Progress on the Poudre Headwaters Project

Earlier this week, Colorado TU staff and Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter volunteers joined Forest Service representatives and our partners from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Ross Reels on a site visit to see past and ongoing work as part of the Poudre Headwaters Project, the largest native trout restoration project in Colorado history. The group first visited the largely completed fish barrier on the Grand Ditch at La Poudre Pass, helping isolate the planned recovery waters for Greenback cutthroat trout on the east slope from the west slope drainages intersected by the Grand Ditch. From there, we stopped briefly at a road crossing with an undersized and not fish-friendly culvert along Neota Creek, which we hope to collaborate with the Forest Service to replace with an improved fish passage structure in 2024 or 2025. 

 The group next visited the active construction site where work is underway on installing a unique combination fish passage/temporary fish barrier project on Corral Creek. The barrier will help temporarily isolate habitat in Corral Creek for restoration of native trout and then later removed to restore connectivity with adjacent waters once they recovered for Greenbacks. An undersized culvert is being installed with a much larger culvert for the road crossing – large enough to have a simulated stream bottom constructed within the culvert so that fish can move freely up and downstream through the culvert just as if they were moving through the natural stream channel. At the mouth of the culvert, a steel wall barrier will be placed that can then isolate the upstream habitat temporarily but be readily removed in the future when habitats are reconnected as part of the planned Greenback “metapopulation” spread across multiple Cache la Poudre river tributaries.

 Finally, we hiked to the expected downstream permanent barrier that will be the lowest point in the restoration area – a waterfall nicknamed “Starter Fluid” by expert kayakers who float the river. Located just below the confluence of the mainstem Poudre and La Poudre Pass Creek and about 11 miles up from where the “Big South” portion of the Poudre reaches Highway 14 and begins down to the more easily accessed Poudre Canyon runs, this cascade already blocks fish under most flow conditions and with some modest adjustments could be modified into a fully-effective fish barrier. Work on design concepts for further analysis and refinement is underway.

 Work on the Poudre Headwaters Project has been a product of collaboration among TU, the Forest Service, National Park Service, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and has also benefited through support from: 

• The Water Supply and Storage Company, which provided funds in a Trust as mitigation for their Long Draw Reservoir permits

• Ross Reels through their Native Reel program with proceeds from the Greenback reel 

• The Colorado Water Conservation Board, through Colorado Water Plan grant support

• Bass Pro Shops Outdoor Fund

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish passage program

• Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Mines, through applied research and design efforts in support of the project

• The Western Native Trout Initiative

Ross Reels Donates $31,125 to Colorado Trout Unlimited

Ross Reels, a leading manufacturer of fly fishing equipment and subsidiary of Mayfly Outdoors, proudly donated $31,125 to Colorado Trout Unlimited and the Poudre Headwaters Project as part of its Native Series Reel campaign. The presentation took place Saturday, July 8th at Colorado Trout Unlimited’s Troutfest Colorado event, hosted at Coors Field. The donation is just the first portion of a total giveback of $37,125 once all of the reels have been sold.

The Native Series campaign is a partnership between Ross Reels and Colorado Trout Unlimited with the intent to raise money for native fish species conservation through the sale of reels inspired by the specific species identified. 

The Greenback cutthroat trout was the first native species identified for the first reel and conservation project and is also the state fish of Colorado. The reel, called the Greenback Cutthroat Reel is a limited edition 2/3 size reel with only 495 units made, with $75 from every reel sold going to the Poudre Headwaters Project and Colorado Trout Unlimited.

The Poudre Headwaters Project is a conservation project specifically focused on restoring native Greenback trout habitat over the course of approximately 40 miles of connected river and lakes along the Cache la Poudre River all the way up to Long Draw Reservoir.

With the success of the Greenback Reel, Ross Reels also announced the release of the second reel in the series - the Colorado Cutthroat Reel. This special edition reel will again be limited to 495 reels with $75 from every reel sold going to Colorado Trout Unlimited and the Clear Fork East Muddy Creek project focused on Colorado River cutthroat trout habitat restoration.

David Nickum, Colorado Trout Unlimited Executive Director, shared his thoughts on the partnership saying, “Native trout have a great friend in Mayfly Outdoors and Ross Reels. The Greenback cutthroat reel has been a great success and is providing vital support to restoration efforts in the Poudre headwaters.  Now as Ross Reels continues the native series to celebrate the Colorado River Cutthroat trout and contribute to its conservation, we look forward to partnering with them on other projects in western Colorado and Utah to help secure a future for the native trout of Mayfly’s own home waters.”

Jeff Patterson, Mayfly Outdoors and Ross Reels Director of Sales, also commented, “This has been such a great "everybody wins" collaboration with Colorado Trout Unlimited.  Our Ross dealers really stepped up their support as well promoting this project through their shops with the Greenback Cutthroat being the ultimate beneficiary through the combined efforts.  Our shared customers also received a pretty cool looking reel in return for their contributions.  We love doing this kind of stuff, and look forward to more of it in the near future.”