River rescue

Local groups unite to rehabilitate river Durango Telegraph

by Missy Votel

The Animas River is getting a facelift. This week, the City of Durango was awarded an $86,000 grant from the Colorado Division of Wildlife for habitat improvements and bank stabilization for the stretch of river between 9th Street and the Highway 160 bridge. The project, which is planned for August, is meant to improve fish habitat while restoring riparian areas along the western river bank. With the high flows and increased use of the area in recent years, a number of native cottonwoods and shrubs along the banks have disappeared, leading to further erosion and habitat damage.

“Over the last several years, we’ve lost a lot of our big cottonwoods into the river,” said Ty Churchwell, of the Five Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited. “Every time we lose a 150-year-old cottonwood, it takes that long to replace it.”

Churchwell said the trees are important because, in addition to providing bird habitat and cover for fish, their massive root systems help to hold the soil in place. Without them, the bank erodes, causing further undercutting. “The root structure is what keeps the soil from washing away. Every big run-off we have, the problem perpetuates itself.”

Trout Unlimited along with Animas Riverkeepers was instrumental in securing the grant and getting the City of Durango on board with the project. The area to be worked on, which runs adjacent to Roosa Avenue, is city owned, making city cooperation crucial. The west side of the river, versus the east side adjacent to the River Trail and Doubletree, is being pinpointed because that is where the river takes a natural lefthand turn, scouring the west bank especially hard as a result.

http://www.durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/09-03-05/coverstory.htm

Fishing for answers

Colorado Springs Independent By J. ADRIAN STANLEY

Here's the thing: Because CDOT is contributing funds, state law says the Colorado Division of Wildlife must review the plan and ensure the animal environment isn't damaged. So far, the wildlife folks aren't pleased.

Neither is Jack Hunter, president of the Cheyenne Mountain chapter of Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and creating trout habitat. He says the partners ignored his organization's tips on improving the environment for fish.

Under current plans, both Hunter and Division of Wildlife representatives say, water would be too shallow for fish during warm months, while planned small waterfalls would act like barriers to fish. Rocks along the banks would leave nowhere to hide or feed.

The Division of Wildlife and Trout Unlimited argue that changes — such as adding more curves to the creek — could be made without sacrificing the project's other goals. Some ideas might even save money.

http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A35130

Anglers take a lickin' on Habitat Stamp

By Charlie MeyersThe Denver Post

Posted: 02/04/2009 12:30:00 AM MST

Funny thing about Colorado's Habitat Stamp. Most folks I talk to think it's a swell idea to tack $10 onto the price we pay to fish and hunt and that the stamp should be reauthorized either in this session of the legislature or in the next.

But all this enthusiasm comes with a strange caveat. Hardly anyone likes what happened during the first three years of this fundraising project.

In an effort aimed both at reform and in keeping the stamp alive, an advisory group has arrived at a number of proposals to be codified into a bill that might be introduced in a couple of weeks. Otherwise, the stamp faces a do-or-die legislative firing squad during the 2010 session.

Among other changes up for discussion:

• The stamp would involve a one-time $10 cost, no matter how many licenses are involved.

• A stamp would be required to apply for big-game preference points, a measure to prevent abuse by non-resident hunters.

• A stamp would be required of those who purchase search-and-rescue cards.

• DOW could use stamp funds for maintenance and operation of these newly acquired properties.

• Finally, and foremost, public access would be considered a key element in any property selection.

This last element is of particular interest to an angling community that has paid for more than it has received.

"Our organization isn't looking for special treatment, but we don't want anglers to be put in a disadvantageous position," said David Nickum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11621704

Old data fuels protest of oil, gas lease plans

By Mark Jaffe The Denver Post

Updated: 02/04/2009 01:11:04 AM MST

The proposed Feb. 12 sale of oil and gas leases on more than 81,000 acres of national forest, federal and private land in Colorado has sparked protests from the state, counties and environmental groups.

The sale is the most controversial since the $114 million auction of Roan Plateau leases in August.

That sale is the target of a lawsuit by environmental groups.

One major criticism of the upcoming auction is that forest parcels were chosen based on 1993 information about wildlife in the areas and dated science on how drilling might affect that wildlife.

Environmentalists argue that those older rules fail to reflect new information on species and major changes in oil-and-gas-drilling technology.

Trout Unlimited protested the sale on the grounds that it includes about 60,000 acres of prime cutthroat trout habitat.

"The problem is that just about all the cutthroat trout habitat is in this sale," said Cathy Purves, the group's science adviser.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11621716

Drainage project could hit a snag

February 3, 2009 - 9:56 PM

R. SCOTT RAPPOLD

THE GAZETTE

A $3.6 million project to improve drainage on Fountain Creek on the city's west side and keep mine tailings from Gold Hill Mesa out of the water is in jeopardy, caught between competing visions for the creek.

Should the creek be as natural as possible, capable of supporting a healthy fish population, or should it be an urban drainage channel, funneling water downstream as quickly as possible?

City officials say if they can't soon reach a consensus with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which must issue a permit, the project may not happen.

The local chapter of Trout Unlimited, a conservation group that works to restore waterways, last week issued a news release objecting to the project. The group had been working with the Stormwater Enterprise on its design.

The DOW and Trout Unlimited have asked the city to not grout the boulders in the rip-rap, keep the creek narrower, deeper with more curves and bends, and to remove from the plan some of the cross-creek barriers.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/creek_47415___article.html/project_city.html

PitCo seeks to leave more water in Roaring Fork

by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Pitkin County is taking unprecedented steps to keep more water flowing down the Roaring Fork River for environmental purposes.

In November, county voters approved a 0.1 percent sales tax worth $1 million a year to create a “healthy rivers and stream fund” to “secure, create, and augment minimum stream flows.”

“I am not aware of any other Colorado county putting in place a tax similar to what Pitkin County has done,” said Linda Bassi, the chief of the Stream and Lake Protection division of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB). Ken Neubecker, the president of Colorado Trout Unlimited, also supported the trust agreement between the CWCB and Pitkin County.

“I do think it’s a good idea to have such a trust, whether it’s with the CWCB or the Colorado Water Trust,” Neubecker said. “We need to have financial vehicles where money can be raised for acquisition of in-stream flow water.“

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/131954

A fine trout stream

Big Thompson’s catch-and-release water “right near the top” of its potential, DOW says

By Mike Oatley Friday, December 26, 2008

Things are quiet on the Big Thompson these days, or at least as quiet as the winter weather can make one of the most popular trout streams on the Front Range. With U.S. 34 snaking along just yards away and lots of public access, from Estes Park to Loveland, the Big T is about as accessible as a trout stream can get. Rarely is the river completely empty of anglers. Flows out of Olympus Dam keep at least a little water open year round, and if it's humanly possible to fish, there will be a truck in the parking lot of Wapiti Park, and at least one angler will be working the water that glides behind the go-cart tracks, batting cages and miniature golf courses that crowd along the north bank. It's as heavily fished as a trout stream can get. Names get attached to stretches of trout streams. Downstream, there is Cottonwood, Caddis Flats, Sleepy Hollow. The water right below the dam is a run of river some call The Petting Zoo.

http://www.eptrail.com/news/2008/dec/26/fine-trout-stream/

Thanks To Coyote Gulch for the link.

Forest Service echoes concern over Ritter plan

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Environmentalists have gotten some support from Forest Service officials who agree that the state’s plans to overhaul protections for roadless lands across the state could hurt wildlife.

“I think the state has been on a learning curve with this,” said Sloan Shoemaker, executive director of Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop, which says the state’s roadless protections are too weak. “Initially Gov. Ritter and the Department of Natural Resources had the perception that this was a no-brainer because there was a perception of 100 percent consensus and buyoff from all the stakeholders, but in fact that wasn’t really the case.”

Environmental groups have panned Ritter’s proposed roadless rules, meant to replace federal rules that have been at least temporarily struck down by federal court, as too full of loopholes to adequately protect 4.4 million acres of Colorado forest land free from roads.

In recent weeks, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), both environmentally oriented sportsmen’s groups, have released studies critical of the plan.

“We are concerned that the current draft rule has too little focus on protecting these valuable areas and too much focus on granting exceptions — some exceptions that are very broadly worded and could significantly undermine conservation of backcountry habitat,” David Nickum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited, wrote to the Forest Service.

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/130451

Fish will be free to swim in south Boulder

Daily Camera By Laura Snider Sunday, November 9, 2008

A new concrete ramp covered in flowing water will let fish swim all the way from Valmont and Baseline Reservoirs in eastern Boulder to Eldorado Springs.

The city’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department is working to install a “fish passage” at the McGinn Ditch diversion on South Boulder Creek just north of U.S. 36. When the passage is finished, the 20 or so species of fish that live in the creek will be able to move more freely across Boulder’s waterways.

“This will open up the whole area to spawning grounds,” said Larry Quilling, president of Boulder Flycasters.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/nov/09/fish-will-be-free-swim-south-boulder/

Trees for Trout

A YouTube video from one of our partners, the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, and their Trees for Trout program. They take dead trees from the devastated Hayman fire area in central Colorado, and build trout habitat. The video is CUSP's entry in the Tom's of Maine River Stories video contest:

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilHWCD2xUM8