Roadless Areas Win Big Victory – But Future for Colorado Still at Risk

Those who care about roadless areas nationwide can rest a bit easier, knowing that the law is indeed on their side.  As reported in the Denver Post, on October 21, the 10^th Circuit federal appeals court issued a ruling affirming the 2001 roadless rule and reversing and injunction against the rule that had been issued in the District Court.  The ruling puts the national roadless rule back on firm legal ground.  However, the US Forest Service and Colorado Department of Natural Resources intend to continue forward with a Colorado-specific rule, so we still do not know the protections that will ultimately apply to 4.2 million acres of outstanding Colorado backcountry. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said that while the Obama Administration "strongly supports [the] court decision … we also remain committed to moving forward with the Colorado Roadless Rule for National Forests there."

The most recent draft of the Colorado Rule, while improved from earlier drafts, still is weaker on balance than the 2001 rule which was just reaffirmed in court.  To offset parts of the rule that weaken backcountry protection – such as allowances for coal mining and ski areas – Colorado TU and other sportsmen have called for a number of changes that would strengthen the rule and help it reach a balance that is as strong or stronger than the 2001 rule.  Specific points of concern include:

• Since some areas enjoy weaker protections, other areas should receive stronger, “Upper Tier” protection.  This status needs to be meaningful, with extra protections such as no surface occupancy stipulations to ensure that energy development takes place without harming habitat, and needs to apply to more of Colorado's backcountry than in the current proposal.
• Protections need to be strengthened so that Colorado’s native cutthroat trout, which depend heavily on habitat in roadless areas, are adequately protected when activities (such as logging or building of temporary roads) are allowed within roadless backcountry.
• “Linear construction zones” – a euphemism for a temporary road along the path of a linear facility such as power lines or a pipeline – need to be more tightly restricted to ensure that they do not become a huge loophole that undermines backcountry protection.

Colorado TU has called on the Forest Service to adopt changes to address these concerns and ensure that any Colorado rule is as strong on balance as the 2001 rule.  The fish, wildlife, and recreational economies that rely on healthy Colorado backcountry should enjoy protections every bit as strong as those that apply throughout the rest of the country.

While Colorado’s roadless future remains uncertain, for roadless areas nationwide there is reason to celebrate.  The 10th Circuit decision is a clear rejection of Wyoming's legal arguments against the rule -- the appeals court simply disagreed with the lower court's conclusion that Wyoming's legal arguments were valid. For those who like reading legal decisions, the “money” quote from the decision is:  "Wyoming failed to demonstrate that the Forest Service's promulgation of the Roadless Rule violated the Wilderness Act, NEPA, MUSYA, or NFMA."

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

Great Alaskan fishery faces crippling threat

 

Scott Willoughby: Denver Post:

For those unfamiliar with SaveBristolBay.org and its tour featuring the locally produced film "Red Gold," its mission is to educate folks on the threat of the gargantuan Pebble Mine proposed to be built at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the world's greatest salmon fishery.

The rivers of Bristol Bay make up the world's largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery and arguably its top sport fishery, accounting for a $360 million annual economy. People, like me, travel from afar to take part in the annual upstream migration, whether for work or wild adventure.

After recently discovering the world's second-largest copper and gold resource at the river headwaters, a multinational mining corporation known as Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) has applied for permits to develop one of the largest mines on the planet, an open-pit mine estimated at 55 square miles and producing several billion tons of toxic waste requiring treatment and storage in perpetuity.

Needless to say, the Pebble Mine proposal isn't sitting well with the massive fishing industry, given the potential for seepage into ground and surface water in the seismically active area surrounding the vital and pristine Kvichak and Nushagak rivers. That's just the sort of thing that devastates fisheries, and leads to my stories.

Read the entire story here.

Study: Climate Change Threatens Trout Habitat

  From Colorado Public Radio - Please take a moment to listen:

Drive past a river in Colorado’s mountains and there’s a good chance you’ll see someone trying to land a trout. But now, scientists say, Colorado’s best trout-fishing rivers are in jeopardy because of climate change. A new study says trout habitat in the West will shrink by about half over the next 70 years. Kurt Fausch is a professor of fish biology at Colorado State University, and a co-author of the study. He speaks with Ryan Warner.

Click here to visit CPR and listen to the podcast.

Not as bad as climate change models predict

Robin Knox, CoordinatorWestern Native Trout Initiative

It is a risky proposition to try to predict outcomes in nature based solely on a single environmental event or external consequence. We should remember America’s Draconian views on fire suppression and U.S. Forest Service's fire policy before and after the great fire in Yellowstone National Park in 1988.

We were reminded of “unpredictable nature” once again after reviewing the recent report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Wenger et al.,2011) discussing the potential effects of various climate change models on the future distribution of four trout species in the western United States.

In the worst case scenario, under a University of Washington climate change model-MIROC3.2 (Liittel et al. 2010), the Wenger report predicts a possible 47 percent decline in all trout habitat and a 58 percent decline in native cutthroat trout habitat due to increased water temperatures and negative interactions with non-native rainbow, brook and brown trout.

While the comprehensive report provided valuable insight into the precarious future of western trout populations due to factors related directly to climate change, it’s important to remember there are many other variables involved with coldwater native trout fisheries.

Climate change and its predicted impact notwithstanding, native trout fisheries will continue to face the realities of an expanding human population across vast stretches of the West. Regardless of your belief in the predictability of climate change models, the status of native western trout hangs in the balance for many reasons. In addition to the changing weather patterns, fisheries will continue to be negatively impacted by the demands for water and energy, drought and forest fires, and competition with introduced non-native species. The good news is that these negative impacts can be reduced and altered by sound conservation policies at the local, state and federal levels.

So it was unfortunate that the authors of this paper focused solely on the predicted decline and demise of these fish species without factoring in potential remediation efforts. Among these are better resource management practices, habitat protection and conservation initiatives to help protect these valuable fish species. It’s interesting to note that brook trout, for example, one of the main competitors of other native trout species, may suffer even greater negative impacts from climate change and thus reduce the competition for habitat with cutthroat trout where they coexist.

Since 2006, the Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI) has been working to protect, restore and enhance the habitats of western native trout, and reduce the competition with non-native fish species. The fundamental goal of WNTI is to speed the implementation of conservation strategies for native trout across the West. The intent is to have conservation and management actions focus on common themes that include (but are not limited to) water quantity and water quality improvements, improving fish passage and connectivity of watersheds, developing in-stream and riparian habitat to cool waters, and conducting non-native fish removals. These actions are supported by WNTI’s designation as a National Fish Habit Partnership under the auspices of the parallel National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP).

Taking corrective actions to conserve and protect the 19 species of native trout and char here in the West and other important trout habitats across the country from environmental threats such as climate change and water loss comes with a cost, of course. Action by trout anglers across the country to help financially support the programs of trout-related Initiatives like WNTI or the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture is sorely needed. Sound habitat management practices for trout can result in lowered water temperatures, stronger resilience to drought, flood and fire events, all of which are expected to become more common as weather patters change in the future.

Anglers and the greater conservation community in general have always supported worthwhile efforts like these in the past. They need to step up to the plate once again for the future. For more information on how to help, visit www.westernnativetrout.org and www.fishhabitat.org.

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.

Fall fishing on the Arkansas

This year has been one of contrasts for the Arkansas River, with spring upper basin snowpack far exceeding normal while the drainage from Salida east languished in drought. The result was forty days of flows over 3000 cfs while an observer standing on shore was subject to arrest for even lighting a cigarette. The high water has long since passed, but the effects have played out to anglers’ benefit in the later season. Many hatches have been prolonged or delayed, leading to recent observation of midges, tricos, red quills, blue wing olives, caddis and golden stoneflies all in the air during the second half of September. Meanwhile, trout are still feeding hard as they retire the calorie deficit incurred during the extended runoff. The result has been some outstanding fishing, even if zeroing in on specific food source has been complicated by the diversity and sheer numbers of aquatic insects available. Tough problem to have! Looking ahead, a seasonable low flow (375 cfs on 9/21) coupled with a strengthening La Nina in the eastern Pacific suggests dry fall weather will keep the river clear and low into mid-November. With these conditions, fish will be able to continue a strong feed and should have a successful spawn (brown trout) in October. As happened last year, we will be floating well into November and wading throughout the winter.

In the weeks ahead, look for the insect diversity to narrow and for blue wing olive mayflies and midges to comprise the primary hatches. Stonefly nymphs and caddis larvae will continue to round out the subsurface diet. Up to date fishing reports are available at www.arkanglers.com or by calling 719-539-4223.

Over the River Update

The Over the River art project proposed by Christo Javacheff continues its journey through the Bureaucracy of Land Management. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was released in late July and we all await release of the BLM’s Record of Decision soon. Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed by ArkAnglers, Arkansas River Fly Shop, and the citizen’s group Roar against the Colorado Department of Natural Resources is about to enter its next phase with the Response from the State due in the next week. Also pending is an intervention in the lawsuit by Mr. Javacheff’s Over the River Corporation. The next few weeks should clarify the strength of our case and give us clearer direction on the fight ahead.

For those who would like to make their feelings about this project known, we encourage visitation and comment submittal through this link. The American Sportsfishing Association will relay comments directly to DNR Director Mike King, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, and to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Feel free to contact me for a copy of ArkAnglers comments on the FEIS or to view a PDF of the complaint filed against the state.

Greg Felt, Guide Service Manager ArkAnglers 719-539-4223

Update on "Over the River"

"Over the River" is a proposed art installation by the artist Cristo which would drape large fabric covers over wires installed across the Arkansas River. The project as proposed would cover about 5.9 miles of the Arkansas, in segments spread over a 42-mile reach of the stream. Colorado TU has raised concerns about the project - particularly in terms of potential impacts from sedimentation created by the construction and installation, and in ensuring that designated "Areas of Critical Environmental Concern" are protected. The BLM's Final EIS suggests that harmful impacts to these critical environmental areas are OK, so long as they are ultimately reversible. Colorado TU disagrees with that approach, and believes that Areas of Critical Environmental Concern need to be managed to protect those critical values for which they were designated, not to damage and later repair them. A full copy of our recent comment letter can be read here.

The American Sportfishing Association, which represents members of the sport fishing industry, has developed an action alert on Over the River. If you would like to learn more about their concerns or take action by sending an email to key decisionmakers, click here to visit their action site.

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!