TU hires new Upper Colorado River coordinator

  Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project today announced the hiring of Rob Firth as project coordinator for the Upper Colorado River Basin in Grand and Summit Counties.

Firth, a longtime resident of Hot Sulphur Springs, retired in 2008 after a distinguished 25-year career with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.  For most of his career, he served as a district and area wildlife manager in Grand, Summit and parts of Routt and Eagle Counties in northwest Colorado.  More recently, he served as the DOW’s statewide chief of law enforcement.  Over the years, his varied duties included enforcement of game laws, protection of land and water resources, wildlife and fisheries management, and public education.

“We are excited to put Rob Firth’s experience and skills to work protecting fish and wildlife habitat in the Upper Colorado River Basin,” said Drew Peternell, director of TU’s Colorado Water Project, which works to improve stream flows and coldwater fisheries in the state.  “Rob is a trusted local voice on resource issues.  And he knows how to bring people together to find solutions.  That makes him a perfect choice to coordinate projects on behalf of TU in the Upper Colorado.”

For many years, the health of the Upper Colorado River Basin, including the Fraser and Williams Fork Rivers and other important tributaries, has suffered as a result of large-scale diversions of water to Colorado’s Front Range, with low stream flows degrading coldwater fish habitat.  Along with Colorado Water Project counsel Mely Whiting, Firth will work to assure that the proposed Windy Gap Firming Project and Moffat Tunnel Firming Project do not further damage an already over-tapped river system.

Firth will also plan and implement on-the-ground projects that improve coldwater habitat in the Upper Colorado River Basin.  Among other duties, he will work closely with water users, private land owners and agency staff to identify opportunities to restore streams and implement cooperative agreements with irrigators that benefit agricultural operations and fish habitat simultaneously. 

“I have always respected Trout Unlimited as an outstanding grassroots sportsmen’s conservation group,” said Firth. “I’m eager to work with local partners to find ways to protect and enhance our fisheries here on the West Slope.”

In 2005, Grand County presented Firth with an outstanding Citizen award.  In 2007, he was named the Colorado Trapper’s Association Wildlife Professional of the Year.

EPA OKs mine cleanup in San Luis Valley

Summit County Citizens Voice

by Bob Berwyn

“This is great news—we have been working on this project for  years and are glad that the (EPA has provided TU with this additional protection,” said Elizabeth Russell, project manager. “The risk of a release of hazardous waste from the tailings was very minimal, but we are grateful for the agency’s faith in TU to achieve results,” Russell said. The Kerber Creek project is located at the north end of the San Luis Valley in Colorado. Historic mining along Kerber Creek led to metals pollution and a degraded stream channel, requiring it to be places on the list of Colorado’s most impaired waterways.

Since 2008, Trout Unlimited and its partners have spent more than $1.3 million on restoration efforts along Kerber Creek. Working with the Bureau of Land Management, Colorado’s Nonpoint Source Program, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and local landowners, the goal is to treat 60 acres of mine tailings using lime, limestone and compost, and to restore the stream for fish and wildlife habitat.

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2010/08/25/epa-oks-mine-cleanup-in-san-luis-valley/

Get your ticekts to CTU's End of Summer Bash this FRIDAY, AUGUST 27th!

Come celebrate the end of summer this Friday night at the D Note in Old Towne Arvada with all your friends! The fun kicks off at 5pm with live music and a chance to win prizes and trips. Last year hundreds of TU supporters came out in full force.  This year we're planning an even bigger celebration!

Admission is only $10. All proceeds from this event benefit Colorado Trout Unlimited's river conservation programs.

And don’t forget to stop by to visit our friends at Charlie’s FlyBox, this year’s event sponsor, to stock up and check out the latest gear! TU members will receive a 10% discount from 5pm-7pm.

Click here for more info or to buy your tickets online now!

Trout Unlimited, EPA agree on creek cleanup

Pueblo Chieftain

By MATT HILDNER

Elizabeth Russell, who manages Trout Unlimited's efforts on Kerber Creek, said the mine tailings the group encountered on private lands were hazardous enough that it wanted protection from liability. That led to a year of negotiations that resulted in the draft, she said. If finalized, the agreement would cover Trout Unlimited's past actions. The  agreement is only the second of its kind, following on the heels of one the agency and Trout Unlimited signed to clean up the American Fork River in Utah.

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/article_4a870758-acf0-11df-b597-001cc4c03286.html

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Alpine Triangle (Day Three)

Field & Stream I learned a very important lesson at the start of our third day in the Alpine Triangle:  We don’t have to move mountains to help trout streams recover from the effects of hard rock mining.

Moving west from Lake City toward the town of Ouray, we stopped along Henson Creek, where Tara Tafi, project manager and reclamation specialist for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, showed us around the Henson Creek Repository project.

Here’s a little “mine influence on trout water” primer:  Many of the mines left behind tailing piles. Those tailing piles contain a number of things that are harmful to the river (acids, heavy metals, etc.)  As the rains and snows fall over the tailings, the runoff mixes into the river, lowering pH levels (2-4).  In low pH, metals are easily mobilized.  When this happens, trout and the bugs they eat can’t survive in an essentially sterile environment.  And this can last for generations.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/where-fish-trout/2010/08/best-wild-places-exploring-alpine-triangle-day-three

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Alpine Triangle (Day Two)

Field & Stream Editor-at-Large Kirk Deeter and photographer Kevin Cooley spent three days with Trout Unlimited exploring the Alpine Triangle, a rugged expanse of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, so named because the region is loosely contained within the shape made by connecting the towns of Ouray, Lake City, and Silverton. TU wants Congress to declare the place a National Conservation area to protect its streams from mining expansion and new road development. Here's what they found on day two.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/where-fish-trout/2010/08/best-wild-places-exploring-alpine-triangle-day-two

Best Wild Places: Exploring The Alpine Triangle

Field & Stream The “Alpine Triangle” is a rugged expanse of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, so named by the Bureau of Land Management because the region is loosely contained within the shape made by connecting the towns of Ouray, Lake City, and Silverton. 

I jumped at the opportunity to cover this story when the Field & Stream editors were divvying up the “Best Wild Places” assignments, because the region has been my home away from home for 25 years.  It’s where many of my formative trout fishing adventures happened, and near where I still make an annual elk hunting camp.  It is, without question, my favorite wild place on earth. 

Yet, as familiar as I thought I was with the Alpine Triangle region, I had never experienced it from as many angles as I did on day one of the Trout Unlimited/Field & Stream adventure.  We kicked off the tour with a full-on “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles” agenda…

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/where-fish-trout/2010/08/best-wild-places-exploring-alpine-triangle

An Overview of the Alpine Triangle

Field & Stream In the high-country heart of southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains rests 180,000 acres of alpine habitat that has sheltered some of the best big game hunting and wild trout fishing in the southern Rockies for thousands of years.

The Alpine Triangle, named because it rests between three communities at it’s “corners”—Lake City, Ouray and Silverton—is a rare stretch of Bureau of Land Management real estate in the heart of traditional “forest” country. Not only does it shelter outstanding wild and native trout habitat, and prime big-game habitat for mule deer, elk and especially bighorn sheep, it’s home to a unique cultural heritage that is truly “old Colorado.”

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/hunting/2010/07/overview-alpine-triangle

Group continues scientific monitoring of West Creek

By Dave BuchananGrand Junction Sentinel

The brushy creek harbors a healthy population of wild brown trout, which are gifted with the ability to survive the warm water temperatures of summer and early fall.

All that brush makes West Creek challenging to fish, which is why you don’t see a whole lot of cars parked along the road.

What you might see, once or twice a year, are members of the Grand Valley Anglers Chapter of Trout Unlimited continuing a creek-monitoring project begun 13 years ago.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/outdoors/articles/group_continues_scientific_mon/

Slamming carp for trout

By Karl LicisSpecial to The Denver Post

"What seems improbable today — fishing for trout downtown — someday could become a normal thing," said Todd Fehr, president of the Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited, who was among the prime movers in establishing the tournament as a chapter project.

The chapter hopes to partner with the appropriate government agencies and other entities for habitat-improvement projects along the river that would make it a better trout fishery while providing new opportunities for fishing in an urban setting.

http://www.denverpost.com/motorsports/ci_15809352