[Editors's note] This article is about Arizona - at first blush. But eventually, it leads to the Colorado River, which leads to you-know-where. And it involves the connectivity between surface flows and groundwater that western communities keep trying to ignore. So, just as water flows downstream, problems such as the one in this article, will utimately arrive at our doorstep. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0124thur1-24.html
Anglers, hunters, wildlife would suffer from HB 1137
Legislation would limit public access to important fisheries and hunting units
DENVER—Sportsmen would become victims of short-sighted politics should the Colorado Legislature approve an ill-conceived bill that would forbid the state Division of Wildlife from acquiring new lands for hunting and fishing, and for protecting important fish and wildlife habitat in Colorado, said Dave Petersen, the Durango-based state field director for Trout Unlimited’s Public Lands Initiative.
“This bill is simply counterintuitive,” Petersen said. “With all the development happening in our state, and with all the wildlife habitat we’re losing, it’s important the Division of Wildlife be allowed to function on behalf of hunters and anglers, as well as on behalf of wildlife. If the DOW can’t acquire new lands, we will have lost the ability to add vital habitat as well as hunting and fishing opportunities, as we continue to lose those assets elsewhere.”
The bill, HB 1137, would forbid DOW from acquiring new land or water rights without first giving up the equivalent of the new acquisition. Additionally, the bill would require the division to pay fees to local governments—essentially a new tax on public lands—in an attempt to compensate these communities for lost property tax revenue. This “no net gain” approach to governing DOW, Petersen said, hamstrings an important state agency that works to protect and enhance wildlife habitat and ensure the thousands of Coloradans who hunt and fish the opportunity to do so.
“The bill’s authors fail to realize that hunting and fishing provide a huge economic benefit to small communities all over the state,” Petersen said. “By acquiring new fish and game habitat and allowing hunting and fishing access, the DOW is providing an economic boost to these communities that will far exceed any lost tax revenue.”
There were 265,000 licensed hunters in Colorado in 2006, and 571,000 licensed anglers. Each year, in small communities all over Colorado, these sportsmen spend money on food, lodging and services. Increasing the opportunities for sportsmen in Colorado is a good thing, Petersen said, and shouldn’t be discouraged by an out-of-touch fringe element of the state Legislature.
“In a time when we’re seeing more and more pressure put on our public lands from things like oil and gas drilling, residential development, escalating motorized abuse and overuse, and other incursions into Colorado’s wild heart, the last thing we need is a cap put on the amount of acreage available to wildlife and sportsmen,” Petersen said. “Hunting and fishing is part of Colorado’s heritage. We’ll lose that heritage if we don’t protect it, and I suspect our lawmakers will be hearing from hunters and anglers all over Colorado who’ll be sharing that same message.”
Let’s reform the 1872 Mining Law — finally
Lew Carpenter January 19, 2008
Like many Westerners, I grew up with the luxury of unlimited adventure outdoors. I could wander around, fishing rod in hand, looking for the next hidden pond near my family’s cabin in northern Colorado. That was before I began working in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado as a mountain guide for a kids’ camp. I’ll never forget the first time I ran across a copper-colored creek in the Animas River watershed. I stopped and stared because it was strangely beautiful at first. I failed to grasp that the water had turned that brilliant color because acid waste was draining into it from a mine abandoned at the turn of the century. Certainly, no trout could survive in those waters, and I could only guess how far down the mountain the stream carried its poison.
But I’ve never been opposed to mining, and I understand how the gold rush of the late 1800s helped define the state I was born in. Mining for metals brought people, towns and railroads, leading President Ulysses Grant to declare Colorado a state in 1876.
But while Colorado is undeniably still tied to mining, times have changed, and the General Mining Law of 1872 that gives mining priority over all other land uses is way past due for revision. Fully recognizing that this outdated law is to blame for much of the damage to our public lands, many of America’s sportsmen have set their sights on reforming the 1872 law.
The issue is no less critical for hunters than it is for anglers. More than 80 percent of the most critical habitat for elk, for example, is found on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Pronghorn, sage grouse, mule deer, salmon, steelhead and countless other fish and wildlife species are similarly dependent on public lands. Our public lands in the West also contain more than 50 percent of the nation’s blue-ribbon trout streams and are strongholds for imperiled trout and salmon.
Though congressional reform never seems to go the distance, last November marked a milestone: The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 passed the House of Representatives 244-166, and was a huge victory for hunters and anglers. The bill was strongly supported by a coalition called Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining, made up of organizations and individual grassroots partners and spearheaded by the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited.
Now, it’s the Senate’s turn, and as the issue gains momentum, sportsmen in the West want to make sure the bill retains four principles that will make all the difference in the world to fish and other wildlife:
• Allow reclamation incentives and common-sense liability relief to those “good Samaritans” who buy or own land damaged by mining. Companies and nonprofit organizations that didn’t create the problems created by abandoned mines or their waste need to be encouraged to return the land to other uses while being protected against unreasonable liabilities.
• Prohibit the patenting or sale of public lands under this law. Since 1872, public lands have been practically given away to mining companies for as little as $2.50 to $5 per acre. Our wildlife needs public land to survive, and reform should prohibit the sale of that land.
• Create a royalty from any minerals taken from public lands to fund fish and wildlife conservation programs and reclamation of mined land. Sportsmen for over a century have been paying to play on public land; it’s time mining companies paid their share.
• Strengthen protections for fish, wildlife and water resources from the impacts of mining. This can be done by entrusting federal land managers with the authority to ensure reclamation of mining sites and to approve or deny mining permits based on environmental impacts.
Will these changes help fish and wildlife habitat in the years to come? Absolutely. That’s why so many people who love the outdoors and wildlife want this ancient mining law finally brought into the 21st century.
Lew Carpenter is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He lives in Boulder, Colo., where he is outreach coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation.
Sustaining hunting and fishing tradition
By Lisa Huynh Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE — Part of making a living in Mel Jensen's youth meant going out and shooting meat in the fall to have for the winter. The memory he recalled most children wouldn't recognize today.
Jensen's a great-grandfather now, a retiree and hunting education instructor. He learned to hunt at 13 and learned to fish at an even younger age.
"The kids growing up they have different forms of entertainment, they watch television," said Jensen, a Montrose Rod and Gun Club member. "Now they didn't have television when I was a kid. Maybe I got to see a movie Saturday afternoon if I had a nickel to do it."
Jensen and other lifelong sportsmen remember childhoods spent out in nature, learning out of necessity and accessibility to read the land and its animals. Many lived near wild spaces and grew up learning from family how to pursue, capture and shoot prey.
Increasing urbanization and fewer traditional family structures are some factors possibly contributing to a decline in the number children introduced to hunting and fishing.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report released in 2007 found nationwide about 10 percent fewer 6 to 19 year-olds living at home had ever fished in 2005 compared to those who had ever fished in 1990. The percent of 13- to 19-year olds who had ever hunted fell from 16 percent in 1990 to 11 percent in 2005. Declines appeared to be both in fewer participants and fewer staying engaged throughout their lifetimes.
What is viewed as promising news, however, is the rise of participation in other wildlife activities. Thirty-eight percent of Americans either hunt, fish or observe wildlife.
"It seems that people are still getting outside and recreating and enjoying the outdoors, they're just doing it with different activities," said Barb Perkins, USFWS spokesperson. "It's just maybe a sign of our times that things are changing a little bit."
A tradition
The amount of dedication hunters and anglers devote to their sports is in many respects the ultimate in wildlife interaction. Beside the fact that these two types of activities sustain the state's conservation efforts through the sale of hunting and fishing licenses (see "The Hunter-Angler Dollar"), these sportsmen spend much of their time outside observing animal behavior.
Come hunting season, families like the Vergaminis set up camp well before the start of the season. They wake before the sun, spend all day on foot and return to camp at sundown. Sometimes excitement impedes sleep. The family's interest is just as much about intrigue as it is about gain — behavioral insight is key in catching game.
"If you're out there, you see how (the animals) live, you see their lifestyle, you see the moms and the babies and how they react," said lifelong hunter Christine Gibson, whose parents met while hunting. "You see (the animals') circle of life. It's really amazing that that goes on and you don't ever know about it and you don't see it."
The decline in youth introductions to hunting and fishing surprises few; Gibson's father Dave Vergamini, a hunter safety educator and Montrose Rod and Gun Club member, said the drop in youth participation is part of the norm. Still, his family is sad knowing fewer kids are getting outdoors.
"If you don't get to the outdoors, you just don't appreciate it,"said Kathy Vergamini. "Everyone's 'going green' but it seems to be a fad. If you don't live it, you don't really understand what all goes along with it."
Beyond the tangible or measurable values of hunting and fishing is something perhaps words can't express. The activities often bond generations of families like the Vergaminis.
"I don't think we chose (the lifestyle). It's just always been there and we've just always done it," said Kathy. "I grew up that way. I got lucky enough to marry someone that enjoys it and passed it onto to our kids."
When asked the value of activities to him, Dave Vergamini said simply, "I don't know, you just have to be out there to experience it." While Dave recognizes the differences between today's and yesterday's youth, he suspects it's not so much the number of participants that has changed but the society around the culture. Montrose used to be filled with banners reading, "Welcome Hunters." Not so much anymore.
Said Dave, "It used to be the big talk of the town, 'are you going hunting?, when are you going?'"
Exceptions to the decline
Many local sportsmen believe Colorado, with its relative abundance of public lands and rural communities, is not experiencing the decline in participation happening in other states. More than one-third of Colorado's land area is owned by the public and is available for public use, according to the Bureau of Land Management. The USFWS survey showed hunting retention rate in urban areas declined between 1995 to 2005, from 43 to 35 percent, in comparison to a decline in rural areas from 59 to 53 percent.
Data on hunting and fishing license sales in Colorado suggest participation isn't what it used to be, but also shows fluctuations from year to year with no sharp changes. In 1985, the DOW reported 1,031,061 individual hunting and fishing license buyers; that number decreased to 961,043 by 2006. Part of the reason the number of license buyers is sustained is the sale of over-the-counter bull elk tags, which is a huge draw because hunters know they can come to Colorado and hunt elk, said Division of Wildlife Public Information Specialist for the Southwest Region Joe Lewandowski.
Participants in local fly fishing and casting clinics have also increased significantly in the last two years, said Gunnison Gorge Anglers President Marshall Pendergrass. However — as the USFWS national survey also found — most participants are middle-aged and retired, he said. Based on the survey, at least a third of both first time anglers and hunters were over 20 years old.
"People are busy and they're finding it's an easy way to get away and spend some time," said Pendergrass. "It's not as expensive as skiing and things like that. (Fishing) is not limited to just a certain time of year and most people enjoy the mountains; they enjoy the rivers, hiking and wildlife."
In an effort to foster more youth participation in hunting and fishing, federal, state and local non-profit groups are reaching kids through programs such as DOW's Youth Hunt, GGA's flyfishing clinics and workshops and Trout Unlimited's Trout in the Classroom.
Contact Lisa Huynh via email at lisah@montrosepress.com
DENTRY: Wildlife, politics do mix
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/22/dentry-wildlife-politics-do-mix/ Ed Dentry: Sportsmen to gather on public land - the Colorado Capitol!
State to Consider Water Measures
Conservationists say water bills are vital to rivers and streams http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=out&article_path=/outdoors/out071228_2.htm
This Durango Herald legislative preview features Drew Peternell, director of National TU's Colorado Water Project
Are Zebra Mussels Invading State?
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15080321/detail.html Mussels Found At Lake Pueblo State Park Scott Lucero, 7NEWS Assignment Editor
No big deal, right? Guess where the Pueblo hatchery gets its water?
Bill Aimed At Keeping Off-Road Vehicles On Track
"It completely ruined my hunting trip, and that just happens all the time," said Petersen, who works on off-road issues for the conservation group Trout Unlimited.
http://cbs4denver.com/local/snowmobiles.atvs.hunters.2.631336.html
DENVER (AP) ― Hunters and the state's leading off-road vehicle group are teaming up to support a crackdown on people who ride snowmobiles and ATVs where they shouldn't.A bill in the Legislature would penalize people who ride all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles in prohibited areas on public land.
"We know a very small portion of the recreating and hunting population causes problems, and we're going to get them reined in," said Dennis Larratt, chairman of the Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition.
Dave Petersen, a bow hunter who lives near Durango, said he saw plenty of elk on a scouting trip in August. When he returned with his bow a few days later, Petersen didn't find any elk but he saw tracks from the ATV he figures scared them away.
"It completely ruined my hunting trip, and that just happens all the time," said Petersen, who works on off-road issues for the conservation group Trout Unlimited.
A bill by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, would set a $100 fine for people who ride ATVs or snowmobiles on prohibited areas of state and federal lands. Fines would double in a wilderness area, and violators' hunting and fishing licenses could be docked 10 to 15 points and eventually revoked.
House Bill 1069 would allow any law-enforcement officer, including state wildlife officers, to enforce the law on federal lands. Federal agencies don't have enough rangers to police their lands, Petersen said.
The U.S. Forest Service will be happy for the help, said Janelle Smith, spokeswoman for the agency's regional office in Denver.
National forests are changing their rules on motorized vehicles and will designate areas where ATVs are allowed, Smith said. "You need to be on a designated trail, route or area," she said.
The Bureau of Land Management was consulted on the bill's wording, BLM spokesman James Sample said.
A 1976 federal law governing how public land is managed gives states the authority to impose fines on people who violate regulations Sample said. But each state "may have to authorize it with its own legislation," he said.
Salazars back off on Roan, endorse Ritter provisions
by Phillip Yates, Glenwood Springs Post Independent http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080108/VALLEYNEWS/922694956
Senator Ken Salazar and U.S. Rep. John Salazar support Governor Ritter's proposal to increase the size of the Roan's Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and to lease portions of the Roan in phases rather than all at once. CTU thinks those are good steps - but not opening up the top of the Roan would be much better.
Study determines methane gas drilling affects water levels
This article, by Randy Woock of the Raton Range, looks at a study commissioned by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources in the Raton Basin. http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=75944292141077420
