West Denver Chapter wins National TU Award

The West Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited was presented with the "Silver Trout" award at the National Trout Unlimited Awards Luncheon in Bend, Oregon on Friday September 16.  The Silver Trout award recognizes the outstanding chapter within its region.  West Denver was recognized for its consistently excellent programs in youth education and conservation.  Highlights include:

• a partnership with the Jefferson County Schools' Windy Peak Outdoor Lab where the chapter teaches entomology and fly tying, as well as providing fishing opportunity, to sixth graders from across the County;
• completion of the "Golden Mile" stream restoration project on Clear Creek in Golden, along with ongoing work for further restoration in the "Canyon Reach" project several miles upstream on Clear Creek;
• statewide leadership with Trout Unlimited participation in the RiverWatch program and with engagement on stream protection and mitigation with Department of Transportation project;
• community service and engagement through programs such as river cleanups and fly fishing classes for adults with the Lookout Mountain Nature Center,

 

 

Chapter leaders were unable to make it to Bend personally, but Colorado TU President Sinjin Eberle accepted the award on behalf of West Denver and will present it to the chapter at an upcoming meeting.

Congratulations, West Denver!

What's the Weirdest Thing You've Found Fishing?

Field & Stream Fly Talk by Tim Romano

This past Saturday I competed in the 5th Annual Carp Slam here in Denver that benefits the Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited. I didn't win, but did raise a ton of money to help the restoration of our home river here in D-town.

The South Platte that runs through Denver is, as you can imagine quite the urban fishery and as such we find quite the litany of weird crap in the river. A friend of a friend even found a dead body fishing one day. This past Saturday was no exception as documented here.

Read the rest here...

Then post the strangest thing you've found while fishing on The Greenbacks Facebook page for a chance to win a Simms headwaters waist pack.

Note: He's a modest guy and didn't mention in his post - but a big tip of the hat to Tim Romano for raising the most $$ of any competitor for South Platte river restoration as part of Carp Slam 2011. Congrats, Tim!

Slamtastic! The Denver Carp Slam

Gink + Gasoline By Louis Cahill

When was the last time you attended a Trout Unlimited event where a bottle rocket fight broke out? That was the scene last weekend when I attended the Denver Carp Slam, as an observer, not to fish. The Carp Slam is a carp tournament started five years ago by the Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited. It takes place on the South Platte in downtown Denver and the proceeds pay for stream improvements on the river. The Platte, at least the stretch that runs through Denver, is truly a challenged river. OK, that’s too polite. It’s severally F’ed up. Full of trash, dead animals, murder weapons, and amazingly, fish. Carp of coarse but also walleye, smallmouth bass, catfish, and to my surprise, trout. Not in big numbers but pretty good size. That’s where TU comes in. They’re using the carp, to save the trout.

It’s a great cause and a great time but most of all, a great bunch of guys. The group is young, energetic and energized about their mission but not taking life too seriously. The experience renewed my faith in TU. I am particularly interested in a group who call them selves The Greenbacks. A group of young TU members on a mission to preserve Colorado’s native fish, and have a good time doing it. Their enthusiasm is contagious. It’s awesome to see a great old institution alive with wish youthful vigor. Hats off to the Denver chapter of TU.

Read the full article and check out some awesome pics on the Gink and Gasoline Blog...

Welcome to TU, Steamboat Springs

After a long drought in the northern reaches of Colorado, we would love to officially welcome the Yampa Valley Fly Fishers Chapter to Trout Unlimited. The link below is a great story by Explore Steamboat welcoming them to the fold. Awesome!

http://www.exploresteamboat.com/news/2011/aug/11/steamboat-group-hooks-trout-unlimited/

Clear Creek restoration project underway: Trout Unlimited West Denver hopes to improve fish habitat, sense of stewardship

by Daniel SmithThe Denver Post

Building on past success, the Trout Unlimited West Denver chapter is about to begin restoration on about three-quarters of a mile of Clear Creek, northwest of Golden.

The Canyon Reach project, with multiple funding sources, will begin near Jefferson County Open Space Park’s Mayhem Gulch development then continue upstream to the vicinity of the park’s paved turnout just below the Colorado 119 and U.S. 6 junction.

Glen Edwards, Trout Unlimited West Denver’s local project director, said the restoration of Clear Creek habitat as a fishery resource is one goal, along with building a sense of stewardship in the community for the entire Clear Creek watershed.

“(We’ll) go down in the stream, move some of the natural rocks to make for better winter habitat — deeper holes and feeding lanes and just places for fish to survive the winter,” he said.

The major portion of the nearly $264,000 in funding came from the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Fishing is Fun program, to the tune of $168,700. Some $60,000 will come from Jefferson County Conservation Trust Fund allocation, and the Water Conservation Board added more than $20,000. Trout Unlimited West Denver is contributing funds and volunteer work.

Read more:

Clear Creek restoration project underway: http://yourhub.denverpost.com/golden/clear-creek-restoration-project-underway/flTVkh3U7FBtcYiSnEb2VK-story

Denver fires up anglers with, yes, carp

By Scott Willoughby The Denver Post

If you tried, you couldn't come up with a sorrier-looking puss to put on a poster than a carp.

And, oh, has it been tried.

"It's the classic 'lemonade' story," Denver Trout Unlimited chapter president Todd Fehr said of the "lemons" that dominate Denver's hometown fishery along the South Platte River. "The Pro-Am Carp Slam started because that's what we had to work with. And the thing is just quirky enough to have taken off."

The irony of using the lowly regarded carp to promote and preserve the would-be habitat of the regal trout is not lost on Fehr. But after years of frustration over the lack of a productive local trout fishery in metro Denver, DTU member Tim Emery suggested in 2007 that the group might try to take advantage of the abundant bugle-mouthed fish that reside in the neighborhood.

Read more: Denver fires up anglers with, yes, carp - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/outdoors/ci_17885629#ixzz1K4lw1uf2

Trout Unlimited more than a social club

Tri Lakes Tribune

By Norma Engelberg

A lot of people think Trout Unlimited is just a social club dedicated to fly fishing. Erik Heikkenen, president of the Cheyenne Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, says the organization is much more. “We do love to fly fish but for the last 25 years we have worked on numerous watershed conservation and restoration projects,” he said. “We’ve concentrated most of our work on the South Platte in Eleven Mile Canyon on the Trees for Trout project. We use trees taken from the Hayman Fire burn area and use them to stabilize the banks. Some of the timbers are placed in the stream bed to provide more trout habitat.”

The first project for the local Trout Unlimited chapter was work on Trout Creek north of Woodland Park in 1986.

“Grazing cattle had destroyed the banks and we did a lot of work restoring them,” Heikkenen said. “Later the beaver moved in and undid some of our work but much of it is still there.”

The organization has also worked with the Fountain Creek Restoration Committee to restore the creek banks in Manitou Springs.“We’ve restored the creek from Soda Springs Park to Memorial Park,” Heikkenen said. “We’ll finish up at Mansion and Fields parks.”In the last few years, Trout Unlimited’s Trout in the Classroom program has also been very popular. Trout Unlimited provides large aquariums, training and trout eggs and students see what it takes for trout to go from eggs to fry to releasing size.

 http://www.coloradocommunitynewspapers.com/articles/2011/04/08/tri_lakes_tribune/news/13_mo_trout_unlimited.txt

 

Thanks to Coyote Gulch for the link!

Trout Unlimited eyes Arkansas River restoration

Summit Voice

by Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Trout Unlimited this week awarded a $4,500  Embrace-A-Stream grant to its Collegiate Peaks chapter in the Upper Arkansas River Valley. The chapter, based in Salida and Buena Vista, proposes to conduct assessment and stakeholders meetings for the South Arkansas River to create a plan for conservation and restoration of the entire river corridor. This plan would act as the blueprint for future work conducted by the Collegiate Peaks Anglers Chapter and the Land Trust of the Upper Arkansas by identifying projects that would improve fish habitat, stabilize banks, remove obstacles, restore native vegetation, and reduce negative impacts into the system. Many of these future projects would be in partnership with private landowners and utilize community volunteers.

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/04/05/trout-unlimited-eyes-arkansas-river-restoration/

Moving water the right way creates aquatic playground

Reed Dils continues quest for recreational water availability

Pueblo Chieftain

By CHRIS WOODKA

As dams have changed flows on the Arkansas River, recreation has become a substantial industry.

 For Reed Dils, it's more like a cause.

Dils, now a member of Trout Unlimited, is also a member of the Southeastern board and the Colorado Water Conservation Board. He also represents recreation uses of water on the Arkansas Basin Roundtable.

Just talking about the issues is a step down the road to solutions.

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/article_a58d4e8a-0d87-11e0-82c8-001cc4c03286.html

Colorado Water Projects Prompt Calls for River Protection

KUNC

Kirk Siegler

HOT SULPHER SPRINGS, CO (KUNC) - About thirty million westerners depend on the Colorado River and its tributaries for survival. In Colorado, much of the famed river's water is diverted and then channeled up and over the mountains to the dry, eastern plains of the Front Range where most Coloradans live. Now, two powerful water agencies along the Front Range are proposing to take even more water that they are legally entitled to - but not currently able to use. As KUNC's Kirk Siegler reports below, it's setting the stage for another battle. A 'Train Wreck'

A few miles away from the headwaters of one of the most altered waterways in the world, the Colorado River looks more like a stream as it runs through the sleepy little town of Hot Sulpher Springs.

Over time, water projects have reduced flows on this river so much that the big, iconic cottonwoods aren't growing back as quickly because most of the water that used to come in the spring floods doesn't get here anymore. It's captured upstream and sent over the Continental Divide to Denver and the Front Range. Less water in the summer also means warmer temperatures and algae.

It's hard to notice all of this, now in frigid December, as Kirk Klanke walks over crusty snow on his way down to the river's banks.

"There's a tremendous amount of algae that we're not seeing because of the ice buildup," he says. "But if we tried walking across there, we'd understand how much rock snot' is growing on those rocks."

Klanke, president of the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, says lower flows are good for algae but bad news for fish, and the local recreation-based economy.

"Colorado's in a train wreck, if we don't wake up to the fact that this natural environment is threatened," Klanke says.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kunc/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1737116/Regional/Colorado.Water.Projects.Prompt.Calls.for.River.Protection