Money flows to study of Lightner Creek

by Dale RodebaughHerald Staff Writer

The Southwestern Water Conservation District has contributed $3,600 to help fund the second phase of a study to determine the source of periodic sediment in Lightner Creek.

Initial results of the study point to the Perins Canyon watershed and a stormwater retention basin as possible sources.

For years, water-protection groups and Trout Unlimited have been concerned about the chalky-colored water that from time to time enters the Animas River from Lightner Creek immediately south of the DoubleTree Hotel.

In February 2009, Buck Skillen, a board member of Trout Unlimited, tested water turbidity at the confluence of the waterways. When he poured 60 cubic centimeters of water (the equivalent of two shot glasses or a medical syringe) in a filter, it became clogged by the time 45 centimeters had passed through.

Overall water quality and the effects of sediment on the Animas' gold-medal trout fishery are the major concerns of the coalition of concerned groups that initiated the study last October.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/06/11/Money_flows_to_study_of_Lightner_Creek/

Upper Colorado Makes Endangered Rivers List

Colorado Public Radio

Colorado Matters

The thirst for water along the Front Range makes the Upper Colorado one of the nation's 10 most endangered rivers. That's according to the national watchdog group, American Rivers. The Upper Colorado begins in Rocky Mountain National Park and flows southwest toward Utah. Plans are underway for two separate projects to take more water from it-- near Kremmling-- then send it to Denver and cities in northern Colorado.  Now conservationists say it's not that they want cities to dry up for lack of water. But they don't want that for the river either. Ryan Warner speaks with Ken Neubecker, past president of Colorado Trout Unlimited. Listen to interview: http://www.cpr.org/article/Upper_Colorado_Makes_Endangered_Rivers_List

Sportsman's watchman

A tribute to outdoorsman/journalist charlie meyers

By Karl Licis Special to The Denver Post

On Saturday, the property through which the Dream Stream flows will be dedicated as the Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area in his honor.

Following, in random order, are some shared thoughts from people with a connection to the stream of dreams.

* * *

"Completely sated." Roger Hill is an expert angler, innovator and author of "Fly Fishing the South Platte River: an Angler's Guide," the first insightful book addressing the Dream Stream. He lives in Colorado Springs and is credited with procuring 12 miles of barbed wire for the Cheyenne Mountain chapter of Trout Unlimited for fencing the property in order to keep out the cattle.

"It's always been a challenge, but also very rewarding. It's had great hatches and demanding fish, but when you were on them it was incredibly good. I have many fond memories of days when the fishing was so good I would leave the river completely sated by the early afternoon."

* * *

For future generations. Sinjin Eberle is board president for Colorado Trout Unlimited, which has been involved in every aspect of making the Dream Stream what it has become. Eberle has limited Dream Stream experience, but he coordinated CTU's Buffalo Peaks project in the upper South Platte drainage. There he met Meyers.

"I was telling him all about the project and he was listening, but he also was observing every mayfly and every rising trout. He was fully in tune with every bit of the nature that was all around him, and that really drove home the point to me about why we're doing these things — the need to pass it on for future generations.

"The Dream Stream, along with two or three other rivers in Colorado, is widely known nationally and internationally, and he was a big part of making it what it is."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15236345

Colorado River makes threatened list

By Bobby Magill

Coloradoan

The Colorado River through Rocky Mountain National Park and Grand and Eagle counties was highlighted this week as one of the most threatened rivers in the U.S. by environmental group American Rivers. The group creates an annual list of rivers it considers threatened by development, water depletion and other factors.

More than 60 percent of the water in the Colorado River's headwaters has been removed by water diversion projects, feeding growing cities on the Front Range and elsewhere in Colorado, harming the river's trout fisheries and riparian areas, said Ken Neubecker of Colorado Trout Unlimited.

"If you take all the water out, you kill the river," he said.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100604/LOVELAND01/100604003

Front Range projects are river threats, group says

GJ Sentinel

By Gary Harmon

The upper reaches of the Colorado River are endangered by proposed expansions of two transmountain-diversion projects, an advocacy group said. The projects, the Windy Gap Firming Project and the Moffat Tunnel Collection System Project, would increase diversions from the upper Colorado River by at least 48,000 acre-feet a year.

The threat to the river’s fishery, boating and water supply to downstream users placed the Upper Colorado River at No. 6 in the 2010 list of the nation’s most-endangered rivers by American Rivers.

The American Rivers list puts a needed spotlight on how much water is taken from the Colorado River Basin, Ken Neubecker of Colorado Trout Unlimited said.

“We need to start looking at whole picture not just the balkanized water-supply picture” of the way the Colorado River is divided up between the Front Range and Western Slope, Neubecker said.

Trout Unlimited hopes it can use American Waters’ listing of the river as endangered “as a vehicle to raise awareness on the Front Range about the cost of their water” in terms of water quality and quantity on the other side of the mountains, Neubecker said.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/front_range_projects_are_river/

Upper Colorado River makes list of endangered rivers

By Tonya BinaSky-Hi Daily News

The Upper Colorado River has secured a spot on America's Most Endangered Rivers list, released today by American Rivers.

The threat of two new water diversion projects that could “sap the life from the Upper Colorado” was a main reason the river was chosen for the report's No. 6 spot.

“The most endangered river listings get the attention of media and policy-makers,” said Randy Scholfield, spokesperson of Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project. “It does help to highlight some of the threats facing these rivers and helps them get the grassroots support they need.”

http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20100602/NEWS/100609984/1079&ParentProfile=1067

Drilling sites garner little interest

BY BOBBY MAGILL

Coloradoan

Corey Fisher of Trout Unlimited said that might show there isn't much interest in new energy development in North Park and that the industry believes the area is an exploration zone. Despite the lack of interest, the parcels that sold are in sensitive trout habitat, he said.

One parcel straddles the North Platte River and one of its tributaries, while the others are near the headwaters of different tributary streams.

"Development on any of those leases could be problematic," Fisher said, calling those streams "irreplaceable fisheries."

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100524/NEWS01/5240307/Drilling-sites-garner-little-interest#pluckcomments

BLM targets Alpine Triangle recreation plan

by Dale Rodebaugh

Herald Staff Writer

"We believe the BLM does a fabulous job of managing the Alpine Triangle, especially given its limited budget," Ty Churchwell, with the Five Rivers chapter of Trout Unlimited, said Friday. "It does little to change the current management plan, while recognizing that the resource is under ever-increasing pressure from recreational users." Churchwell said the motto for the Trout Unlimited campaign is: Keep it like it is. He said his organization wants to give the BLM long-term direction on management and possibly funding.

The BLM can't advocate for or endorse any particular legislative action, Churchwell said. The land is public and self-governance is the cornerstone of discussions.

"It's up to citizens to direct the BLM as to how we'd like to see our public lands managed," Churchwell said. "The (BLM) recreational plan is a good indicator of the beliefs of Alpine Triangle stakeholders and a tool we can use as we start discussions about the future of the area."

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/05/23/BLM_targets_Alpine_Triangle_recreation_plan/

Tour reveals river damage in Edwards

Sarah MausolfVail Correspondent Post Independent

The Eagle River Watershed Council and Trout Unlimited invited stakeholders on a rafting trip to tour the length of river where the $4 million restoration project is taking place.

About two thirds of the river restoration project is complete, said Melissa Macdonald, executive director of the watershed council. In 2008, workers added stones along the banks that pinch the water into a narrower, deeper channel. That helps keep fish healthy when the river is low. This stretch of the river gets wide and hot during low flow times, which is bad for fish, Macdonald said.

“The fish will either die or leave,” she said.

As houses and parking lots proliferated upstream, Ash said water that would normally soak into the ground instead flowed into the river. That runoff carried extra sediment downstream, depositing it in this stretch of the river.

That sediment caused the river to widen out, and clogged pebbles along the bottom that are an important habitat for the bugs that fish eat.

The restoration project has been fixing those areas to make them more friendly for trout.

http://www.postindependent.com/article/20100522/VALLEYNEWS/100529972/1083&ParentProfile=1074

Plans to Open North Park for Drilling Fought

KUNC

Kirk Siegler

Most springs, when the snow melt is furious, Bill Dvorak grabs his raft and tackle and heads to a wild and remote stretch of the North Platte River northeast of Steamboat Springs. "It's one of those rivers that I really love," Dvorak says. "I've always described it as close as you can get to an Idaho river in Colorado."

He leads outfitting trips that start at 9,000 feet, winding through the Northgate Canyon Wilderness Area, eventually spilling out into a sparsely developed basin known colloquially as North Park.

"It's kind of like the Serengeti of Colorado," Dvorak says. "There's so many animals up in that North Park area, and it definitely deserves some sort of consideration before you would go in there and destroy some of that habitat."

Dvorak is an organizer with the National Wildlife Federation, which along with Colorado Trout Unlimited and other groups have filed formal protests against Thursday's lease auction. The auction includes about 11,000 acres in the North Park area. The groups worry roads and well pads necessary for oil and gas drilling will fragment habitat for wildlife such as the sage grouse, antelope and mule deer.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kunc/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1647955/Regional/Plans.to.Open.North.Park.for.Drilling.Fought