said Grand County Commissioner Merrit Linke.

The goal of the Connectivity Channel is to establish a reconstructed river channel around Windy Gap Reservoir to reconnect the Colorado River and eliminate the reservoir’s negative impacts. Upon completion, the project is expected to improve river health and habitat and provide significant economic benefits to Grand County communities that rely on recreation. The channel is also expected to improve water quality for agricultural irrigators downstream.

“This infusion of funding for the Colorado River Connectivity Channel is imperative to the health of the upper Colorado River and our work at Trout Unlimited to see this project to completion," said Mely Whiting, Colorado water project legal counsel for TU. "Seeing a healthy river flowing with improved habitat for trout and other wildlife and increasing the economic opportunities for this region will be a dream realized as this funding will help leverage the final push to complete this crucial project.”

Windy Gap Reservoir is a shallow, on-channel reservoir that obstructs the movement of fish and other aquatic organisms in the Colorado River and degrades downstream habitat. The health of the river below the reservoir has been in decline since the reservoir was built in the mid-1980s, with documented losses of 38% of macroinvertebrate diversity – including the complete loss of giant stoneflies (a major food source for trout), the loss of native sculpin populations and a decline in trout biomass in this Gold Medal Trout fishery.

The project consists of four components:

1. Modification of the Windy Gap Reservoir to create room for the construction of the connectivity channel;

2. A natural channel, approximately one mile long, that connects the Colorado River around the newly configured reservoir;

3. A diversion structure that will divert water from the connectivity channel into the reservoir; and

4. Removal or alternative means to improve fish passage at a weir upstream of the reservoir.

For more information, you can read Partnership Project Funding Program documents presented to the board by clicking here. You can read the Windy Gap Connectivity Channel documents presented to the board by clicking here.

Reconnect the Colorado

Reconnecting the Colorado River around Windy Gap Reservoir is moving one step closer to reality! The US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service is conducting scoping on the Colorado River Headwaters Connectivity Project - an initiative of the NRCS along with Northern Water, Trout Unlimited, and Grand County.  The project contemplates a bypass channel that will restore the Colorado River around the Windy Gap Reservoir - benefitting water quality, fish passage, aquatic habitat, and restoring an additional mile of the Colorado River by creating the channel around the reservoir. 

Deadline to submit comments is August 31, 2018.

Colorado TU Opposes Windy Gap Lawsuit

Trout Unlimited this week came out against a lawsuit by several environmental groups seeking to stop Northern Water’s Windy Gap Firming Project from diverting water from the Upper Colorado River, calling the legal action “short-sighted” and potentially harmful to collaborative efforts already underway to improve habitat and flows on the Colorado River. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Save the Colorado, Save the Poudre, WildEarth Guardians, Living Rivers and the Waterkeeper Alliance, questioned the need for the Windy Gap expansion to supply water to Front Range communities and argued that the project had not been properly analyzed for alternatives to further diversions.

Trout Unlimited shares the groups' concern about the impacts of transbasin diversions on the Upper Colorado River. However, we believe the negotiated agreements with Denver and Northern Water - which include water to address low flow periods on the river and major investments in river habitat restoration - offer a better path for addressing those impacts than a lawsuit.

Trout Unlimited issued the following statement from Mely Whiting, TU's Colorado Water Project legal counsel, about the lawsuit:

“Water diversions are having serious impacts on the Upper Colorado River. Suing to kill the Windy Gap Firming Project, however, will not fix those problems. Millions of gallons of water are being diverted out of the Colorado River, right now, to supply water to cities in Northern Colorado and the Front Range. A lawsuit, while it makes for good soundbites, is not going to fix the very real impacts of those diversions or stop them from getting worse. As the population grows, more Colorado River water will be diverted, regardless of whether this project moves forward."

“This lawsuit likely won’t stop Windy Gap, but it could succeed in delaying real solutions to the problems. Habitat restoration projects and other solutions are already being implemented and showing great success in improving the health of the Colorado River. That’s why many conservation groups who’ve been working the longest on this problem support our collaborative approach. These solutions offer the best hope for keeping the valuable resources of the Upper Colorado alive.  This short-sighted lawsuit would only delay progress.”

Whiting pointed to several collaborative projects planned on the Upper Colorado, including the recently completed “Fraser Flats” project with Denver Water and other partners that restored habitat on the Fraser River, a major tributary of the Colorado, causing a significant and almost immediate jump in trout populations and spawning activity. Another major project being developed in cooperation with Northern Water is a bypass around Windy Gap Reservoir that will reconnect the headwaters of the Colorado River, delivering improved flows and habitat and potentially dramatic health benefits for the Upper Colorado River.

For more information on the lawsuit and TU response, see this Loveland Reporter-Herald article.

Windy Gap Bypass in the Works

Known for carving majestic canyons, millions of years ago the headwaters of the mighty Colorado River carved through the rocks west of Granby and created a small riparian valley where air currents blow through- earning a well-deserved name- Windy Gap. Although the wind continues to gust, the quality of the water has diminished over time.

In the 1980's, Windy Gap Reservoir was built directly inline with the river's east to west flow. Because of this placement, the river velocity drops as it enters the reservoir, resulting in increased sediment buildup. Currently, reservoir permits require building off channel to avoid the problems found in Windy Gap.

TU-CO-201009128-0028

Because of the sediment build up, the Gold Medal status of the Colorado is in jeopardy. Over the years, as the sediment builds, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has seen a decrease in bug life and feeder fish. One of the feeder fish that has almost vanished in the river is Sculpin- a small fish species that not only do trout rely on, but the health of the river relies on too.

“We have looked and looked, but we do not find any sculpin in that section of the river, all the way to Gore Canyon," said Colorado Parks and Wildlife Aquatic Biologist John Ewitt to Sky-Hi Daily News in Grand County. Sculpin are sensitive to environmental impacts and the levels of sculpin are often used to gauge overall river health.

CPW has also noted a decrease in mayflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies- three of the main food sources for trout in the area.

But the solution to the problem is near. With help from Trout Unlimited and local organizations, a project to bypass the Windy Gap reservoir is in the works.

Over the last 15 years, Trout Unlimited and local landowners have been lobbying with Northern Water to find a solution to this problem. The groups became known as the Upper Colorado River Alliance (UCRA) and comprised the idea of bypassing the reservoir.

Northern Water was intrigued by the idea as they were looking for a similar way to expand their water storage capabilities. In a project they are calling the Windy Gap Firming Project (WGFP), they would build Chimney Hollow Reservoir to solve the storage problem. When Northern Water went to the Grand County government for a permit on Chimney Hollow, there was a condition for the Windy Gap bypass.

The long-term project will include digging a portion of Windy Gap and using the dirt to build a berm in the current reservoir to create a smaller, adjacent body of water. This will create a new channel for the Colorado River to flow through. Preliminary engineering is expected to be completed this summer.

The total price for the project will be around $9.6 million- and a little under half of that, 4.1 million, has already been secured for the project. Along with $2 million towards the project, Northern Water has contributed around $300,000 towards environmental studies below the reservoir. The state of Colorado has also contributed $2 million to the project.

The Colorado River Headwaters chapter of Colorado TU has been on the forefront of this problem and has been a major part in helping get the bypass underway. With more help from volunteers and members, the bypass can be completed and the 20 miles of Gold Medal waters along the Colorado can thrive.

Division of Wildlife considers impacts of Windy Gap project

By Laura Snider

Camera Staff Writer

According to Colorado Trout Unlimited, if both the Windy Gap Firming Project and a proposed expansion of the Gross Reservoir -- which feeds Denver residents with water from the Colorado watershed -- are approved, as much as 70 percent of the upper Colorado River's native water flow will be removed on average.

"It's not happening in isolation," said Erica Stock, outreach director for Colorado Trout Unlimited.

In particular, Stock said her organization wants to make sure that Northern Water uses an accurate historical baseline of the Colorado River's flow to determine impacts and that it uses an "adaptive management" strategy, which would allow the mitigation measures to be changed if ecological effects are worse than anticipated.

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_16390616