Help needed at Big Thompson Wildlife Area

Big Thompson Wildlife Area - Lend A Hand DayWhen: Saturday, July 19th Volunteer Project Time: 7:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. with lunch provided at noon Number of Volunteers Expected: 100

Project Description: Big Thompson, fondly know as Big T has been significantly damaged from the flood in the fall of 2013. Volunteers will help remove fence, clean up a lot of debris, and help to scatter seed and plant willows to help restore some of the damage. Volunteers will be encouraged to car pool as parking is limited. Amenities will be primitive. Check out this link for more information on Big Thompson: http://cpw.state.co.us/swa/Big%20Thompson%20Ponds%20SWA

Ways to get involved: • Volunteer with the project or serve as a group lead • Help with volunteer registration or lunch set up and clean up • Donate money, tools, expertise or resources towards project

*Will give some career type demonstrations or talks geared towards younger volunteers over lunch and via group leads. SIGN UP: If you are interested in getting involved or volunteering for either of these projects please contact Vicki Leigh at vicki.leigh@state.co.us or at 303-291-7299.

Trout Unlimited Rolls Out TroutBlitz

As part of Trout Unlimited’s mission to conserve, protect and restore North America's coldwater fisheries and their watersheds, Trout Unlimited is now featuring TroutBlitz. TroutBlitz is a program that allows anglers all over, both members and non-TU members, to contribute to the protection and conservation of trout and their habitats. TroutBlitz is an online program that allows anglers to picture and document the fish they caught to help TU scientists understand the populations of trout and the quality of the watersheds across North America. By using a simple TroutBlitz website interface, all anglers, not just Trout Unlimited members can upload pictures of their fish and document the location where they caught it.

The program was initiated to help organize a catalog and map healthy populations of wild and native trout. By sharing their information, “anglers can help us identify healthy populations of native trout and help us understand where non-native trout have been introduced over the years,” said TU senior scientist, Jack Williams in a Trout Unlimited press release.

Documenting the fish an angler catches, not only helps the TU scientists understand the populations of trout, it gives a better understanding of the watersheds and habitats across North America. According to the TU press release, “they [anglers] can help the organization [Trout Unlimited] identify intact watersheds, important tracts of intact habitat and waters that could benefit from restoration work, reconnection efforts or even native fish reintroduction efforts.”

Along with native and non-native trout, the feature will also help anglers and TU know where there are pockets of rare native fish, including bull trout and grayling.

To get involved, all you need to do is go fishing. Take your camera (or smart phone) with you to document your catch, along with a GPS device or map that will help determine where the catch was made, (some cameras or smart phones can track the GPS for you). After that, all you need to do is catch a fish then upload it to the TroutBlitz interface by clicking “add observations” on the TroutBlitz website.

TroutBlitz is offered through iNaturalist.org so to begin uploading catches you must sign up for an iNaturalist account for free. From there you can help TU and other scientists understand more about native and non-native trout all across North America. For more information on how to upload your photos and document your fish, visit Trout Unlimited’s TroutBlitz webpage.

As an incentive for anglers to share their catch, TU is offering prizes for the top posters. Prizes include some TU merchandise and apparel, a free TU membership, and chances to win prizes provided by sponsors.

For more information on the program, check out the Trout Unlimited press release regarding TroutBlitz.

New Push for Browns Canyon - Join Us!

While most sportsmen and women in Colorado have fished, hunted, hiked, or floated in and around Browns Canyon along the Arkansas River, few know that federal legislation to protect it has been in process for over 20 years. Recently, Trout Unlimited launched a new push to protect this beautiful, habitat-rich canyon, and rally sportsmen and women to designate Browns, once and for all, a National Monument. Why a monument? Being designated a monument would protect—for all time—the 22,000-acre backcountry area with its current mixed uses for all sportsmen and women. Browns Canyon would remain just as wild and pristine as it is today, so that future generations of anglers and hunters can enjoy this magnificent “last best place.”

Besides preserving vital fish and wildlife habitat, the monument designation would also be an economic boon for the Arkansas River valley and the state, which depend on tourism and recreation dollars.

Browns Canyon, located between Buena Vista and Salida, has for generations been one of the most floated rivers in the state. . Add a recently designated gold medal fishery and exceptional backcountry hunting grounds, and you can see why Coloradans want to protect it forever. Recent and future mining and other development interests in the area could change all of that if we don’t protect it now.

The immediate need is for sportsmen and women to speak up and tell our leaders that Browns Canyon is a special place—and let’s keep it the way it is.

For more information, and to sign up to join the coalition, please visit http://www.sportsmenforbrowns.com or contact Kyle Perkins at kperkins@tu.org.

Colorado High School Teacher Wins National Conservation Award

Thanks to his conservation efforts and environmental teaching within the program of Trout in the Classroom, local Summit High School teacher, Jamie Lambrecht is the newest winner of the 2014 Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE). The PIAEE is awarded to 16 different teachers across the country each year. These teachers have dedicated their time and curriculum to teaching their students about the importance of environmental conservation. According the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the award is given to teachers, “to nationally honor, support and encourage educators who incorporate environmental education in their classrooms & teaching methods.”

For Lambrecht, winning the award is an honor; but he is most happy with the recognition the award represents. According to Lambrecht, the award shows that, “people are starting to realize the efforts that go into watersheds and conservation.” This is the reason behind his involvement with the Trout in the Classroom program (TIC).

Lambrecht has been involved with the TIC program for the last three years. With a biology degree under his belt, he felt very drawn to the program when it was being offered by Gore Range Trout Unlimited. “I wanted a way for kids to get more involved with some more hands on research,” he said.

The program reaches about 150-200 kids between the ages of 14 and 18 at Summit High School in Summit County, Colorado. “The program is an elective class, [as an extension of the biology department] therefore students have to sign up and want to take it,” said Lambrecht.

His curriculum involves more than growing fish in tanks; it helps students learn all about the aquatic ecosystem. Students learn about the insects in the water, the affects of pH and nitrate towards water quality, and other ways to help improve the river habitat. The kids also learn how these different traits affect fishing. Lambrecht says, “The kids leave the class ready to fish.”

In the future Lambrecht and Gore Range TU are going to continue with the Trout in the Classroom program as well as other conservation projects that will help kids get more involved with watershed conservation.

For more information on the Trout in the Classroom program, check out the article on the Stream Explorers Program.

Josh Duplechian, Senior Producer, Trout Unlimited

Do you ever catch yourself staring at a particular photograph for longer than usual? Have you ever watched something that inspired you to take action? My job is to provide people with that content.

It’s my soul purpose to connect our members and beyond to a person or a place that is critically important to the Trout Unlimited organization. As the Senior Producer at Trout Unlimited, I am a photographer, filmmaker and producer charged with telling the Trout Unlimited story. Whether it’s the north coast of California where I’m focused on telling the story of school children and their innovative water storage or a campaign closer to home like Hermosa Creek or Browns Canyon. Each individual campaign allows me to meet and work with so many of the inspiring volunteers, staff and partners that do the work on the ground in their respective region.

I’ll never forget the first time I stepped foot into the field to start work on the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument campaign in northern New Mexico. It was a surreal scene walking up a windy mountainside with cameras in hand all to step back and watch as Gio Mondragon surveyed the proposed national monument with care and passion in his eyes. I still put myself on that very mountain from time to time and remember the love for the land that Mondragon’s have and how it’s up to me to continue sharing these incredible stories in order to protect the land that the next generation will inherit.

I still consider myself very fortunate to have my start in newspaper photojournalism. I’m blessed to have told stories in some of the most interesting places. Just a brief sampling of my work history includes being the team photographer for the Colorado Rockies baseball club, ESPN, the New York Times, the Rocky Mountain News and the NCAA.

This year I’m focused on a number of topics for Trout Unlimited ranging from the Good Samaritan Act in southwestern Colorado, to wild steelhead in the northwest and on up to the Smith River in Montana to name a few places. Each place will teach me something fascinating about the landscape or people that I have the good fortune of spending my life living around.

At the end of the day if you zoom in far enough there are thousands of rich stories waiting to be told in so many of the incredible places that Trout Unlimited works.

To look into some of the projects I’ve had the privilege to work on for Trout Unlimited head over to our Vimeo page.

---Josh Duplechian, Senior Producer, Trout Unlimited

Meet CTU's Summer Interns

Colorado Trout Unlimited is excited to welcome Rachel Willis and Jeff Florence onto our team for the summer. The two of them will be working closely with staff, chapters, members and volunteers to help us make a bigger impact for the rivers in Colorado. We were fortunate enough to hire two very qualified people for two different positions. Below are a short bio and brief description about what they will be doing during their time with CTU.

River Cleanup Intern

 Rachel Willis rachel.willis@coloradotu.org

Rachel has been hired on as our River Cleanup Intern   for the summer. Rachel is originally from Alaska and grew up spending her summers fishing with her dad on the Chena River or down south in Valdez. Rachel is an Environmental Science major with a concentration in ecological restoration at Metropolitan State University of Denver. While at Metro she served as the Vice President for the Colorado Wildlife Federations student club. She is excited to work with Colorado Trout Unlimited on River Cleanup projects and to learn about river conservation in Colorado. Rachel is looking forward to being involved in conservation efforts in beautiful Colorado and to starting her career working for TU.

Rachel’s internship has two main objectives. The first is to help with planning the many river cleanups that our chapters do across the state. The main focus will be on recruiting new volunteers and helping to develop follow-up strategies for engaging those volunteers beyond river cleanups. She will edit and populate the Great Colorado River Cleanup website with all of the cleanup dates to help recruit volunteers across the state. She will also help with planning prior to the day of river cleanups and help to find materials, develop partnerships, and make calls for cleanups.

The second part of Rachel’s internship is to help CTU develop and manage a volunteer database within our SALSA software. This will include a lot of data entry as well and organizing volunteers by geographic area as well as area of interest for volunteer activities. This will help all of us in the future be able to utilize volunteers at the click of a mouse to help with projects.

Communications Intern

Jeff Florence jeff.florence@coloradotu.org

Jeff has been hired on as our Communications Intern for the summer. Jeff was born and raised in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. From an early age Jeff has been camping, hiking and fishing in his free time and he also played hockey and baseball growing up. Jeff is currently studying journalism with a minor in recreation services at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He hopes to one day write for an outdoor magazine and has done some free lance writing for Cabela’s in the past. Jeff is looking forward to getting to work for Trout Unlimited and help spread the story of a great organization while gaining experience in both journalism and recreation services.

Because of Jeff’s experience with other recreation activities he will focus his work on writing stories about how TU can reach out and partner/work with other recreation industries such as rafting, camping, hunting etc. Jeff will also be working with TU chapters and staff to help tell our success stories and network those stories through our various online sources. Jeff will also be developing a TU Chapter Guide to Social Media for those chapters that are looking to learn more about social media best practices and expand their social media presence. We hope that Jeff will be able to take our online presence to a new level and help to increase our relationships with not only the fishing community in CO but to the other recreation industries as well.

Colorado Stream Explorers Release Trout

With help from Colorado Trout Unlimited (CTU) and Suncor Energy, on June 5, 2014, students from Academy High in the Mapleton School District released approximately 85 fish into the South Platte River for their Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program. As part of CTU’s South Platte River Explorers program, students raised and cared for rainbow trout in their high school classroom.  

Taught by teacher, Mike Sanchez, students received about 200 fertilized eggs in October of 2013. From then on, students raised the fish into the “fry” stage. To ensure ideal conditions, the class would monitor the fish daily by recording and analyzing the water quality. 

Before releasing the trout into the wild, the students first needed to acclimate the fish to their new waters. Students slowly replaced the water the fish were kept in with river water. “A change of a couple of degrees is a lot for the fish,” said Garrett Hanks, Colorado Trout Unlimited Youth Education Coordinator. “If we just dump them into the river, they could go into shock.”

The release took place at Carson Nature Center in Littleton, Colorado. While at the park, students learned a brief history about the park and the conservation efforts the park is currently undergoing; including a change to the flow and landscape of the river that will improve overall aquatic health, according to South Platte Park supervisor, Skot Latona.

As part of the South Platte River Explorers Program, students also collected macroinvertebrates to test under a microscope in class to get a better understanding of all the species living in the water. This will give the students a better understanding of the aquatic ecosystem and environment.

Prior to the release, students tested the water quality to learn about the pH levels, nitrate, dissolved oxygen and coliform levels. This data will help the students understand the environmental needs for fish and other species that rely on the water, which includes people. From the data collected, students can learn how to keep the waters cleaner to achieve maximum aquatic health.

Due to the whirling disease testing in Colorado, TIC is relatively new. It wasn't until a few years ago that the program was approved by the state and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Thanks to the advocacy efforts of former CTU President, Sharon Lance, who wouldn't take ‘no’ for an answer, The South Platte River Explorers was approved by the state and is currently involved with 10 different schools.

This is the first year Sanchez and Academy High have been involved with TIC and the South Platte River Explorers. As a former seasonal fisheries biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife Sanchez was thrilled with the idea of the program when approached from his director and he plans to have the program on his curriculum in the fall of next year.

With funding and support from Suncor Energy, the South Platte River Explorers program offers Stream Explorers and RiverWatch programs along with the Trout in the Classroom. Through these programs, with help from their teachers, students learn a basic understanding of the beauty, complexity, and dynamics of aquatic ecosystems in addition to basic fishing skills and techniques.

Starting in middle school and continuing through high school the program integrates the curriculum through different subjects and different years. With the success the program has already achieved, according to Brandy Radey, Senior Adviser at Suncor, the energy company is looking to continue the South Platte River Explorers program as well as other conservation efforts.

Trout in the Classroom is just one of the programs offered with the South Platte River Explorers program and CTU is looking to continue with the program along with more programs dedicated to youth conservation education.

For more information on the release, look for the free, July/ August edition of High Country Angler magazine from your local fly shop or check out the Denver Post article on the event.

TU calls on Army Corps to include protections for Fraser River

Trout Unlimited and its grassroots members today called on the Army Corps of Engineers to include a river protection package recently approved by stakeholders in the final federal permit for Denver Water’s Moffat project. For more than a decade, Trout Unlimited has closely monitored the water diversion project, concerned about potential impacts on Colorado River headwater streams and their valuable wild trout fisheries. In March, TU, Denver Water and Grand County announced agreement on the Mitigation and Enhancement Coordination Plan (MECP) for Moffat. All sides hailed the stakeholder agreement as a breakthrough that balances municipal needs and environmental health.

At the time, TU emphasized that the effectiveness of this agreement depends on its formal incorporation into the final permit—a point reiterated by TU and its grassroots member during the recent public comment period for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Moffat, which ended Monday, June 9.

“We believe that implementation of the MECP, as a whole, provides the best opportunity to prevent impacts and improve conditions in the areas most impacted by the Moffat Project,” wrote Mely Whiting, counsel for TU, in TU’s comment letter to the Corps.

The multiparty agreement offers several protections that TU says need to be included with this project. The key features include:

• Water is made available to address elevated stream temperatures on the Fraser and Ranch Creek;
• Denver uses its operating flexibility to provide flushing flows to cleanse streams;
• Ongoing monitoring of stream health, and adaptive management using water and financial resources provided by Denver Water – and leveraged by other partners;
• Commitment to this monitoring and management program—called “Learning by Doing”—through the project’s federal permit.

The centerpiece of the agreement is the Learning by Doing program, overseen by a management team that includes Denver Water, Grand County, Trout Unlimited, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Colorado River District and the Middle Park Water Conservancy District. Upon the project permit being issued, the management team will implement an extensive monitoring program to assess stream health based on specific parameters including stream temperature, aquatic life and riparian vegetation health. Water, financial and other resources committed by Denver Water through project mitigation, the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement and other agreements will be deployed to prevent declines and improve conditions where needed.

In recent weeks, hundreds of TU members have written to the Army Corps, calling on the agency to formally include the MECP agreement in the permit requirements.

“Though I now live in Georgia, I have spent much of my life in Colorado trout streams, and I can attest first hand that further damage to the Fraser will destroy a national treasure,” said Richard Tatem.

“This agreement, the Mitigation and Enhancement Coordination Plan, will protect a river which has been allowed to deteriorate for the past decade,” wrote Jim Belknap, a TU member and Colorado native who grew up in the Fraser Valley. “I have witnessed water temperatures reach dangerous levels while fishing the river the past few years; I have also seen more dead fish in the river—most likely due to the stress of being caught and released in too warm of water. This is a tragic misuse of Colorado's resources, and is resulting in the loss of one of the most beautiful river systems in Colorado. Please help restore the Fraser River to a healthy, thriving river-the type of attribute of Colorado's natural beauty, which has always been one of the state's greatest attractions and economic strengths.”

“I have fished the Fraser River for 20 years and the new Moffat Tunnel would be disastrous unless you make the Mitigation and Enhancement Coordination Plan (MECP) part of the federal permit,” wrote Tom Ciaglo of Louisville, CO.

Several other conservation groups—including Western Resource Advocates, American Rivers, the Sierra Club, and Conservation Colorado—have joined TU in calling for inclusion of the MECP in the final record of decision for the Moffat permit.

Shane Cross, Western Energy Counsel, Sportsmen's Conservation Project

Howdy folks. I am Western Energy Counsel for Trout Unlimited. I work on energy issues, and primarily I work with oil and gas companies and policy makers to promote and support oil and gas development that protects the places we love to hunt and fish. When I tell people I am a lawyer, they often think that my job is to litigate or try cases. While that used to be true, here at TU I think that if I’m litigating I’m not doing my job very well. We believe that fish and wildlife and oil and gas development can all thrive together in the West. And it’s my job to help figure out how we can achieve high value in all three areas while working cooperatively.

We work with oil and gas companies in three primary ways. First, we communicate and collaborate on the front end of planning and policy. For example, when I’m going to submit comments on a Resource Management Plan, I’ll call up the operators I know in the area and identify my concerns before I submit the comments. More often than not, the operators can relate to our concerns and offer suggestions of how we can strengthen our comments while not putting unreasonable prohibitions on industry. This helps to build trust with industry and to identify ways we can work together. For instance, we recently co-signed a letter with the Colorado Oil and Gas Association asking the COGCC to prioritize inspections of wells near riparian areas.

Second, we partner with energy companies on restoration and reconnection projects.  Oil and gas companies often want to contribute to wildlife projects in the area they are operating or are required to undertake mitigation as part of a development. We can identify and provide opportunities for companies to contribute to these projects. In Routt and Moffatt County, Shell Oil recently contributed to and volunteered on two of Brian Hodge’s restoration projects, and we are evaluating a third project with XTO Energy.

Third, we seek to collaborate with oil and gas companies to recommend BMPs and areas to project during development projects. For example, in Lake Canyon, Utah, we worked with Berry Petroleum to identify and evaluate road access routes and BMPs for a development near a CRCT brood fishery. Berry was responsive to our concerns, implemented a closed loop drilling system, and communicated with us throughout the construction process. We are currently seeking similar partnerships in the Thompson Divide, Northwest Colorado, and Eastern Utah.

Energy companies also support our educational programs. Suncor contributes to Garrett’s Trout in the Classroom projects in Colorado, and ConocoPhillips has funded Conservation and Culture programs in New Mexico. Fish and wildlife and energy production are both vital to the West.

As a lifelong rancher, I understand that both energy development and fish and wildlife are vital to our way of life in the West. I am fortunate to work for an organization that recognizes the importance of collaboration, and am looking forward to working with you to continue to identify opportunities to partner with industry to protect our hunting and fishing.

--- Shane Cross, Western Energy Counsel, Sportsmen's Conservation Project scross@tu.org, 307.359.3080

Why Colorado's headwaters matter

There is a bedrock natural law that anglers and most people understand as common sense-all waters are connected. If we trash or pollute a creek upstream, it could affect downstream conditions as well. That's why the newly proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency and Corps of Engineers to restore the coverage of the Clean Water Act is so important to Colorado's quality of life...

Colorado is a headwaters state and we understand that these headwater creeks, while small, are vital to the health of our watersheds, wildlife, and water supply. Their health shapes the condition of everything else downstream. They serve as the lifeblood of Colorado's recreation economy.

In Colorado alone, about 75 percent of rivers and streams-some 76,000 miles of waterways-are seasonal or ephemeral in nature and thus could fall outside the net of CWA protection, putting them at the mercy of filling and dredging operations, oil spills, toxic industrial waste and unregulated development...

Our waters, large and small, are interconnected-and to pretend otherwise is to invite disaster. When we allow polluters to dump toxins or trash upstream waters, we can expect pollution and devastation downstream, in our most prized rivers and streams.

Let's support the Clean Water Act's commonsense protection of our most precious heritage-our home waters.

To read the rest of David Nickum's Guest Commentary, please visit The Denver Post.