Christo’s Plan for Arkansas River Wrapped in Controversy

New West

By David Frey

In its comments to the BLM, Colorado Trout Unlimited voiced concerns about 9,100 boreholes that would be put in the riverbank to anchor the cables. The group also worried about the possibility of fuel or chemical spills and the risk of a “catastrophic failure” of the project. “Long-lasting scars can remain in watersheds even after reclamation work is completed,” wrote Colorado Trout Unlimited Executive Director David Nickum.

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/christos_plan_for_river_wrapped_in_controversy/C41/L41/

Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River Read more: Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River

By Bruce FinleyThe Denver Post

As skiers roll into the high country seeking snow, each vehicle that crosses the Continental Divide over Berthoud Pass worsens the damage to a key tributary of the Colorado River — despite 15 years of trying to solve the problem.

State highway, Denver Water and U.S. Forest Service officials last week said work on a traction-sand removal system along the Fraser River will begin in the spring — at the earliest.

This material slides off the road into the Fraser River, "smothering the rocks, which smothers the bug life, which is the bottom of the food chain. Then the fish starve," said Kirk Klancke, president of Trout Unlimited's Colorado River headwaters chapter and manager of two water districts, who helped line up about $240,000 in federal and state grants for sediment removal.

Read more: Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16613779#ixzz15N6IGXQF

Read more: Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16613779#ixzz15N6E594H

Cutthroat Chapter's Conservation Auction is November 16th

Mark your calendars for November 16th at 6:00 PM to be sure you’ll be available for our Annual Conservation Auction. It’s a fun event with lots of outstanding items up for auction. There will also be a cash bar with plenty of time for socializing and inspecting the various items available for auction. Please check out our site for daily updates of auction items http://www.cutthroatctu.org/.  Some of the items include guided trips (both local and not-so-local), fly-fishing equipment, boxes of flies tied by renowned fly tyers, artwork (both fishing and non-fishing related), gift certificates ranging from the obvious (fly shops) to massages and financial planning.

Besides all the great things available to bid on, there’s another important reason for you to participate. The Auction provides most of our Chapter’s annual income. It makes it possible for us to run our monthly meetings, to carry on our Cheesman Canyon maintenance, river clean-up and river testing activities, to fund a graduate fellowship in the Fish Biology and Wildlife Department at Colorado State University, to carry on youth education, and to cooperate with National Trout Unlimited and Colorado Trout Unlimited in their various conservation programs. In other words, it’s a win-win evening. You’ll enjoy it and we’ll get the financial support that we need.

So mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 16th at 6pm and join us at the Terrace Gardens. The address is 13065 East Briarwood Ave., Englewood, just south of Arapahoe Rd, 2 miles east of I-25. Admittance is free.

And guys, please bring your wives and daughters with you as we’ll have plenty of items of interest to them. Plus, there’ll be a special door prize drawing for the ladies only.

Clear Creek Recovery Project Helped by Fishing is Fun Grant

World Fishing Network News

A stream recovery project in downtown Idaho Springs has gotten an $80,000 boost from a Colorado Division of Wildlife Fishing is Fun grant.For decades, the health of Clear Creek in Idaho Springs was seriously impaired by mining runoff, inadequate sewage treatment and channelization from adjacent road and highway construction.

But in recent years, a broad coalition including the city, county, major businesses and environmental groups have made significant investments to help mitigate and reverse the damage. The result has been a dramatic improvement of Clear Creek. One local business, the Albert Frei and Sons Quarry, provided indispensible support for the project in the form of tons of rock that was used to create structure and stabilize the stream bank. Additional support came from the Trask Family Foundation, the Henderson Mine as well as the West Denver chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Clear Creek Watershed Foundation, which oversaw the project on behalf of the city. Frontier Environmental Services of Arvada, which performed the construction, donated its services for preliminary design and project development.

"Without the core support from Fishing is Fun, this project doesn't come together," said Miles Williams, a member of West Denver TU and the city's advisor on the project. "It helped all of our partners realize that we could really make this happen."

http://www.wfn.tv/news/index.php?blog=411668

Get Your Tickets to West Denver TU Chapter's "Special Events Night" November 3rd

On November 3, West Denver is holding a Special Events Night at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds that promises to be an extremely entertaining and enjoyable evening. There will be dinner, a silent auction featuring guided trips and great equipment, wine tasting, dancing to the 50’s and 60’s, and a “casino event” where you’ll have the opportunity to try your luck at black jack, poker, craps, and roulette (play money only). Doors open at 5:00 PM, dinner kicks off at 5:30 PM, and the party continues until approximately 10:00 PM. Tickets are $30 per person or $50 per couple, a great deal given the dinner and entertainment available. If you want tickets and/or more information, please contact Linda Miyamoto (303-423-5616), Jackie Edwards (303-278-2282), or Jon Weimer (303-830-1609). Or purchase your tickets online here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/926658661

Firming Projects to be Weighted Together

TU, CTU, and the Colorado Headwaters Chapter have been working hard to make the Windy Gap Firming Project and the Moffat Tunnel expansion mitigation a more public, transparent process that involves the stakeholders of Grand County and addresses current and potential impacts of BOTH projects on the upper Colorado River and the Fraser River. Big ups to DNR, DOW, and our Wildlife Commissioners for working together with water providers to develop a collaborative, transparent process to "create a healthy(Colorado river) downstream of Windy Gap" that involves the local stakeholders. Check out this great article in Sky-HI News by Tonya Bina:  http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20101027/NEWS/101029928/1079&ParentProfile=1067

SLV restoration project earns BLM award

Pueblo Chieftain VILLA GROVE —  Trout Unlimited’s Kerber Creek Restoration Project has received the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s 2010 Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award.

The BLM award is given to organizations that highlight environmental stewardship and acknowledges exceptional track records of meeting or exceeding federal, state or local reclamation requirements.

“This project would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of our project partners at the BLM and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, as well as from local landowners who are invested in restoring the creek from the effects of mining,” said Elizabeth Russell, Trout Unlimited’s manager for the project.

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/article_76db782c-dff2-11df-8570-001cc4c002e0.html

Cleaning up a mine field

Pueblo Chieftain

By CHRIS WOODKA

Cleaning up old mining districts in Leadville has been a contentious issue in the community.An Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site was set up in California Gulch more than 20 years ago following releases of toxic metals that killed fish in an 18-mile reach of the Arkansas River. Issues with blockage in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Leadville Tunnel erupted two years ago, leading to a major drilling project to relieve pressure from water backed up in drain tunnels.

The goal of the Lake Fork group is to avoid the same sort of controversy over cleanup efforts by bringing agencies, landowners and environmental groups together, said Melissa Wolfe, another faculty member who works with the team.

“The outreach has been a challenge, but we’ve had good participation from the agencies that are involved,” Wolfe said.

 A core of landowners who helped form the working group are still active but do not attend meetings as often as in the past, said Cathy Patti, CMC contract administrator.

Federal agencies include the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, EPA, Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service.

State agencies include the Department of Public Health and Environment, Division of Wildlife and the Division of Reclamation and Mining Safety.

 Local government, landowners and Trout Unlimited are also connected to the process.

http://www.chieftain.com/article_cd1cc392-dfef-11df-83de-001cc4c002e0.html

Lightner Creek runoff fouling Animas River

Durango Herald Lightner Creek is at it again. It would be hard to be a resident of the area, or even a visitor, and not notice the "stain" of gray-brown water that Lightner Creek is introducing into the Animas. While it is normal to see Lightner run turbid, or "off-color," during the spring runoff season, this level of turbidity and general nastiness at this time of year is not normal and is a cause of concern.

Why is this sort of turbidity - what I choose to call the Lightner Creek problem - happening at this time of year? One possible cause of the current problem is a substantial rain event back on Sept. 13 that dumped upwards of an inch of water on Durango and the Perin's Peak area.

Opinion piece from Buck Skillen, past president and current board member of Five Rivers Trout Unlimited and a local volunteer with River Watch.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/2010/10/24/Lightner_Creek_runoff_fouling_Animas_River/

Division of Wildlife considers impacts of Windy Gap project

By Laura Snider

Camera Staff Writer

According to Colorado Trout Unlimited, if both the Windy Gap Firming Project and a proposed expansion of the Gross Reservoir -- which feeds Denver residents with water from the Colorado watershed -- are approved, as much as 70 percent of the upper Colorado River's native water flow will be removed on average.

"It's not happening in isolation," said Erica Stock, outreach director for Colorado Trout Unlimited.

In particular, Stock said her organization wants to make sure that Northern Water uses an accurate historical baseline of the Colorado River's flow to determine impacts and that it uses an "adaptive management" strategy, which would allow the mitigation measures to be changed if ecological effects are worse than anticipated.

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_16390616