FORESTS: One-year delay on roadless rule expected

Greenwire: (05/28/2009) Noelle Straub and Eric Bontrager, E&E reporters The Obama administration is expected to announce today that it will take a one-year delay on making any long-term decisions on the controversial Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Instead, the Agriculture Department secretary for the next year will have sole power to make decisions on building roads and harvesting timber on nearly all the areas covered by the 2001 rule.

During the presidential campaign, Obama expressed his support for the roadless rule, which granted blanket protection to about 58 million acres of federal land nationwide but has been mired in legal battles ever since President Clinton put it in place just before leaving office. USDA is expected to issue a memorandum immediately giving the secretary decision-making authority over the construction and reconstruction of roads and the cutting, sale or removal of timber in most of the inventoried Forest Service roadless areas.

The memo would not set any policy for the management of such areas. It includes roadless areas in Alaska, but it will not apply to those in Idaho, which wrote its own roadless area plan. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, praised the move. "This announcement is a major victory for our National Forests, and is proof positive that the new Administration is serious about turning the page on the legacy of the Bush Administration, which was bent on chopping away at the health and future of America's forests," Rahall said in a statement. "I see this one year time-out as a major step forward in protecting inventoried roadless areas across the country, but these wild forests need permanent protection to continue providing clean water, wildlife habitat, and boundless recreational opportunities."

A coalition of environmental groups has been urging President Obama to quickly use his administrative powers to implement the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Currently, the Clinton-era rule applies to 10 states because of a court decision late last year. California Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte limited the rule to apply to New Mexico and the nine states covered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while lawsuits on the issue continue through the appeals process. Laporte made the decision after the Bush administration asked both her and U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in Wyoming to at least temporarily lift or modify their conflicting decisions on the rule, saying the Forest Service faced a "Hobbesian choice" over which of the court orders to disobey.

Brimmer threw out the roadless rule in 2003, Laporte reinstated it in 2006, and Brimmer threw it out again last year. Only two states, Colorado and Idaho, embarked on the process the Bush administration put in place to petition for protections. If the Clinton rule is reinstated, the completed Idaho rule could stand, the groups said, but they predicted that Colorado would drop its unfinished efforts.

Changes will ensure our water is cleaner

From: Community.GJSentinel by DAVID NICKUM Executive Director Colorado Trout Unlimited

Gary Harmon’s article on the 2009 Clean Water Restoration Act quotes Sen. Michael Bennet as saying that the legislation “could block access to waters for sportsmen and fishermen.”

With all due respect, the senator has it exactly backwards. The CWRA would have absolutely no effect on the ability of hunters and anglers to access Colorado’s waters. But it would ensure that when they visit Colorado’s rivers and streams, they find clean, fishable waters that have been protected from pollutants and waste.

Most hunter and angler groups, including Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Federation, support the CWRA for a simple reason: It protects streams and wetlands that are critical habitat for fish and wildlife.

Far from being a federal power grab, CWRA would simply restore the protection that the Clean Water Act provided for 25 years before misguided court rulings declared open season on wetlands and waterways.  In Colorado, 75 percent of our streams — 76,000 miles worth — are now at risk.

Field and Stream magazine recently called passage of the CWRA a top priority for hunters and anglers, because it protects “temporary and isolated wetlands, among the most important habitats for waterfowl and a host of other wildlife.”

If Colorado’s senators wish to defend the interests of sportsmen and women, they will support the Clean Water Restoration Act and ensure that our rivers and wetlands are safeguarded for future generations.

Outdoor groups back expanded Clean Water Act

By GARY HARMON/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Monday, May 25, 2009

Several sporting and conservation groups put a high priority on winning approval of the Clean Water Restoration Act.

Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the National Wildlife Federation all list the measure, S 787 by Russ Feingold, D-Wis., as a major issue.

Opponents say the bill is prelude to a federal government overreach.

The bill would expand federal control to all the waters of the United States: interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, mud flats, sand flats, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playas and natural ponds, as well as tributaries to those waters.

Proponents of the measure say it would restore protections included in the 1972 Clean Water Act, which have since been torn down by court rulings.

The Trout Unlimited Web site said the act “would protect 20 million acres of wetlands and 2 million miles of rivers and streams that have lost protection in recent years because of misguided court rulings.”

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/05/25/052609_2A_Clean_Water_folo.html

Clean Water Restoration Act safeguards our rivers

Gary Harmon’s article on the 2009 Clean Water Restoration Act quotes Sen. Michael Bennet as saying that the legislation “could block access to waters for sportsmen and fishermen.” With all due respect, the senator’s spokesperson has it exactly backwards. The CWRA would have absolutely no effect on the ability of hunters and anglers to access Colorado’s waters — but it would ensure that when they visit Colorado’s rivers and streams, they find clean, fishable waters that have been protected from pollutants and waste. Most hunter and angler groups, including Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Federation, support the CWRA for a simple reason: It protects streams and wetlands that are critical habitat for fish and wildlife. Far from being a federal power grab, CWRA would simply restore the protection that the Clean Water Act provided for 25 years before misguided court rulings declared open season on wetlands and waterways.  In Colorado, 75 percent of our streams – 76,000 miles worth – are now at risk.  Field and Stream magazine recently called passage of the CWRA a top priority for hunters and anglers, because it protects “temporary and isolated wetlands, among the most important habitats for waterfowl and a host of other wildlife.”

If Colorado’s senators wish to defend the interests of sportsmen and women, they will support the Clean Water Restoration Act and ensure that our rivers and wetlands are safeguarded for future generations.

DAVID NICKUM, Executive Director Colorado Trout Unlimited Arvada

http://community.gjsentinel.com/2009/05/21/clean-water-restoration-act-safeguards-our-rivers/

Reservoir project reaching final stages

  MINERAL COUNTY — The San Luis Valley Irrigation District (SLVID) is anticipating moving its Rio Grande Reservoir expansion project into the final design stage by “late fall or early 2010,” according to SLVID Supervisor Travis Smith. The district is currently consulting with the Colorado Division of Water Resources, the District 20 Water Commissioners, the Rio Grande Water Users Association, the Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited on the expansion project.

http://www.mineralcountyminer.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=779

Colorado & Western Water Project Staff Notes

May 2009 We are working with several other conservation groups on an analysis of the gap between water supply and demand on Colorado’s Front Range. We hope to offer an alternative to a future, additional diversion of water from Colorado’s Western Slope.

The Colorado Water Project (CWP) continues to evaluate and or monitor the progress of several Environmental Impact Statements for various water development projects around the state such as the Windy Gap Firming, Denver Moffat Expansion, and Northern Integrated Supply Project.

The CWP staff continues to provide environmental perspective on several large cooperative endeavors including the Halligan Seaman Shared Vision Plan and the Colorado River Wild and Scenic Management Plan Alternative. The CWP staff has been working with state and local governments, water providers and other environmental groups to draft an Upper Colorado River Wild and Scenic Management Plan Alternative (MPA). Most recently, the east slope water users unilaterally developed a proposal for flow guides on the Colorado River between Kremmling and State Bridge, Colorado. CWP staff and west slope water users are in the process of evaluating the east slope water user’s proposal.

On May 7, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operators made the first release in a new flow regime that is expected to help restore the Gunnison River canyon ecosystem and return it to a more natural state. Water releases from the Aspinall Unit will increase each day until reaching a peak flow of about 6,000 cfs in the Black Canyon on May 13, after which the releases will begin to drop until leveling off at approximately 1,900 cfs in the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge on May 21. Among other benefits, the higher flows will help flush out sediment deposits that have caused whirling disease and other problems for trout, clear out encroaching vegetation and woody debris, and help maintain the river channel.

Heavy spring snows delayed the start of the field season in Colorado. CWP staff had hoped to get out prior to the start of runoff to work with Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado Water Conservation Board staffs installing several pressure transducers in West Prong Slater Creek to monitor flows above and below diversion structures. This field work is now scheduled for mid-June. The results of this effort will be used to help establish the instream flow requirements of this Colorado River cutthroat trout stream. The results will also be used to evaluate the potential value of an instream flow donation and/or acquisition on this stream.

CWP staff plans to perform an analysis of barriers to Colorado River cutthroat trout in the Yampa basin. The analysis will provide a roadmap for future barrier removal work in the basin to reconnect cutthroat habitat.

Wasington Post Video Interview: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

A series of in-depth interviews - a must see.

Opinion: Creating the Fountain Creek Watershed

Denver Post Opinion:Sallie Clark is an El Paso County Commissioner.

The signing of State SB141 was barely mentioned by most of our local media. It's not surprising; the legislature passes and the Governor signs many bills and only a handful make the front page. But I'm convinced that ten or twenty years from now, when we look back, we'll view the signing of SB141 as a major milestone.Read more

Home Doug Monger and Christy Belton: Protecting our water

Steamboat Pilot and Today

Here in Northwest Colorado, where some of the last unallocated water in Colorado remains, we’ve had several recent wake-up calls. Read More

Black Canyon awash in water-rights victory

By Mark JaffeThe Denver Post

MONTROSE — A roaring white arc of water cascading over the Crystal Dam and into Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on Wednesday was a sign of victory.

The National Park Service has been fighting for water rights for parks across the West for nearly 40 years.

"Whether it is a geyser at Yellowstone or the water that shapes and stabilizes Colorado's Great Sand Dunes, water is vital for the parks," said Bart Miller, an attorney with Western Resource Advocates in Boulder.

The Park Service already has won water rights for 25 parks in nine Western states, the last two for Colorado's Black Canyon and Great Sand Dunes. Eight more agreements are being negotiated.

It took 36 years and Colorado's biggest water-rights battle — with two court cases, more than 300 letters of opposition and 45 different parties in the final negotiations — for the canyon to get its water.

Hydropower agencies, ranchers, a Front Range suburban water supplier, conservation groups and federal agencies all were at the table.

"In the end we struck a balance," said Trout Unlimited attorney Drew Peternell. "Nobody got everything, but everybody got something."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12373597