Funding the Future of Conservation

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is looking for the legislature to provide it with authority to increase hunting and fishing license fees for the first time in more than a decade, and we expect to see legislation along those lines during the 2018 legislative session. At one level, the reason for such an increase is very simple - the revenue generated by license fees has been eroded by inflation since the last increase, and in order to deliver the same kinds of service the agency needs to have the funding to keep up with those escalating costs.

But the most frequent question we've heard from anglers and sportsmen generally has been to hear more of the story: what are these funds needed for, and what types of investments specifically will the state make if anglers and hunters increase what we pay for licenses?

The most recent issue of High Country Angler offers some answers. Needs run the gamut from modernizing fish hatcheries, to restoring funds for the "Fishing is Fun" program to improve habitat and create new fishing access, to completing needed maintenance on fishing reservoirs that otherwise could be forced to be drained for dam safety reasons.

Read all about it here - and decide for yourself - are these investments good reasons to pay more on my fishing license? You'll have the chance to speak up on that question with your legislators this year.

When Collaboration Works

Collaboration is key when it comes to making positive steps towards conservation. Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project is one of those collaborative initiatives working with agricultural leaders and organizations to conserve, protect, and restore our limited water resources around the state. Cary Denison, TU Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, was featured in the first segment of "This American Land" and talks about the ways that conservation can work with western water laws in providing the stakeholders with what they need and how Trout Unlimited is part of that conversation.

Water is a limited resource in the west and is one of the major talking points for Coloradoans when discussing conservation. The state experiences very little rainfall in summer, fall, and spring but the mountains collect feet upon feet of snow-pack. Snow-pack is like Colorado's natural water storage that slowly melts as the warmer seasons approach, filling our streams, creeks, and rivers with the water needed to last until next winter. With the decreasing amount of precipitation, that snow-pack is becoming a resource that we cannot solely count on. That's where water conservation comes in.

Water conservation is key in using this limited resource wisely and free up more water for other uses including nature. Not to mention more water for our trout to flourish in.

Check out the episode below!

Interested in the story or project?

Contact Cary Denison, Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, cdenison@tu.org

When Collaboration Works

Collaboration is key when it comes to making positive steps towards conservation. Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project is one of those collaborative initiatives working with agricultural leaders and organizations to conserve, protect, and restore our limited water resources around the state. Cary Denison, TU Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, was featured in the first segment of "This American Land" and talks about the ways that conservation can work with western water laws in providing the stakeholders with what they need and how Trout Unlimited is part of that conversation.

Water is a limited resource in the west and is one of the major talking points for Coloradoans when discussing conservation. The state experiences very little rainfall in summer, fall, and spring but the mountains collect feet upon feet of snow-pack. Snow-pack is like Colorado's natural water storage that slowly melts as the warmer seasons approach, filling our streams, creeks, and rivers with the water needed to last until next winter. With the decreasing amount of precipitation, that snow-pack is becoming a resource that we cannot solely count on. That's where water conservation comes in.

Water conservation is key in using this limited resource wisely and free up more water for other uses including nature. Not to mention more water for our trout to flourish in.

Check out the episode below!

Interested in the story or project?

Contact Cary Denison, Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, cdenison@tu.org

A second look at "trash fish"

Ugly fish. Trash fish. Suckers. Chubs. A lot of native fish in our rivers don’t get no respect. Many anglers consider them good for nothing, except for throwing back—way back onto the bank.

But we anglers and sportsmen who care about rivers and cutthroats need to adjust our attitude a bit and quit looking down our noses at some of the “other” native fish.

Turns out “trash” fish like Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpbacked chub, bonytail and other native species are critically important to river and trout habitat conservation efforts here in the Colorado River Basin and other watersheds in the West.

And trout and other angler-favored species are riding their fintails to a better life.

The pikeminnow has been around for millions of years in the Colorado Basin and can grow up to 6 feet long and live for decades. Pioneers used pitchforks at times, it’s said, to haul them out of the river, they were so abundant. The fish provided food (albeit a bit bony) for the settlers.

But with growing water diversions, drought, invasive species and other factors pressuring the river in the last half century, the numbers of these native fish plummeted, and they were listed under the Endangered Species Act. In 1988, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program was launched to bring them and the chubs and suckers back to sustainable numbers.

For three decades, the program has fostered cooperation, rather than conflict, among water users and directed federal and state funds to infrastructure projects that have benefited multiple users, from ranchers and farmers to municipalities.

Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups have supported those efforts, because the water projects, improved infrastructure and enhanced river flows needed to recover pikeminnows, suckers and chubs also benefit upstream coldwater species like trout.

For instance, TU helped upgrade the Relief Ditch and Hartland irrigation diversions on the Gunnison River a few years ago—a project that improved habitat and flows for trout.

The project would not have been possible without funds directly tied to native fish recovery.

Cary Denison, TU’s project coordinator in the Gunnison area, says that many anglers don’t realize that much of the West’s native trout have been removed from their historical ranges, and the remaining “natives” are those fish that many consider to be trash fish.

“If we aim to improve these rivers, we need to leverage the importance of these species to improve trout habitat as well.”

They are some of the original members of that river community, and they belong there. We need all of the pieces of a river ecosystem intact to keep it healthy.

So take a second look at that “trash” fish and give it some serious props for helping improve and restore our rivers for the other fish species we love.

Randy Scholfield is TU’s communications director for the Southwest.

Photo credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Partnerships Paying Off for Fraser River

The fish are returning to Fraser Flats. It took years of vision and persistence, but Trout Unlimited’s long-game strategy of collaboration on the Upper Colorado River is paying big dividends for anglers and local communities that depend on a healthy river.

Exhibit A is the Fraser Flats Habitat Project. The Fraser River, a key tributary of the Upper Colorado, had been degraded by years of water diversions and other pressures.

TU and a host of water stakeholders joined forces to reverse that decline. The effort, called Learning by Doing, brought together a variety of partners including Denver Water, Northern Water, Grand County, Trout Unlimited, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to help restore the Upper Colorado watershed.

The group’s inaugural project at Fraser Flats aimed to restore a roughly one-mile stretch of the Fraser between the towns of Tabernash and Fraser, with the goal of providing healthy habitat for trout even during periods of reduced flows. The Fraser in this section had become too wide and shallow, resulting in sedimentation and high temperatures that smothered bug life and pressured coldwater-loving trout.

Design work began last fall. In late spring, more than 150 volunteers turned out to plant willows and cottonwoods along the streambank for shade and bank stability. Then in summer and fall, the group brought in Freestone Aquatics to narrow the river with point bars and other structures to increase velocity and depth of the river. Freestone also created a series of riffle and deep pools to provide better holding water for trout.

The results already have been nothing short of spectacular.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife conducted a fish survey on Oct. 5, shortly after completion of the project, and found dramatic increases in the biomass of brown and rainbow trout in the stretch compared to previous surveys, and an even larger increase in numbers of larger (14" and up) fish.

Preliminary electrofishing survey results from CPW showed the reach experienced a 415% increase in brown trout biomass, and a 550% increase in the numbers of brown trout greater than 14" in length. While rainbows are a smaller component of the population (15% of biomass, 25% of larger fish #s), they also blossomed with an increase of 267% in biomass and a 400% boost in fish over 14".

"We are elated," Mely Whiting, legal counsel for Trout Unlimited, told the local Ski-Hi News. "This is amazing. The biomass [in the river] has more than tripled, just from last year, and only in the matter of a couple of weeks since the project was completed.”

Biologists also reported seeing large brown trout actively spawning in many areas of the stretch. In short, Fraser River trout have wasted no time moving into the improved habitat.

What’s more, starting in spring 2018, the project will also provide public fishing access along a half-mile of the Fraser Flats section.

“This section of the Fraser River is the healthiest I’ve seen this river in the 47 years I’ve lived here,” TU’s Klancke said. “The best part is we’re hoping to do more river improvements like this in the future with our Learning By Doing partners.”

Colorado Public Radio this week aired a segment about the successful project and the "unusual partnership" between TU and Denver Water .

Watch the video below from Denver Water for another good overview of the project benefits.

River Rising: the Denver South Platte

Ronnie Crawford first discovered the urban fishery of the South Platte by accident around 15 years ago. He was taking a couple of kids fishing with bait on the river near his house off Evans. Much to his surprise, they started catching trout. That was the simple beginning of a long-term love for fishing the “Denver South Platte,” and for introducing others to all it has to offer. For more than a decade, the Denver Trout Unlimited chapter (DTU), of which Ronnie is a board member, has been working to improve the health of the Denver South Platte – the section of the river starting below Chatfield Reservoir and then flowing through the southern suburbs and downtown Denver. Eleven years ago, the chapter held its first “Carp Slam” fishing tournament, to build awareness of the Denver South Platte and its fishery potential, and to raise funds for river restoration efforts. This year's Carp Slam takes place September 23, with Denver's most awesome after-party taking place atop the DaVita building in LoDo on Saturday evening (purchase your tickets here).

As the name suggests, the Carp Slam’s fishing focus is carp—but the goal is to improve habitat in the South Platte for a variety of fish.  And many anglers in the Carp Slam routinely catch impressive trout, suggesting the potential for a much more robust urban trout fishery.

Restoration work started with the South Suburban Parks and Recreation District in 2012, working to enhance the reach of the South Platte by Carson Nature Center to better support native fish, recreational fishing, and riparian habitat.  DTU contributed to the District’s effort with $10,000 raised through the Carp Slam and another $80,000 leveraged through a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Fishing is Fun grant.

The restoration effort and partnerships have grown exponentially since then.  DTU has worked with the City and County of Denver and the Greenway Foundation on a South Platte Restoration plan that lays out a restoration vision for the river and corridor all along the Denver South Platte. Millions of dollars are flowing toward efforts to improve several miles of river and to create economic benefits from a healthy South Platte as a new recreational centerpiece of the Denver metro area.

While appreciating the broader efforts to improve the entire greenway corridor, DTU has helped keep a strong focus on the river habitat itself. “We’re the ones focused on what’s happening below the waterline,” explains DTU member John Davenport.

Part of focusing below the waterline has been to pay attention to water quality, including stream temperature. To better document water temperatures and understand the river's fishery potential, DTU purchased and placed in-stream loggers starting in February 2016, collecting hourly water temperature data at six sites along the Denver South Platte.  Results to date, Davenport says, look very similar to those for the Arkansas River in Pueblo – a river supporting a popular trout fishery.

While finding a future for trout fishing in downtown Denver is definitely part of DTU’s vision, a healthy river and fishery is the key goal – not just trout.  “I call this a potluck stream,” explained Crawford. “You never know what you’re going to get.  I’ve hooked carp, brown trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth – all on the same fly and some on the same day.”

For Crawford and DTU, it is all about making the most of a resource that has been hiding in plain sight.  “It’s right under everybody’s nose, but they don’t think about it,” he said.  “They don’t know the grand array of fish that can be caught here.”

Parks & Wildlife Commission Approves Poudre Protections for NISP Plan

On September 7, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved the Fish and Wildlife Mitigation and Enhancement Plans for the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) in the Cache la Poudre (Poudre) basin. Colorado TU and the local Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter supported the final plans, which had been revised to address several key concerns raised by TU earlier in the public comment process. The plans now move to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for final approval. It is important to note that in supporting these plans, neither the Commission nor TU have endorsed the NISP project itself.  Rather, the state mitigation review process is designed to identify “reasonable” mitigation measures, as well as possible enhancements, that can help protect fish and wildlife resources should the project be constructed.  Federal permitting – still faced by NISP – is where the fundamental need for the project must be demonstrated and alternatives considered that may be less damaging to the environment. The state mitigation plans do not “authorize” a project, but they do help provide a recommended “floor” of protective measures that should be implemented if a water project is authorized by federal permits.

The NISP project, proposed by Northern Water, consists of two off-channel reservoirs: Glade Reservoir, northwest of Fort Collins, and Galeton Reservoir northeast of Greeley. It uses in-basin water, including the Grey Mountain project water rights that were once proposed for a mainstem reservoir in the Poudre Canyon. Galeton Reservoir facilitates down-river water exchanges, while Glade is focused on capturing peak and shoulder season flows – meaning that key impacts of concern include the loss of periodic flushing flows and overbank flows that help sustain riparian communities.

Key provisions of the Mitigation & Enhancement Plans that will benefit fishery resources on the Poudre River include:

• Base flows. A “conveyance refinement” plan to improve base flow conditions on the Poudre through most of Ft Collins, by delivering storage releases from Glade Reservoir through the river (rather than through pipelines) for about 12 river miles, to the ultimate point of diversion for delivery to the end-use cities. Under this plan, 18 cfs (winter) and 25 cfs (summer) would be delivered through the river and shepherded through diversions that currently divert 100% of the river’s flow – creating dry up points on the river during winter.  The plan will use NISP deliveries to sustain base flows year-round and eliminate those dry up points.
• Fish passage. Retrofit of four cross-channel diversions on the Poudre that currently do not allow fish passage or sediment transport. The fish/sediment passage improvements will reconnect river habitat, as well as facilitating the base flow bypasses for the “conveyance refinement” plan.
• Habitat improvement.  Northern Water has committed to completing 2.4 miles of river channel and habitat improvements along the Poudre.  In addition, they will place another $5 million in escrow for use on other river improvement projects that are identified under a to-be-developed collaborative habitat improvement plan for the river. Another $1 million is allocated to support that planning and design process.
• Peak flows & ramping rates. CPW and Northern developed a decision-tree approach to peak flows under which different levels of peak flows will bypass the NISP diversion into Glade Reservoir depending on reservoir storage levels and snowpack conditions, as well as how recently the river has received a flushing flow.  The plan helps ensure that some flush is provided even in multi-year droughts, while including a bypass of the river’s full peak flow - however high it may be - for three days during wetter periods. Increasing releases to the peak flow, and decreasing them on the tail end of it, will be implemented with a gradual “ramping rate” to avoid harmful effects to fish (such as stranding of fish out of the baseflow channel if those areas are dried up by rapidly dropping flows).  TU had recommended changes to the original draft plans to incorporate ramping rates and to address flushing flows during multi-year dry periods; the final plan incorporated changes addressing both concerns.
• Adaptive management. Many elements of the plan (ramping rates, flushing flow program, habitat improvements) will be guided by a multi-stakeholder adaptive management process that will monitor conditions and help make adjustments where needed to ensure the effectiveness of the mitigation and enhancement measures. Similar to the “Learning by Doing” efforts in the Upper Colorado, this adaptive management program will ensure that efforts are informed by monitoring results and adjusted where needed. TU had recommended this program be maintained in perpetuity; the final plan calls for the program to continue for 20 years following full NISP operations (likely 25-30 years from original completion of the project) after which coordination would shift to a broader watershed coalition process that would incorporate partners and projects beyond just NISP.

“This is only the first step of several reviews that NISP must address and there are too many unanswered questions for us to yet support or oppose the project itself,” said CTU Executive Director David Nickum, “But we do support these plans and are pleased that they will assure a minimum base of protection for the Poudre’s fisheries should the project be constructed. We thank Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff for their diligence and Northern Water for their responsiveness to our and CPW’s recommendations.”

The low-flow measures are of particular importance for the Poudre’s trout fisheries from the canyon mouth through Fort Collins. “The conveyance flow program is significant to the fishery and aquatic life because it keeps water in the river on a year round basis,” said CPW biologist Ken Kehmeier.  Base flows of at least 20 cfs were recommended at Lincoln Street in Ft Collins under a River Health Assessment Framework developed for the Poudre. Under current baseline conditions (without NISP), that flow is met 52% of the time. With the proposed mitigation plan, that baseflow target will be met 97% of the time. “The conveyance flow will significantly benefit the aquatic life in the river during the low flow times of the year,” Kehmeier said.

TU, partners move forward on Fraser River restoration

In this 5 1/2 minute video, Kirk Klancke, Anna Drexler-Dreis and other leaders with the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter share the story of how collaboration among TU, Grand County, Denver Water, and other stakeholders is creating opportunities to restore healthier habitat for the Fraser River and its riparian corridor.

Unveiled at the Colorado Headwaters Chapter's annual banquet in July, the video was part of that evening's theme of recognizing how "conservation starts with conversation", recognizing key leaders including Denver Water board member Tom Gougeon and former Grand County Commissioner James Newberry for their leadership in opening the door for greater dialogue and cooperation among former adversaries in addressing  shared interests in the health of the Fraser River watershed.

To learn more about the work of the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter with the Fraser and Upper Colorado  Rivers, you can visit the chapter website here.

Corps approves permit for Moffat Project in Colorado headwaters

The Army Corps of Engineers gave its approval to Denver Water's proposal to expand Gross Reservoir in Boulder County in order to firm its Moffat System water supplies from Grand County. While the project will increase total diversions from the Colorado headwaters, Denver Water has incorporated mitigation and enhancement measures to the project that local TU members in Grand County believe can actually improve the Fraser River's health. As part of its commitments under this permit and the associated mitigation and enhancement plans, Denver Water will manage diversions to help provide needed flushing flows on the Fraser and its tributaries, complete habitat and native trout restoration work in the Williams Fork basin, and contribute funds toward ongoing habitat improvement efforts like the Fraser Flats project.

“The Fraser is a river beloved by generations of anglers, boaters and other outdoor enthusiasts —it’s the lifeblood of our community,” said Kirk Klancke, president of TU’s Colorado River Headwaters chapter in Fraser and a longtime advocate for the river. “As an angler and Fraser Valley resident, I’m gratified that this agreement keeps our home waters healthy and flowing.”

Most significantly, Denver Water will participate in an adaptive management program called "Learning by Doing" through which Denver, Grand County, Trout Unlimited, and other local stakeholders are cooperating to apply mitigation and enhancement resources, monitor river and watershed conditions, and make adjustments to achieve the best results over time. "Rather than remaining an adversary, Denver Water has joined us and our west slope partners as a partner working to improve conditions in the Fraser watershed," explained Colorado TU Executive Director David Nickum.

In addition to the Learning by Doing effort, Denver Water has also pledged resources for improvement work on South Boulder Creek and on the North Fork South Platte (which will be impacted by ripple effects from Gross Reservoir expansion on Denver's systemwide operations, including the Roberts Tunnel). 5000 acre-feet in the enlarged reservoir will also be reserved as an environmental pool to be managed to help provide instream flows at key times to downstream reaches of South Boulder Creek.