A Look Back at 2011

It has been an eventful year for Colorado Trout Unlimited and our 23 chapters. We’ve seen a growth in capacity thanks to new full-time volunteers and additional National TU staff, conducted on-the-ground projects to improve habitat and restore native trout, extended our advocacy on behalf of rivers, and created new partnerships to strengthen our ability to conserve, protect and restore Colorado’s rivers and watersheds. All of these efforts were made possible through the involvement and support of our members, donors, and partners – and we deeply appreciate each and every one of you. Looking back at the past year, here are a few of the highlights from 2011:

• Yampa Valley Fly Fishers – long time leaders in conservation projects in the Steamboat Springs area – become the 23^rd active chapter of Trout Unlimited in Colorado.
• Colorado TU and the Colorado Water Project expand efforts to educate and engage the public in protecting the Colorado headwaters, launching a new Defend the Colorado website featuring the “Faces of the Fraser” – local residents from an Olympic skier to a logger who share their connections with the river.
• Colorado TU brings on two new OSM/VISTAs – full time volunteers funded with support from the Office of Surface Mining and Americorps – to strengthen our efforts with youth education and RiverWatch water quality monitoring programs.
• Denver Water and west slope interests announce an agreement to provide additional water and funds to benefit the Colorado River headwaters.  The agreement does not address the impacts of proposed new projects, but is a good start in collaboration to benefit the Colorado, Fraser, and Williams Fork.
• Upslope Brewing Company unveils its new craft lager with a “1% For Rivers” program where a portion of all sales of the new beer benefit Colorado TU.
• Our new ColoradoTU.org website launches with an enhanced design, pages on TU activities in basins across the state, and an improved set of tools for visitors to engage with TU in river conservation.
• Grand Valley Anglers and Colorado TU volunteers plant more than 200 willows along Trapper Creek on the Roan Plateau, helping improve riparian habitat for a key native Colorado River cutthroat trout stream.  Grand Valley Anglers also assists federal agencies with reconstruction of a reservoir atop Battlement Mesa as a refuge habitat for native cutthroat trout.
• TU and a coalition of agency and private sector partners – with volunteer support from the Collegiate Peaks Anglers chapter – complete award-winning mine restoration work along Kerber Creek in the historic Bonanza mining district.
• After years of advocacy and volunteer monitoring, TU and the Evergreen Chapter successfully get Bear Creek listed as an “impaired water” for temperature under the Clean Water Act – triggering a state regulatory process to identify the sources of the problem and develop projects to address them..
• The West Denver Chapter completes work on the Canyon Reach project, improving fish habitat and angling accessibility on Clear Creek.
• Colorado TU holds its first “Golf Classic,” engaging more than 120 participating golfers and raising funds for conservation and education.
• Denver TU provides seed money to launch development of a master plan for river restoration in the south Denver metro area; the plan wins unanimous approval from the South Suburban Parks & Recreation District and City of Littleton opening the door to a new “golden age” for the South Platte.

This is a long list, but still far from complete. And with your help, we will work to make 2012 an even better year for Colorado’s rivers and watersheds. Thank you – and happy new year to you all!

Creating Stream Explorers

By Fred Rasmussen and Karen Dils, Collegiate Peaks Anglers TU Chapter Inspiring the next generation to experience the natural world is part of Trout Unlimited’s (TU) mission and the mission of the Collegiate Peaks Anglers chapter of TU. Since 1986, TU has taught hundreds of youth about the aquatic environment and fly casting and provided scholarships for students interested in studying conservation.

A new opportunity to more fully engage young people emerged when budget cuts forced Salida Public Schools to a 4-day school week. Using TU's Stream Explorers materials and lessons prepared by volunteers, our chapter provided a series of special conservation workshops during three-hour blocks every Friday for five weeks. The emphasis was on hands-on learning and scientific data collection.

During the first 2 weeks youngsters investigated the behavior of aquatic life including insects, shrimp and fish. They explored what life forms lived in their river, where they lived, their sizes, shapes and how and where they moved. Students did experiments exposing organisms, including fish, to hot and cold, light and dark and changes in gravity. Using their recorded data, they were asked to hypothesize on the effects of seasonal changes in temperature and light on the behavior of fish in their river. Then students tied flies that imitated the insects in the river.

During week 3 students reviewed their bug lessons and traveled to the river to learn how to “read” the water. Volunteers provided basic instruction on fly rods, gear, casting, basic knots, spin casting, and safety, including hook removal and catch-and-release techniques. Students practiced fly and spin casting. Youngsters took home activity sheets to identify organisms that live near the river and were charged with researching a fishing related website they found helpful on the internet.

Week 4 brought a snowstorm and a cold front. However, the students showed up in 25 degree clear weather. Utilizing the services of the Chaffee County Shuttle, we drove to Mt. Ouray Ponds. Students fished with fly and spinning rods in the lake and river. There were a few bites and 2 fish caught, but students mostly enjoyed the gorgeous day and being outside.

In week 5 students studied fish biology which included a lesson on the similarities between humans and fish. They visited the Fish Hatchery where they learned about fish rearing and observed fish scales and fry under microscopes. At the end of the day, our chapter invited parents to see their students “graduate” and provided pizza. All participants received Stream Explorer certificates, an Embrace a Stream Hat, t-shirt, and a folder with all kinds of good information to take home. Of 11 students who started, 6 earned Stream Explorer membership with Trout Unlimited by attending 80% of the sessions.

Our chapter reached its goal: teaching young people about the aquatic world. Due to the success of this program, the Collegiate Peaks Anglers TU Chapter plans to provide additional programs for youth – possibly including a series of winter fly tying sessions since many students were quite excited about their brief exposure to this art.

Chapter Spotlight: Canyon Reach project on Mayhem Gulch

By Glen Edwards, West Denver TU Chapter On Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, the West Denver chapter held a brief dedication ceremony at Mayhem Gulch for the recently completed WDTU Canyon Reach project on Clear Creek. This project concentrated on safe access for young families and marginally mobile adults, both relative to the busy highway, and relative to the stream. Three separate stretches received major winter habitat and feeding lane structures, as well as boulder clusters for easy fishing access, constructed by the contractor, Frontier Environmental Services. The lowest stretch is at Mayhem Gulch, located 9.5 miles up Clear Creek Canyon from the intersection of Highways 6 and 93 just west of Golden, or just below Mile Marker 262. The middle stretch is upstream at a large unpaved parking area just below MM 261, and the upper stretch is further upstream near the Canyon Park Open Space sign just below MM 260.5.

Contributions to the project from CDPW's "Fishing is Fun" program, the Jefferson County's Conservation Trust Fund, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Alfred Frei and Sons quarry, CTU's GoMo Grant, the Henderson Mine, the Trask Family Foundation, as well as several private donors and our own WDTU chapter, totaled approximately $300,000. Educational signage for the project is planned, but not yet installed.

Jefferson County Comission Chairperson Faye Griffin spoke briefly at the Oct. 28 Canyon Reach Project dedication ceremony, and the Director of the new Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife, Rick Cables, was the keynote speaker. Cables impressed the audience with his down-to-earth enthusiasm for efforts like the Canyon Reach Project , and for his obvious support for conservation groups like Trout Unlimited.

Support the San Juan Wilderness

Durango, Colo. — Trout Unlimited announced today its strong support for S. 1635, the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act of 2011. The bill, authored by Sen. Mark Udall and co-sponsored by Sen. Michael Bennet, would conserve more than 60,000 acres of outstanding fish and wildlife habitat on public land in Southwest Colorado, and with it, countless opportunities for sportsmen and women to hunt, fish and provide sustainable economic benefits to the communities in the region. “This is a beautiful, high-altitude area that is heavily used by both local sportsmen and visitors to our area,” said Marshall Pendergrass, current president of TU’s Gunnison Gorge Anglers chapter and resident of Montrose. “It’s the key to the tourism economy of Telluride and Ouray.”

Local TU members worked with fellow residents and several conservation organizations to help craft the legislation, which has the support of a wide variety of stakeholders in the area.

“I’ve attended meetings on this proposal from the beginning, and this bill is not a surprise coming down on this area from federal officials. This bill was crafted from the grassroots,” said Ouray resident Tony Chelf, an active member of the Gunnison Gorge Anglers chapter. “It wasn’t easy, but now that the work is done, the bill ought to be passed quickly.”

Both Pendergrass and Chelf, joined by the 10,000 members of Colorado Trout Unlimited, called on Colorado Rep. Scott Tipton to support a twin measure in the House of Representatives to ensure the bill’s speedy passage through Congress.

“This isn’t a partisan measure,” Chelf said. “It’s not only what the majority of people in this area want to see, it’s a win-win for everyone.”

See also:

• Senators Udall and Bennet Introduce San Juan Wilderness Bill
• San Juan Mountains Wilderness - Protecting 33,000 acres has broad support

Fraser River gets a boost

by Bob Berwyn Summit County Citizen's Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — With its flows reduced by upstream tributary diversions, and its river-bottom cobbles choked by highway traction sand, the Fraser River has long been a symbol of the imbalance between resource protection and other uses of water in Colorado.

But the Grand County stream will soon get partial relief, as various agencies from both sides of the Continental Divide teamed up to construct a settling pond near the entrance to the Mary Jane ski area in a project tha symbolizes an emerging spirit of tran-smountain cooperation.

Better maintenance and capture of highway sand can help reduce impacts to tiny aquatic organisms that form the base of the food chain in the river, helping to sustain healthy fisheries. The larvae of the aquatic insects need a coarse bed of rocks at the bottom of the stream to thrive. When the sand fills in all the gaps between the rocks, the bugs have nowhere to go.

The settling pond will also protect municipal and resort water infrastructure and equipment.

Read more

U.S. Senate honors Fraser's Kirk Klancke

By Tonya BinaSky-Hi News

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., recognized Fraser resident Kirk Klancke on the senate floor in Washington D.C. on Oct. 12 for Klancke's “commitment to preserving our environment and making Colorado a better place to live, work and play.” In his speech to members of the 112th Congress, Udall highlighted the fact that Klancke, president of Grand County's chapter of Trout Unlimited, was recently selected a finalist for Field and Stream's “Heroes of Conservation” Award. “Both Kirk and I have spent time enjoying the natural beauty of our state while appreciating the value of preserving it for future generations,” Udall stated. “His work embodies what I have long held to be true — we don't inherit the Earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children and the generations that will follow.”

Read the full article

Learn more about Colorado TU's efforts to Defend the Colorado River

First Annual Casting For Recover Event from the Cheyenne Mountain Chapter

From Erik Heikennenen, President CMCTU: CMCTU’s First Annual Tying and Giving Back fly tying event is scheduled for October 25, 2011 7pm-9pm. Here’s your opportunity to sit down and tie flies with some of “best of the best” professional fly tiers, guides and authors.

The event is also a great way to acknowledge Breast Cancer Awareness Month and help Casting for Recovery. All flies tied by you and our guests will benefit breast cancer survivors attending Casting for Recovery fly fishing retreats!

With and through the guidance of former Chapter Board Member, Jim Williams, CMCTU members have tied and donated 92 dozen flies this year and over 250 dozen in the past 5 years to Casting for Recovery.

Don’t forget this is your chance to sit down, at our member / audience tying table, next to professionals and tie up a few flies of your own.

Are you ready to show the folks at Casting for Recovery we have a few more flies to tie for them?

Join us at Tying and Giving Back!

Denver Post: Colorado's South Platte River a viable fishery

Denver Post Will Rice

Tyler Kendrick stalked the water slowly in front of me, about 40 feet ahead in clear shallow water. His lime-colored fly line trailed behind like a tail.

I squinted against the hot sun and scanned the far bank looking for tails and fish. They were there; we just had to find them. Tyler suddenly stopped and stood dead still. His body language, like a cat stalking a mouse, indicated he spotted a fish. He stripped out a few more feet of line and took a half step forward.

It was going to be a longshot. Tyler made two powerful back casts and punched his cast to the right into the faster current moving downstream.

Kendrick and I had teamed up for Denver Trout Unlimited's fifth annual Carp Slam, a fishing tournament created to raise money for improvements on the battered and bruised metro section of the South Platte. Sixteen amateurs and 16 professionals competed last month and raised more than $30,000 for projects intended to improve the river as a fishery and a recreational waterway.

"We want to expose people to angling opportunities close to home and provide an opportunity for youth to take the first cast," said Todd Fehr, president of Denver Trout Unlimited. "First-time casters grow up to be future conservationists and stewards of our state's water resources."

Click here to read the full article.

TU now accepting Embrace-A-Stream grant applications

Trout Unlimited is pleased to announce that it is now accepting Embrace-A-Stream (EAS) grant applications for eligible coldwater fisheries conservation projects. Embrace-A-Stream (EAS) is the flagship grant program for funding TU's grassroots conservation efforts. Since its inception in 1975, EAS has funded over 980 individual projects for a total of more than $4 million in direct cash grants. Local TU chapters and councils contributed an additional $13 million in cash and in-kind services to EAS funded projects for a total investment of more than $17 million. In 2011, EAS funded 25 projects in 15 states, with an average grant award of $5,000. View the list of projects funded by EAS last year. Please be sure to read each section of the application for funding carefully so that you understand the guidelines, proposal format and submission requirements. EAS committee members and staff are able to provide advice and guidance on potential project applications. Even if you do not have questions about preparing your proposal, applicants are required to contact their EAS committee representative to discuss proposal ideas by November 14, 2011. The deadline for submission is December 12, 2011. For further information or to request additional copies of the application, please contact Rob Roberts at 406-543-1192. To participate in a webinar training on November 2 at 8 p.m. EST, please RSVP to Rob Keith at 703-284-9425.

Highlights from the 2011 Annual TU Meeting

Last week, I attended the Annual TU Meeting in Bend, Oregon.  This meeting features a large collection of the NTU staff, along with volunteer leaders at all levels of the organization from across the country in one place.  Opportunities for collaboration and exploration across states and regions abound, and it has become a valuable platform to learn and gain experience from others. Of course, it would be hard to adequately summarize the entire 3-day meeting, so I thought that I might hit some of the highlights.  Certainly, if there are questions about anything specific, you can email me at Sinjin.Eberle@coloradotu.org for more information.  Here we go…

1)     West Denver TU Wins Silver Trout Award – The West Denver Chapter was awarded one of the highest chapter awards in TU.  They are very deserving of this honor for their broad based, steady, and consistent approach to all aspects of being a TU chapter.  They run a strong youth program, are consistently reaching out to new members, have done phase after phase of restoration work on their home streams, and are engaged in various aspects surrounding impacts from the I-70 corridor.  Congratulations!

2)     New National TU Community Website – while it is still in the testing phase, National TU has come a long way in developing a community-oriented website.  Most importantly, the new website will feature pre-built chapter templates that, for free, chapters can use as the basis for developing their own site.  There are many advantages to this – especially the integration of chapter activities being highlighted by NTU, as well as NTU news feeds streaming into the chapter websites.  I think you will be excited about the new toys as they become available (in the next couple of months)

3)     Upper Colorado Makes National Conservation Agenda – the National Leadership Council sets a list of National Priorities every year – and this year the Upper Colorado work has made that agenda.  This is great as we will be able to get increased focus on Colorado’s top priority issue.

4)     Youth Education Programs get more defined – The National TU Youth folks are building out their suite of youth education offerings, and in a pretty smart way, I might add.  They are building programs to ensure that they have youth-ed coverage for all ages, from the very young through college-age persons.  More to come on this as these programs are rolled out!

5)     Annual Financial Reports and Chapter By-Laws– STRONG REMINDER from National that ALL chapters must submit their Annual Financial Reports by November 15, 2011 – this is REQUIRED of all chapters and there are strong penalties for not doing so.  Also, this year is the year for updating chapter bylaws – please be working on your new chapter by-laws and have them uploaded to the National TU website by December 31, 2011!!  We need to have 100% compliance on this.  Help is available for this on the National TU website, in the Toolbox in the Leaders Only section.  Please contact Dennis Cook (rkymtnangler@q.com) or I if you need help on these!