United by a split
August 8, 2008
| Herald Outdoors Editor
United by a split
| Herald Outdoors Editor August 8, 2008
A good measure of progress on the new proposal could be found in July at a gathering of wilderness proponents near Purgatory that was hosted by the Durango office of Trout Unlimited. Present at the weekend retreat were representatives of the San Juan National Forest, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Trails 2000 and several journalists from around the state.
Also present were staff members from the local office of U.S. Rep. John Salazar and La Plata County Commissioner Wally White.
Everyone had something positive to say about the compromise proposal, and about the necessity of acting in a timely fashion to ensure the protection of the Hermosa drainage.
"This one's a winner," Chris Hunt of TU's Public Lands Initiative office said of the compromise proposal. "Let's come together on this one to protect the area for generations of hunters and anglers."
Inner City Outings now has Boulder County focus
Kelsey Wilkinson, For the CameraAugust 6, 2008
One event that the Boulder Inner City Outings program has created, with help from a grant, shows children how to do water sampling along Goose Creek. Trout Unlimited sponsors fly-fishing afterward.
The itinerary is now copied nationally after it became one of the most popular outings in the Boulder program.
The group also offers a one-hour, monthly class after school that teaches skills such as using maps, navigating with a compass, weather forecasting and basic leadership skills.
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/aug/06/inner-city-outings-now-has-boulder-county-focus/
Charlie Meyers on Energy Development
"Do you buy the industry scare tactics over soaring prices at the pump or do you favor some protection for the resource to perpetuate hunting and fishing activities that provide a more enduring boost for the economy?..." http://blogs.denverpost.com/sports/2008/07/22/pump-me-up/#more-2091
State delays ruling on Glade Reservoir in northern Colorado
Check Out Coyote Gulch
Coyote Gulch - created by John Orr, who works for Denver's Department of Public works - is a great source of water news. Featured stories from August 5th included one on a $50k donation to the Rio Grande Headwaters Trust and Ducks Unlimited, a 100K grant to the South Metro Water Supply Authority for a regional aquifer, storage and recovery study, and a water right decree for the Great Sand Dunes National Park. http://radio.weblogs.com/0101170/2008/08/05.html#a12175
Protesters: No Rigs on Roan
Crowd delivers over 1,600 letters opposing BLM lease sales to energy companies
...Ken Neubecker, of Colorado Trout Unlimited, said the BLM is contradicting itself by saying the genetically pure Colorado River Cutthroat Trout that inhabit the Roan Plateau are a “sensitive species” while at the same time “throwing trout to the winds” by allowing natural gas development on the Roan Plateau under the BLM’s current plan....
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080731/NEWS/726325480/1062
Colorado could go with flow in Utah
[Here we go again! - ed]
A decision last week by the Utah Supreme Court declaring the public's right to fish streams that flow through private property has set off a tidal wave of celebration among anglers.
Whether the ripples extend to Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states remains to be seen.
Proposed Hermosa Creek plan could create mixed population of trout
Ty Churchwell, president of the Five Rivers Chapter of TU, says the reintroduction will include about five miles of Hermosa Creek’s headwaters, leaving more than 20 miles downstream as a multi-species fishery.
“There still will be plenty of water for people who want to catch brook trout and rainbows,” said Churchwell, standing near the site of the fish barrier. “But when people come in here, they’ll experience the creek like it was 100 to 150 years ago.”
Cutthroat trout reintroductions began in the Hermosa drainage more than 20 years ago but that was before DNA testing could prove a trout’s genetics. This proposal would take DNA-tested fish raised from brood stock at the Pitkin Hatchery and put them in Hermosa Creek.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/sports/stories/2008/07/29/073008_OUT_wild_and_scenic_WWW.html
Colorado's roadless forest plan to get fed review
Associated Press By JUDITH KOHLER
"I actually think it will be a lively give and take," Chris Wood, chief operating officer of Trout Unlimited, said of the federal advisory panel's meeting on Colorado's plan.
Wood is a member of the panel appointed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service. Speaking as a Trout Unlimited representative, Wood said he's concerned about some of the exceptions in Colorado's plan.
"I'm anxious to hear the state explain the significant number of exceptions," Wood said.
Under Colorado's plan, temporary roads would also be allowed for cutting trees to reduce wildfire risk and some land around ski areas would be removed from the inventory of roadless areas.
"We are comfortable and confident that we can resolve this in a way that preserves our initial understanding and intent for those areas to be kept roadless," said Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman.
