Dec 17, 2008 4:00 PM (1 day ago) By JUDITH KOHLER, AP "On the whole, we're really optimistic that his appointment will translate into commonsense changes in the ways federal land is maintained in relation to fish and wildlife habitat," said Chris Hunt of Trout Unlimited's public lands initiative.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1750211~Conservation_groups_give_Salazar_mixed_welcome.html
by John Orr, Colorado Water ExaminerThe preferred alternative still runs from Pueblo Dam through Pueblo County up the east side of Colorado Springs / Fountain area.
This is an exerpt of Dave Buchanan's December 13 column in the Grand Junction Sentinel. Chris Hunt is Communications Director for TU's Public Lands Initiative. His book is available at Amazon.com or at www.flyfishscribe.com.
I just finished reading Chris Hunt’s entertaining new book “Shin Deep: a Fly Fisher’s Love for Living Water” (self-published, $16.99, 138 pp, softcover).The book is a compilation of some of Hunt’s essays on fly fishing, many of them written while he was still locked into a journalist’s job, or perhaps I should say “jobs.”Throughout the 19 well-crafted stories runs the theme of conservation, not simply for trout but for wild places, wild water and the wild creatures who inhabit both realms.
LandScope America — a collaborative project of NatureServe and the National Geographic Society — is a new online resource for the land-protection community and the public. Developed with generous support from the West Hill Foundation for Nature, LandScope America is designed to increase the pace and effectiveness of conservation action and investment throughout the United States.
County staff wants concrete, enforceable mitigation rather than simple commitments. By CHRIS WOODKA THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
The total length of the pipeline would be about 50 miles, with two more pump stations in El Paso County and a treatment plant. In a few years, a terminal storage reservoir and an exchange reservoir are planned on Williams Creek.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/12/10/news/local/doc493f7e7c9ee76704242048.txt
County commissioners resist Superfund designation at abandoned mineBy Bob Berwyn summit daily news Summit County, CO Colorado
Even though the EPA is promising a “free” cleanup of the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine, local officials remain leery of a Superfund listing, citing concerns about potential human and social costs.
We went to DC to testify to the Roadless Area Conservation National Committee (RACNAC) on a provision in the proposed CO Roadless Rule that would allow roads to be built into roadless areas to build future water pipelines and diversion structures for which no water right exists today. For more on the roadless issue in Colorado: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11142283
http://www.cotrout.org/Conservation/CTURoadlessComments/tabid/301/Default.aspx
As part of the visit to DC, we also met with Hill Staff Clean Water Restoration Act:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h2421ih.txt.pdf
TU and most of the other parties to the Colorado water court proceedings to quantify the Black Canyon reserved water right have reached agreement on a proposed decree. The water court has established a 30-day period for any party to object to the proposed settlement. If there is no objection, the court should sign the decree before the end of the year.
http://www.cotrout.org/LinkPages/BlackCanyon/tabid/144/Default.aspx
We have been reviewing and commenting on a bill to be introduced in the 2009 Colorado General Assembly legislative session that would allow small-scale precipitation harvesting on a pilot basis: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_9712027
We have met with representatives of Colorado Springs Utilities to discuss mitigation for the Southern Delivery System project:
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/12/10/news/local/doc493f7e7c9ee76704242048.txt
The water court judge issued a ruling on the Supreme Court’s remand of the Dry Gulch case. The ruling on remand awards the applicants more water than is justified under the Supreme Court opinion. We have appealed the remand decree back to the Supreme Court.
http://www.cotrout.org/LinkPages/DryGulchGoestotheSupremeCourt/tabid/189/Default.aspx
We are working on comments on the draft EIS for the Windy Gap Firming Project (WGFP), released by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps earlier. Using Reclamation facilities, the project would take additional flows from the headwaters of the Colorado River and across the Continental Divide to supply municipal water to the metro area. The WGFP would utilize a concept called “prepositioning” to increase the firm yield of the very junior Windy Gap water rights. The increase in firm yield would result in further depletions to the Colorado River. Ongoing transmountain diversions already take over 50% of the Colorado’s native flows and a higher percentage of its tributary, the Fraser River. Both rivers support highly valued recreational trout fisheries. The draft EIS does a very poor job assessing direct and cumulative impacts to the fisheries. The proposed action alternative also raises serious legal federal and state law questions. Comments are due December 29, 2008.
http://www.cotrout.org/Conservation/WindyGapCommentExt/tabid/310/Default.aspx
We are in contact with the Bureau of Reclamation and its contractor (Northern) for the Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Project to modify project operations to ameliorate its impacts on the headwaters of the Colorado River and its Gold Medal trout fisheries. At a recent meeting, Northern unveiled a proposal to make up to 6,000 acre-feet of water a year available to deal with late summer low flow issues.
http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/cbt.html
We are significantly involved in a stakeholder effort to develop a stream management plan for a section of the Colorado River being considered for potential WSRA designation. The group has representation from water suppliers, local governments, recreation, and conservation groups. A draft plan that includes measures to protect flows and water quality through the reach has been submitted to BLM, but many issues still need to be worked out. A final plan is due June 2009.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/12/06/120708_5A_wild_scenic.html
TU staff met with upper management of the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) and Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) staff to discuss ways in which DOW can help promote efforts to obtain water leases for instream flow purposes. DOW is in a very good position to promote the program and seek opportunities, as many of its field and regional staff live and work in localities where leases may be needed/desirable, and it already has a realty program that promotes and engages in land conservation transactions. TU will continue to work with DOW and CWCB to expand the program.
http://cwcb.state.co.us/StreamAndLake/WaterAcquisitions/
TU is participating in a “Shared Vision Planning” (SVP) process on the North Fork Cache la Poudre River near Ft. Collins, Colorado. SVP is a collaborative approach to formulating water management solutions that combines three disparate practices: 1) traditional water resources planning, 2) structured public participation and 3) collaborative computer modeling. The goal of SVP is to improve the economic, environmental and social outcomes of water management decisions. SVP is intended to facilitate a common understanding of a natural resource system and provide a consensus-based forum for stakeholders to identify tradeoffs and new management options. http://halligan-seaman.org/page.asp?pgID=48
Scott CondonThe Aspen Times
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series looking at issues raised in a new study of the Roaring Fork watershed. Today’s article looks at the effects water diversion has on the valley’s namesake river. Saturday’s article will look at environmental degradation of the river and the lands adjacent to it. Read the full story
by Ginger D. Richardson - Dec. 5, 2008The Arizona Republic
The Bureau of Land Management today is expected to eliminate a regulation that gave two congressional committees the ability to block future uranium mining and exploration on public lands near the Grand Canyon.... [U.S. Rep Tucson]... Grijalva who is rumored to be a leading candidate to head the Interior Department in President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet, blasted the Bush administration's decision to abolish the regulation. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/12/05/20081205canyon1205.html
By Patty Henetz - The Salt Lake Tribune
The drought gripping Utah, Southern California and the rest of the Southwest this century shows no sign of ending. Scientists see it as a permanent condition that, despite year-to-year weather variations, will deepen as temperatures rise, snows dwindle, soils bake and fires burn.
