Strong Feelings About Felt

From National Trout Unlimited One of the hottest topics in the fly-fishing industry today involves the use of felt soles on wading boots. The reason for the controversy is felt's role in spreading aquatic invasive species, such as whirling disease and Didymo (“rock snot”).

Here is what we know: felt acts as a sponge, soaking in water and unwanted hitchhikers. It takes a long time to dry, and it is difficult to clean and inspect thoroughly because microscopic species such as whirling disease spores and Didymo can be impossible to detect with the naked eye. Moreover, since anglers like to travel—let’s face it, most people who fish the Beaverhead also try the Ruby, Big Hole, Madison or Jefferson—we run the risk of transporting an invasive species to a new watershed. And once something like whirling disease gets established, it can be almost impossible to eradicate.

Recognizing the role that anglers can and should play in preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species, in 2008 Trout Unlimited called on fly tackle manufacturers to phase out felt by 2011. Simms was the first to step up, with L.L.Bean, Patagonia and other manufacturers close behind. Orvis will release its new rubber-soled boot in early 2010, and Korkers is offering an AIS-resistant Klingon rubber sole package for its interchangeable sole boot system.

But the debate continues. Many anglers do not think that the new rubber soles offer the same instream traction that felt does. Dave Kumlien, who oversees TU’s AIS work as the director of the Whirling Disease Foundation, believes that the industry is still adjusting, and thinks that the best solution may be the new rubber soles with metal studs. To avoid damage to the floor of his driftboat, Dave installed a simple rubber mat.

No one expects anglers to go out and throw away their felt-soled boots. If the boots never leave a particular watershed, there is no real danger that they will spread invasives. And if anglers clean, dry and inspect their boots, the threat of spreading invasives is greatly reduced. But eliminating felt in new boots is the right way to go, and several states have either already banned felt or plan to do it in the near future.

As anglers, giving up felt is a small price to pay for keeping our rivers and fisheries free from invasives. Read more

NYC watershed report bolsters case for DeGette FRAC Act

From The Colorado Independent - By David O. Williams

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection last week issued a report that casts serious doubts on the common natural gas drilling process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” which injects water, sand and chemicals deep underground to free up more gas.

Read more

What the state is studying...

By Chris Woodka - The Pueblo Chieftain

The state is pondering proposed pipelines to move water from most areas of the state to the Front Range in an attempt to meet future water demands.

Not all will be built, and none has been officially endorsed.

Nevertheless, the Colorado Water Conservation Board looked at them in a preliminary report released last June.

Strategies in the report that move water from one basin to another include: Read more

Trout provide hands-on lessons at Thompson Valley High School

From: Loveland Connection, By Carl McCutchen 12/21/2009

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. Read more

722,000 more water users

According to the Census Bureau, Colorado's population has grown by 722,000 from 2000-2009. The state's population now exceeds 5 million.

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