TU's climate change report, " Healing Troubled Waters" was released yesterday. You can download a copy, read the FAQ and related links at: www.tu.org/climatechange.
Study: Climate change will endanger trout
http://www.jhguide.com/article.php?art_id=2500 By Cory Hatch December 6, 2007 A survey of scientific studies on climate change and fish shows that Western populations of trout could diminish by as much as 60 percent as water warms, bugs disappear and droughts become more prevalent.
The report, compiled by Trout Unlimited, looks at the effects of climate change on trout and salmon habitat across the country. The report also suggests ways to make habitat more resilient to threats associated with a predicted 2 to 10 degree global temperature increase during the next 100 years.
Jack Williams, chief scientist for Trout Unlimited, said trout and salmon are good indicators of ecosystem health because they require cold, clean water for spawning, egg survival and rearing of young.
"We're already seeing the effects of climate change," said Williams, who pointed out that mayflies, an important food source for trout, are starting to emerge at an earlier time of year. "We've got a lot of trout populations that are poised to lose about half of their range."
In addition to warmer water and impacts on insects, Williams said, climate change could mean greater floods, reduced snowpack, earlier runoffs, more wildfires and increased insect infestations in forests, all of which can hurt trout populations.
Bob Gresswell, a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, studies cutthroat trout in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, including one project below Jackson Lake Dam. Gresswell says trout across the West are so susceptible to climate change because development and irrigation pressures have already pushed populations into more isolated, high-elevation streams.
Further, humans have introduced non-native fish such as rainbow trout, brook trout, lake trout and brown trout into cutthroat trout ecosystems, increasing the risk of hybridization and predation. Climate change could amplify the negative effects non-native fish have on trout, Gresswell said.
For instance, reproduction times for rainbow trout and cutthroat trout are somewhat isolated by the spring runoff. Cutthroat trout spawn just after the peak runoff and rainbow trout spawn just before. But with spring runoff coming earlier each year, Gresswell said, rainbow trout could eventually come to a point when they can't spawn any earlier, and the chance of hybridization could increase.
Gresswell pointed to fish die-offs and fishing closures in Yellowstone and Montana as a probable sign that global warming is already affecting trout populations.
"I worked in the park for 17 years and we never closed the fishery even once [because of warm water]," he said.
Both Gresswell and Williams said that while it could be too late to stop climate change, it isn't too late to make trout habitat more resilient to its effects.
"Let's start working right now on things that we can do to our local stream systems to prepare for the kinds of impacts that we know are coming," Williams said.
Restoration efforts include trying to reconnect larger low-elevation waterways to the smaller upper-elevation streams native trout now inhabit.
"That allows the fish to basically move around and find better habitat conditions," Williams said. Other ways to protect trout include removing old culverts, planting native trees and shrubs along streams to provide shade and protect stream banks, and placing logs and boulders in the stream to provide sections with deeper, cooler water.
Salmon, trout populations will be hurt by global warming, but it's not too late to act, report states
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20071205/NEWS/71205008 December 5, 2007
Climate change will hurt trout and salmon populations, but there is still time to act before it's too late, a report released today from Trout Unlimited states.
"Healing Troubled Waters" highlights how global warming will affect the nation's game fish populations, stating that they are likely to decline by 50 percent or more, and some populations, such as the bull trout found in high-mountain areas in the West could be cut by as much as 90 percent.
But Congress could appropriate money in the future to find ways to help make coldwater fish populations sustainable despite the climate change, and in fact Congress is making some progress on that very issue even today, the report stated.
The complete report is available at www.tu.org/climatechange.
Roan cut from energy bill
Washington - Legislation that would have stopped drilling atop the Roan Plateau and slowed oil shale development in the state was cut from the energy bill the House will consider today. The language had been in a bill passed by the House this summer, put there by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa. But when lawmakers merged that House bill with a Senate-passed energy bill, they did not include the provision.
Udall said Senate lawmakers did not want the language in the bill. But Steve Wymer, spokesman for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said that House Democratic leaders chose not to include it.
Lawmakers in Colorado's congressional delegation have split on whether drilling should be allowed atop the 9,000-foot-tall plateau in northwestern Colorado. Udall, Rep. Salazar and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., want to limit or stop it. Allard supports drilling and believes the issue should be left to local authorities.
The energy industry says the area's vast supplies of natural gas are needed to serve an energy-hungry nation. Development advocates have calculated that the 56,238-acre Naval Oil Shale Reserve - one of the Roan's richest areas - has enough natural gas to supply 4 million homes for 20 to 25 years.
An energy advocacy group has said that gas production on the plateau could bring revenue to Colorado of up to $6 billion over 30 years. Critics, including environmentalists and a mineral royalty accountant, said the value could be 80 percent less.
Sen. Salazar will now be working toward a one-year drilling moratorium, spokesman Cody Wertz said.
Udall said he plans to work with both Salazars.
"You can be assured I'm not going to stop until we protect the Roan," Udall said.
COOL, CLEAR WATER
Letters - SundayTHE [Colorado Springs] GAZETTE December 2, 2007 - 1:22AM
Bill would shield Samaritans from pollution liability
The Gazette’s Nov. 27 story about the Pennsylvania Mine made clear why Congress should pass a liability-shield law for “Good Samaritans” seeking to clean up toxic drainages polluting Colorado’s waters (“Water act discourages any would-be helpers”).
But I think the prospects for that happening are brighter than the story suggested.
Last month, with Rep. Steve Pearce, R.-N.M., I introduced H.R. 4011, the “Good Samaritan Cleanup of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act.” Based on bills I have introduced before, it would authorize the EPA to issue permits to shield Good Samaritans from Clean Water Act liability as they work on abandoned mines such as the Pennsylvania.
On Nov. 12, our bill was endorsed by the Western Governors Association. A letter signed by the governors of Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota, as well as Gov. Bill Ritter, said the bill “will provide States and other possible Good Samaritans important Clean Water Act liability protections necessary to conduct voluntary cleanups.” I am hopeful the bill will be supported by the Bush administration and environmental groups as well.
This kind of Good Samaritan legislation has been one of my longstanding top priorities, and I intend to do all I can to win its enactment as soon as possible.
Rep. Mark Udall Colorado District 2 U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
Breaking impasse on water
Denver utility, W. Slope cut deal over Eagle River By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Denver Water will give up millions of gallons of water in the scenic Eagle River, water it had once counted on for future customers, under a legal settlement unveiled Wednesday.
In exchange, Denver preserves some of its water rights in the river and receives the right to participate in a new reservoir project at Wolcott, if all the parties, including Eagle County water users, agree it should be built.
The settlement is considered a breakthrough in the stalemate between Denver and the West Slope over how to serve both fast-growing regions without harming streams or allowing chronic water shortages to develop.
Denver Water is Colorado's largest water utility and serves 1.2 million people in the metro area.
The agreement is important for the West Slope because it leaves much of the water in question in the river, a move that will ensure supplies for fast-growing Vail and other Eagle County communities.
It also will help protect stream flows in the Eagle and the drought-strapped Colorado River, to which the Eagle is tributary.
"It's quite a step," said Brian Werner, a spokesman for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which serves Fort Collins and Boulder, among others. "It's probably the first significant movement we've seen in East/West talks in a long time." Northern is one of the parties to the settlement.
The Denver Water Board approved the terms of the proposal Wednesday. The other parties also have agreed to the terms.
Denver's director of planning, Dave Little, did not return calls seeking comment. Glenn Porzak, an attorney for the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, which serves Vail, also did not return calls.
At issue are thousands of acre-feet of Eagle River water Denver claimed decades ago but hasn't used yet, largely because it hasn't needed it.
Last year the Eagle River district and others sued to force the utility to abandon its claim to the water, but Denver insisted during a trial this summer that it needed the water for its metro-area customers.
The case comes as water shortages loom on the Front Range and the Western Slope, with counties such as Eagle concerned that their scenic resort haven will be hurt if more water is moved to the Front Range, as is allowed under Colorado law.
Denver had discussed as recently as 2004 voluntarily giving up at least part of its future Eagle River supplies in exchange for getting Eagle County water users to support building a reservoir at Wolcott. But those talks fell apart as the drought lingered and friction between Denver and Western Slope water users increased. The lawsuit was filed in fall 2006.
Denver draws roughly half of its annual supplies from Western Slope rivers, including the Blue, in Summit County, and the Fraser, in Grand.
A modern approach to old water disputes
By The Denver PostArticle Last Updated: 12/01/2007 06:57:32 PM MST
The Colorado Water Conservation Board — the last redoubt of the state's traditional "water buffaloes" — may be moving to embrace 21st century economic and environmental values.
Gov. Bill Ritter named Jennifer Gimbel as the board's new director Tuesday. She served 10 years in the water and natural resources sections of the Colorado Attorney General's office before joining the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 2001. Gimbel is expected to be more open to recreational water uses than the man she replaces, recently retired director Rod Kuharich, who often led the board in opposing proposals for recreational uses such as kayak parks. Another board member who scoffed at recreational uses, rancher Tom Sharp, has been replaced by Geoff Blakeslee, the Yampa River project director for The Nature Conservancy.
Water use in Colorado rests on the rule, "First in time, first in right."
Essentially, the first person to put river water to "beneficial use" gains the perpetual right to use that water before later claimants. In times of shortage, such "senior" water users are allowed to use all their allotments while "junior" users get none.
That rule won't change — but the definition of "beneficial use" has been evolving. Originally, it meant to use the water up by irrigating an alfalfa field or a suburban lawn. When environmentalists began saying that minimum stream flows that protected fish and wildlife were themselves a beneficial use, the water buffaloes only harrumphed. Then tourist towns learned they could prosper by luring fishermen, rafters, and other recreational users to vibrant streams. That discovery pitted new economic interests against traditional users and recreational and environmental values are now recognized by law.
Kayakers and anglers don't consume the water they enjoy, so the conflict between uses can sometimes be resolved by regulating when and how water is released before its final consumption. The fact that the Water Conservation Board may make more sophisticated tradeoffs of our liquid gold's uses bodes well for our economy and environment alike.
Eagle River deal secures water for growing Vail area
Settlement called 'first step in a larger process'
Environmentalists said the settlement is an important victory for the rivers and the West Slope. Drew Peternell, an attorney for Trout Unlimited, said the agreement comes after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled this fall that cities must begin to limit how much water they can claim for future growth. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/30/eagle-river-deal-secures-water-for-growing-vail/
By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News Friday, November 30, 2007
Vail and other communities in the fast-growing Eagle River Basin won a key victory this week in a deal that protects streamflows and effectively guarantees that no more water from the scenic stream will be transferred to the Front Range.
The agreement was reached as a settlement in a bitter year-long court battle between the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District and Denver Water, the state's largest water utility.
The deal allows Denver to hold onto a valued reservoir site north of Wolcott and to preserve some of its water rights for use in trades on the West Slope.
In exchange, Denver gave up the rights to thousands of acre-feet of Eagle River water it had once planned to bring across the Continental Divide. "Now we have certainty that there is no longer a threat of a large transmountain diversion yet to be developed," said Chris Treese, director of external affairs for the Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District, a party to the case.
"With confidence, the Eagle Basin can look to the future and know that nobody with a large water right is going to come in," Treese said.
The settlement comes as Denver and other Front Range and West Slope entities, such as Grand and Summit counties, remain deadlocked over how to protect supplies in the headwaters of the Upper Colorado River, which includes the Blue and Fraser rivers, as well as the Eagle.
All the rivers serve high-profile resort areas, such as Keystone and Winter Park, as well as Vail and Beaver Creek, and all need water for their own growth, for recreation and for the health of the rivers themselves.
Grand County Commissioner James Newberry, a critic of Denver Water in the past, said this time the giant utility deserves some credit for agreeing to give up the Eagle River water. "We're fighting for all the water we can get up here," Newberry said. "For Denver to do that, they're stepping up to the plate."
Treese and others said this week's Eagle River Settlement may help break the stalemate in the Upper Colorado because it provides certainty about demands on the Eagle River and restores some good will between Denver and its longtime adversaries. "The most important thing about all of this is that this is a first step in a larger process," Treese said.
Environmentalists said the settlement is an important victory for the rivers and the West Slope. Drew Peternell, an attorney for Trout Unlimited, said the agreement comes after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled this fall that cities must begin to limit how much water they can claim for future growth.
"I think, after that decision this fall, that Denver knew it would have lost either at the trial or Supreme Court level if it continued (the court battle)," Peternell said.
Tom Gougeon, president of Denver Water, disagrees with the notion that the West Slope prevailed in this dispute. "The point here isn't about keeping score," he said. "There are a lot of people here trying to figure things out. This settlement was the right thing to do."
Water rights may get clearer for kayak parks
By: Steve Lipsher, The Denver Post11/29/2007
DENVER
Kayak parks and other recreational water uses will be considered "more fairly" after political changes on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, state water officials said Wednesday.
The appointment this week of a new agency director and the replacement of a board member known for his antipathy toward "non-consumptive uses" marks a turning point in how those proposals will be viewed under Gov. Bill Ritter, according to water officials and advocates.
"We're looking to dramatically change our position," Alexandra Davis, assistant water director for the Division of Natural Resources, told the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments' influential Water Quality and Quantity Committee.
The recreational water rights — first created by state water courts in 1992 and established in law a decade later — are part of the state's seniority-based priority system and require that upstream users allow sufficient amounts of water to flow past.
Under recently retired director Rod Kuharich, the 11-member appointed board often opposed proposals for attractions such as kayak parks sought by more than a dozen towns, ranging from Steamboat Springs to Pueblo.
"Our sense is the last director burned a lot of bridges on the Western Slope, with the environmental community and with the conservation community," Davis said.
Charged with "building those bridges back," Davis said, is Jennifer Gimbel, a water-law expert who was named as the board's new director Tuesday.
Geoff Blakeslee, the Yampa River project director for the Nature Conservancy, took the seat formerly held by rancher Tom Sharp, an outspoken critic of setting aside water for recreation rather than traditional uses, such as agriculture and municipal supplies.
"I think the board lost a lot of credibility in its almost obstinate opposition to the idea that recreational use is a legitimate use of water," said board chairman John Redifer.
Drew Peternell, director of the Colorado Water Project for Trout Unlimited, said the water-conservation board has appeared philosophically reluctant to approve recreational rights in a state where demand exceeds supply.
"The CWCB guards very jealously that authority and historically has gone to great lengths to prevent those from being recognized," he said. "My impression is that things are going to be more friendly."
Summit County Commissioner Tom Long, a water rights authority and fourth-generation rancher, brushed off the suggestion that recreational uses have gotten short shrift from the old guard, noting that procuring any new water right is difficult.
"It does represent a change. I won't deny that," Long said. "But most of the communities over here got (recreational water rights) in spite of the CWCB."
Steve Lipsher: 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com
Arkansas Basin Water Roundtable
The Arkansas Basin Roundtable is a critical part of discussions pertaining to water issues in the Arkansas River Basin and in Colorado. Membership to the Roundtable consists of people representing diverse interests in the Basin. The Arkansas Basin Roundtable wants to include as broad array of water interests as possible. Also, the Roundtable wants to provide citizens of Colorado with accurate information about current water issues in the valley. Thus, the Arkansas Basin Roundtable and Colorado State University Extension will host a Basin-wide Water Townhall meeting. It will be held on December 11th at the Gobin Building in Rocky Ford, Colorado beginning at 9:00 am. Speakers will address such issues as: What is the Arkansas Basin Roundtable? How your community can apply for monies to fund water projects? What is the ‘Super Ditch’ project? and What is happening with ag water transfers?
Please plan to attend the Townhall meeting – and bring your friends and colleagues. The attached flyer provides greater details about the Arkansas Basin Townhall meeting.
Since there will be a sponsored lunch, we would like to get a reasonable head count of Townhall participants. Please RSVP to me (or my administrative assistant Kristy) by telephoning 719-549-2049 or emailing jtranel@colostate.edu.
