Release of Glade study is delayed

Fort Collins Coloradoan - by Kevin Duggan • KevinDuggan@coloradoan.com

Proponents say NISP is needed to provide water for future growth. They also say not building the project would ultimately prove more costly for participants as they acquire the water they need.

Critics say the project would cause severe environmental damage to the river. Opponents also say other steps, such as increased conservation, should be taken to meet the region's water needs.

So far the process of crafting an EIS for the project has taken almost six year and cost more than $5 million. Read more

Frack-fluid tagging part of model Grand Junction, Palisade watershed plan

Colorado Independent - by David O. Williams

Using chemical tracers to make sure hydraulic fracturing fluids aren’t contaminating groundwater supplies may be off the radar of Colorado officials who regulate the state’s natural gas industry, but the concept is contained in what could be a precedent-setting plan crafted by the cities of Grand Junction and Palisade. Read more

Wyoming trying to satisfy EPA’s coalbed methane concerns

DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Casper Star-Tribune | Posted: Thursday, December 3, 2009

The EPA recently put a hold on a handful of water discharge permit applications with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

In a series of recent letters, the EPA has noted that Wyoming regulators appear to be using a permit scheme that does not meet Wyoming’s own water quality standard intended to protect agricultural uses. That criticism follows a September report by two New Mexico scientists also indicating that Wyoming’s water discharge permit scheme is based on flawed science. Read more

WATER DIVERSIONS: Colorado moves mountains to bring water to Front Range

The Pueblo Chieftain - Chris Woodka

Likewise, the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project is shifting toward more municipal use. In the first 30 years of diversions, beginning in the early 1970s, nearly three-fourths of the water was used on farms. Now, as cities realize more need, more than half is being allocated for municipal use, as required by a water court decree. Twin Lakes, the first large-scale diversion through a tunnel under the Rockies, was built by farmers in the early 1930s to provide ample water for crops in Crowley County. The tunnel and shares in the lakes were sold to municipal interests, and the lakes were enlarged as part of the Fry-Ark Project in the 1970s.  Read the article

Sky Hi Daily News: Let's just say ‘no' to more transbasin diversions

Editorial - tuesday, Dec. 1

For more than a century, as Colorado water law was enshrined in transmountain diversion after transmountain diversion, the West Slope suffered these indignities as long as there was sufficient water for agriculture. Now that energy development, a robust tourism economy, agriculture and endangered species all compete for this most precious of resources on this side of the Divide, the prevailing reality could scarcely be more fundamentally different than it was as these laws were being etched in granite.

At the very least, Denver Water should be forced to mitigate the impacts of any further diversions from the Fraser Valley, where a seriously depleted river already represents the ultimate limit to development, and a once-world class fishery teeters on the brink. Read more

The Battle for the Roan Plateau

From Men's Journal - Bill Gifford

Can Interior Secretary Ken Salazar save the last best place in his native Colorado? BILL GIFFORD reports on the fierce conservation fight and reality check of Salazar and President Obama’s plan to move America beyond “drill, baby, drill” as the answer to our energy needs. Read more

Trout Unlimited revives Eagle County chapter

From The Aspen Times - by Scott N. Miller Vail correspondent

Organization already working on conservation projects

Rivers may look alike on maps, but the people who fish those streams know better. That's one reason the Eagle River Valley has its own Trout Unlimited chapter again. Read more

Officials say nitrogen deposition big concern for Rocky

From Fort Collins Coloradoan By Bobby Magill • BobbyMagill@coloradoan.com • November 29, 2009

Its consequences may not be as dramatic as millions of dead trees bringing a sense of puzzlement to surprised tourists, but nitrogen deposition is one of the biggest challenges Rocky Mountain National Park is facing today, park officials say. Read more

There's a water war on the Colorado-Wyoming border, and Aaron Million is quick on the draw

From Westword - By Joel Warner - Published on November 24, 2009

In 1874, two farming coalitions came together in a schoolhouse in the town of Eaton to hash out control of the Cache la Poudre River. Tempers flared, and one farmer called out, "Every man to his tent, to his rifle and to his cartridges!"

Now, 135 years later, the region's precious water supplies continue to bring people together and drive them apart. And there's still the threat of violence.

Read more

Trout provide hands-on lessons at Thompson Valley High School

By Carl McCutchen • Loveland Connection Anyone walking into Tom Hewson’s chemistry class at Thompson Valley High School might disregard the 55-gallon fish tank near the doorway as home for a class pet, but for most of the students at TVHS, it’s far more than that.

The fish tank, currently full of about 85 infant rainbow trout, is an experiment, a project and a learning tool.

“We raise trout from eggs to small fingerlings to then be stocked in a local watershed,” Hewson said.

 The project, which Hewson said wouldn’t be done until later this year, started when he received a phone call from officials with the Denver chapter of Trout Unlimited last spring.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091221/LOVELAND02/91221002