A River's Reckoning, an official selection of the 2018 Wild and Scenic Film Festival

Paul Bruchez is a fifth-generation rancher whose family raises cattle in the upper reaches of the Colorado River near Kremmling, Colorado, where he also runs a private fly-fishing guide service. “A River’s Reckoning” tells the story of Paul’s awakening to the importance of river conservation and the legacy of his family’s ranch when drought and urban water diversions deplete the Colorado River, threatening the ranch’s operations. When Art Bruchez, the family patriarch, is diagnosed with cancer, Paul and his younger brother Doug are forced to step in and take over. This “river reckoning” pushes Paul and his family to confront new challenges and embrace new ways of thinking to keep their family’s ranch—and others in the valley—alive and productive. Paul and his brother rise to meet these challenges, working with neighbors, Trout Unlimited, American Rivers and other conservation groups and partners to find creative solutions that enhance their irrigation systems while restoring trout habitat in the river. “A River’s Reckoning” is a beautiful story of family, grit, and legacy, all in support of sustaining a ranch at 10,000 feet that depends heavily on stewardship of the Colorado River. The film was recently honored as an official selection of the 2018 Wild and Scenic Film Festival.

You can enjoy the full film below: 

Funding the Future of Conservation

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is looking for the legislature to provide it with authority to increase hunting and fishing license fees for the first time in more than a decade, and we expect to see legislation along those lines during the 2018 legislative session. At one level, the reason for such an increase is very simple - the revenue generated by license fees has been eroded by inflation since the last increase, and in order to deliver the same kinds of service the agency needs to have the funding to keep up with those escalating costs.

But the most frequent question we've heard from anglers and sportsmen generally has been to hear more of the story: what are these funds needed for, and what types of investments specifically will the state make if anglers and hunters increase what we pay for licenses?

The most recent issue of High Country Angler offers some answers. Needs run the gamut from modernizing fish hatcheries, to restoring funds for the "Fishing is Fun" program to improve habitat and create new fishing access, to completing needed maintenance on fishing reservoirs that otherwise could be forced to be drained for dam safety reasons.

Read all about it here - and decide for yourself - are these investments good reasons to pay more on my fishing license? You'll have the chance to speak up on that question with your legislators this year.

National Funds to Support Greenback Recovery in CO

JANUARY 4, 2018 – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has recently announced their slate of awardees for the competitive Bring Back the Natives Grant (BBN)– a program that will provide $1 million in grants to support habitat restoration and other on-the-ground projects that advance recovery goals of native fish throughout the United States in 2018-19. A partnership between NFWF, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bass Pro Shops and the Brunswick Public Foundation, “Bring Back the Natives represents the benefits of coordinated efforts between private landowners and federal agencies to improve the health of watersheds,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO, NFWF.

As one of the 15 grant recipients, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will receive $60,000 to support the design and construction of a critical temporary fish barrier on Cornelius Creek.  Located in the US Forest Service Canyon Lakes Ranger District (USFS-CLRD), the George and Cornelius Creek drainage is one of the most significant Greenback Cutthroat recovery sites to date.

The Greenback cutthroat trout is currently listed as “Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, and is believed to have been endemic to coldwater streams and lakes of the South Platte River Basin. Once a thriving species, the Greenback has suffered significant impacts from human development, competition from non-native fish, and the introduction of whirling disease.  Once thought to be extinct, the native trout is making a comeback thanks to a coalition of state and federal agencies, non-profits, private landowners, and public volunteers.

The George and Cornelius Creek watershed has been identified as a high priority for establishing a robust Greenback cutthroat trout metapopulation. Due to its relatively low elevation compared to that of many other streams in the basin where cutthroat trout reintroduction may be feasible, these creeks feature thermal conditions that fall within an optimal range for cutthroat trout recruitment. Additionally, these streams are already managed for a Greenback cutthroat trout recovery population with regard to the Endangered Species Act, Section 7.

Due to the complexity of the habitat within the drainage, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the US Forest Service will take on the project in stages.  With the presence of both whirling disease (WD) and non-native fish in the area, biologists will build three temporary barriers that will segment the two tributaries and allow for effective treatment over the next few years.  Once the streams have been cleared of WD and non-native competitors, the Greenbacks will be introduced.  This process is expected to take several years.

The desired outcome of the entire multi-phase project is successful establishment of a self-sustaining Greenback cutthroat trout population in 14 miles of connected habitat. At this writing, Greenbacks only occur in the wild in four waters, three of which are the result of recent introductions.

The Greenback Cutthroat Trout Recovery Plan (US Fish & Wildlife Service 1998), although in the early stages of being updated, calls for—among several other requirements—stable Greenback populations in at least 31 stream miles in order for the species to be considered for de-listing. Currently, there are no stream populations in the South Platte Basin that meet the Recovery Plan’s criteria for “stable conservation populations.” Therefore, the importance of the George and Cornelius Creek Project, which is slated to create up to 14 miles of such habitat, cannot be overstated.

The Cornelius Creek barrier is essential to the overall success of the project by enabling CPW biologists to treat the upper section of the creek while concurrent restoration work is being completed in the other units.  With the funding provided by the NFWF Bring Back the Natives Grant, CPW will now have the resources necessary to move forward in this critical recovery effort and secure a large drainage for the Greenback.

Note: Due to various treatment protocols for Whirling Disease (which has been found in the area), the entire project will likely be completed near 2026.  The barriers will be in place by the end of 2019.  For more information, please contact Dan Omasta, CTU Grassroots Coordinator (domasta@tu.org).

For more information on the NFWF BBN Grant and other recipients, Click Here.

When Collaboration Works

Collaboration is key when it comes to making positive steps towards conservation. Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project is one of those collaborative initiatives working with agricultural leaders and organizations to conserve, protect, and restore our limited water resources around the state. Cary Denison, TU Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, was featured in the first segment of "This American Land" and talks about the ways that conservation can work with western water laws in providing the stakeholders with what they need and how Trout Unlimited is part of that conversation.

Water is a limited resource in the west and is one of the major talking points for Coloradoans when discussing conservation. The state experiences very little rainfall in summer, fall, and spring but the mountains collect feet upon feet of snow-pack. Snow-pack is like Colorado's natural water storage that slowly melts as the warmer seasons approach, filling our streams, creeks, and rivers with the water needed to last until next winter. With the decreasing amount of precipitation, that snow-pack is becoming a resource that we cannot solely count on. That's where water conservation comes in.

Water conservation is key in using this limited resource wisely and free up more water for other uses including nature. Not to mention more water for our trout to flourish in.

Check out the episode below!

Interested in the story or project?

Contact Cary Denison, Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, cdenison@tu.org

When Collaboration Works

Collaboration is key when it comes to making positive steps towards conservation. Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project is one of those collaborative initiatives working with agricultural leaders and organizations to conserve, protect, and restore our limited water resources around the state. Cary Denison, TU Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, was featured in the first segment of "This American Land" and talks about the ways that conservation can work with western water laws in providing the stakeholders with what they need and how Trout Unlimited is part of that conversation.

Water is a limited resource in the west and is one of the major talking points for Coloradoans when discussing conservation. The state experiences very little rainfall in summer, fall, and spring but the mountains collect feet upon feet of snow-pack. Snow-pack is like Colorado's natural water storage that slowly melts as the warmer seasons approach, filling our streams, creeks, and rivers with the water needed to last until next winter. With the decreasing amount of precipitation, that snow-pack is becoming a resource that we cannot solely count on. That's where water conservation comes in.

Water conservation is key in using this limited resource wisely and free up more water for other uses including nature. Not to mention more water for our trout to flourish in.

Check out the episode below!

Interested in the story or project?

Contact Cary Denison, Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, cdenison@tu.org

A second look at "trash fish"

Ugly fish. Trash fish. Suckers. Chubs. A lot of native fish in our rivers don’t get no respect. Many anglers consider them good for nothing, except for throwing back—way back onto the bank.

But we anglers and sportsmen who care about rivers and cutthroats need to adjust our attitude a bit and quit looking down our noses at some of the “other” native fish.

Turns out “trash” fish like Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpbacked chub, bonytail and other native species are critically important to river and trout habitat conservation efforts here in the Colorado River Basin and other watersheds in the West.

And trout and other angler-favored species are riding their fintails to a better life.

The pikeminnow has been around for millions of years in the Colorado Basin and can grow up to 6 feet long and live for decades. Pioneers used pitchforks at times, it’s said, to haul them out of the river, they were so abundant. The fish provided food (albeit a bit bony) for the settlers.

But with growing water diversions, drought, invasive species and other factors pressuring the river in the last half century, the numbers of these native fish plummeted, and they were listed under the Endangered Species Act. In 1988, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program was launched to bring them and the chubs and suckers back to sustainable numbers.

For three decades, the program has fostered cooperation, rather than conflict, among water users and directed federal and state funds to infrastructure projects that have benefited multiple users, from ranchers and farmers to municipalities.

Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups have supported those efforts, because the water projects, improved infrastructure and enhanced river flows needed to recover pikeminnows, suckers and chubs also benefit upstream coldwater species like trout.

For instance, TU helped upgrade the Relief Ditch and Hartland irrigation diversions on the Gunnison River a few years ago—a project that improved habitat and flows for trout.

The project would not have been possible without funds directly tied to native fish recovery.

Cary Denison, TU’s project coordinator in the Gunnison area, says that many anglers don’t realize that much of the West’s native trout have been removed from their historical ranges, and the remaining “natives” are those fish that many consider to be trash fish.

“If we aim to improve these rivers, we need to leverage the importance of these species to improve trout habitat as well.”

They are some of the original members of that river community, and they belong there. We need all of the pieces of a river ecosystem intact to keep it healthy.

So take a second look at that “trash” fish and give it some serious props for helping improve and restore our rivers for the other fish species we love.

Randy Scholfield is TU’s communications director for the Southwest.

Photo credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

"Catch and Release" Partnership on the Big Thompson

In 2013, devastating floods ripped through canyons near Estes Park, Colorado - wiping out vegetation, roads, and of course the common signs we are used to seeing as anglers. While the Colorado Department of Transportation continues to rebuild the infrastructure and river channel, local organizations have partnered to support the effort in their own way - restoring "Catch and Release" signs to the Big Thompson. In 2017, the Alpine Anglers chapter raised funds during monthly meetings and events over the summer to purchase the signs, posts and hardware, as well as, worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to procure the proper signage.  Kirk Bien, who owns and operates the Kirk's Fly Shop and Guide Service, was eager to get the signs replaced by the flood as he and the shop's guides have noticed an increasing number of bait users and fishermen taking fish from this fragile nine mile stretch of water.

Working together, the two groups helped to build the signs and Kirk's guides put them out in the Fall.  As the ecosystem slowly begins to rebuild itself, it is critical that anglers respect the fragile nature of these fish populations.  Thank you to Kirk's Fly Shop, the guides, and our members in the Alpine Anglers Chapter for helping to protect this recovering stretch of river!

More about Kirk's:

Kirks Fly Shop is located in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado, the Gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. They are a family owned and operated, full pro-line fly shop, offering the top of the line fly fishing equipment, as well as backpacking and camping gear. Fly Fishing, hiking, backpacking and climbing in the great outdoors and Rocky Mountains are their passions, and they want to share our passion with you and make sure you have the most enjoyable and memorable Rocky Mountain National Park experience.

More about Alpine Anglers:

Alpine Anglers supports the native cutthroat trout recovery program in Rocky Mountain National Park. With our friends and fellow TU members, we provide more than 1200 hours of volunteer effort each year. In 2008, the Mountain-Prairie Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented Alpine Anglers a Regional Director's Award for conservation in recognition of our support of the greenback cutthroat recovery program.

We also hold learn-to-fly fish days for young people in Estes Park. We clean up the Big Thompson River. We assist with post-flood restoration efforts. We meet and learn about new places and new ways to fish. We get together to socialize and have fun. And we occasionally travel and fish together. Check out our activity calendar to see what we're doing this year.

Contacts:

President:                     Lynn Myers

Membership:                Danny Meade

Communications:         Dwight Strandberg

You can reach us through our chapter email: AlpineAnglers.TU@gmail.com or on Facebook at Trout Unlimited - Alpine Anglers Chapter #453

Keeping Natives Alive on Abrams Creek

A unique species of native cutthroat on Abrams Creek: help is on the way.  By Randy Scholfield

Living with less water—that’s the reality facing all of us who depend on the Upper Colorado River for our drinking water, food production, and outdoor recreation.

A recent scientific paper found that the Upper Colorado River Basin has lost 7 percent of its flows in last three decades due to higher temperatures caused by human-induced climate change. In a basin that supplies water for 40 million people and where every drop is used and accounted for, that’s only the latest red flag that our world is changing and that we need to take collective action to keep our rivers and communities healthy.

That’s why projects like Abrams Creek are so important.

This tiny creek outside of Gypsum has a rare population of native Colorado River cutthroat trout that’s genetically unique and the only aboriginal trout population in the Eagle River watershed. And because Abrams Creek has a lower elevation than many cutthroat streams, say biologists, its native trout might be better adapted to warmer temperatures—another reason why this vulnerable fish population is important to preserve.

For more than a century, however, Abrams Creek has been de-watered by irrigation diversions that drastically reduce its flows in late summer and fall. The trout have been hanging on, but they’re seriously pressured. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has called this population the “highest priority” for cutthroat conservation efforts in Western Colorado.

In 2016, Trout Unlimited’s Mely Whiting helped negotiate a deal with the local irrigation company, Buckhorn Valley Metro District, which agreed to pipe their irrigation ditch and thereby reduce leakage by 40 percent, with the water savings going back into the creek to keep the fish healthy.

The biggest hurdle was money. Piping the irrigation ditch along several miles of ditch would cost more than $1 million.

A year later, says Whiting, this fundraising goal has been met, thanks to efforts by TU, Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited, Buckhorn Valley, CPW and the Eagle River Watershed Council, who secured grants from a variety of sources, including the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado River Basin Roundtable, Bureau of Reclamation and the town of Gypsum, as well as donations from BLM, Colorado's Species Conservation Fund and local buisnesses like Fortius Realty, NAI Mountain and Alpine Bank.

“Turns out, a lot of people were ready and willing to step up to protect this jewel of a stream,” says Whiting. Because of these collective efforts, she says, the project is officially a go. Construction is expected to start next year on piping the ditch, and the future of Abrams Creek cutthroats looks bright.

In an age of changing climate and paralyzing partisanship, it’s easy to get discouraged about the prospects for our rivers and streams.

One lesson of Abrams Creek: In a world of less water, there’s hope for preserving the health and quality of our rivers, fish and wildlife if we dig in and work together on solutions.

For more information and to donate to the project, go to TU’s Abrams Creek project page.

Randy Scholfield is Trout Unlimited’s director of communications for the Southwest.

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.

Partnerships Paying Off for Fraser River

The fish are returning to Fraser Flats. It took years of vision and persistence, but Trout Unlimited’s long-game strategy of collaboration on the Upper Colorado River is paying big dividends for anglers and local communities that depend on a healthy river.

Exhibit A is the Fraser Flats Habitat Project. The Fraser River, a key tributary of the Upper Colorado, had been degraded by years of water diversions and other pressures.

TU and a host of water stakeholders joined forces to reverse that decline. The effort, called Learning by Doing, brought together a variety of partners including Denver Water, Northern Water, Grand County, Trout Unlimited, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to help restore the Upper Colorado watershed.

The group’s inaugural project at Fraser Flats aimed to restore a roughly one-mile stretch of the Fraser between the towns of Tabernash and Fraser, with the goal of providing healthy habitat for trout even during periods of reduced flows. The Fraser in this section had become too wide and shallow, resulting in sedimentation and high temperatures that smothered bug life and pressured coldwater-loving trout.

Design work began last fall. In late spring, more than 150 volunteers turned out to plant willows and cottonwoods along the streambank for shade and bank stability. Then in summer and fall, the group brought in Freestone Aquatics to narrow the river with point bars and other structures to increase velocity and depth of the river. Freestone also created a series of riffle and deep pools to provide better holding water for trout.

The results already have been nothing short of spectacular.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife conducted a fish survey on Oct. 5, shortly after completion of the project, and found dramatic increases in the biomass of brown and rainbow trout in the stretch compared to previous surveys, and an even larger increase in numbers of larger (14" and up) fish.

Preliminary electrofishing survey results from CPW showed the reach experienced a 415% increase in brown trout biomass, and a 550% increase in the numbers of brown trout greater than 14" in length. While rainbows are a smaller component of the population (15% of biomass, 25% of larger fish #s), they also blossomed with an increase of 267% in biomass and a 400% boost in fish over 14".

"We are elated," Mely Whiting, legal counsel for Trout Unlimited, told the local Ski-Hi News. "This is amazing. The biomass [in the river] has more than tripled, just from last year, and only in the matter of a couple of weeks since the project was completed.”

Biologists also reported seeing large brown trout actively spawning in many areas of the stretch. In short, Fraser River trout have wasted no time moving into the improved habitat.

What’s more, starting in spring 2018, the project will also provide public fishing access along a half-mile of the Fraser Flats section.

“This section of the Fraser River is the healthiest I’ve seen this river in the 47 years I’ve lived here,” TU’s Klancke said. “The best part is we’re hoping to do more river improvements like this in the future with our Learning By Doing partners.”

Colorado Public Radio this week aired a segment about the successful project and the "unusual partnership" between TU and Denver Water .

Watch the video below from Denver Water for another good overview of the project benefits.