Congress Boosts Land and Water Funds

Not exactly front-page news to the mainstream media, but it's pretty big news to us. Congress recently approved increased funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Revenues for program, created in 1965, come from offshore oil and gas leases. LWCF benefits are far-reaching. According to Will Rogers, President of the Trust for Public Lands. “This program protects lands and jobs across the nation, from local parks and trails to Civil War battlefields and local forestry jobs in New England and Montana, to the Sierra Nevada in California.”

In a news release announcing the funding increase, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition (TU is a member), pointed out that outdoor recreation, conservation and historic preservation contribute $1.06 trillion annually to the U.S. economy, and support 9.4 million – or 1 out of every 15 - American jobs. The coalition lauded the efforts of a number of members of Congress, including Colorado Senator Mark Udall and Representative Scott Tipton (3rd District) of Cortez.

This year’s LWCF appropriation will increase to a shade under 323 million. If there’s a down-side, it’s that more than $900 million in offshore royalties are deposited into a special trust fund each year, so there’s still room for improvement. You can learn more about the LWCF at lwcfcoalition.org.

Colorado TU fighting for clean water

Colorado TU, along with its conservation partners the Colorado Environmental Coalition, High Country Citizens Alliance, and San Juan Citizens Alliance, has filed its comments and recommendations for water quality standards to protect against excessive nutrient in Colorado waterways.  Through cooperation with one of Colorado's largest dischargers, the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, these conservation partners have supported a compromise strategy that will put standards in place while allowing facility upgrades to be phased in over the next ten years - helping keep costs to customers reasonable.  The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission will be taking final action on nutrient standards in March 2012.  Click here to read our press release. Many anglers notice that they can catch larger fish below treatment plants on some of Colorado's rivers and so may wonder why Colorado TU would be looking to restrict nutrients.  The "Old Professor" (retired biologist Dr John Nickum) explains the issue in his December 2011 column in High Country Angler. The simple answer is that while some added nutrients can help boost productivity, too much can also create unhealthy river conditions - including declines in key macroinvertebrate and fish species.  A little nutrient can help - but too much of a good thing is just that:  too much.

The Colorado White River basin - Best Wild Places

From Field & Stream:The White River basin might be the West’s best deer and elk hunting destination, and the river itself is a trophy trout fishery home to massive rainbow and brown trout. High in Trapper’s Lake, native Colorado River cutthroat trout still swim. The area, though, is also highly coveted by the energy industry, and its use of water and land is of concern to the connectivity of the region from a fish and game standpoint. Trout Unlimited is working with local volunteers and the energy industry to prove that oil and gas extraction can be done in a way that protects the long-term viability of our sporting resources.

Read More Here

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

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.