Fishermen fret about Arkansas River flows

Pueblo Chieftain

By CHRIS WOODKA

Members of Trout Unlimited expressed concern that increased urban demand for water could harm fish  in  the  Arkansas River below Pueblo Dam.

“In the newspaper this morning was an article about how Woodmoor is planning a marathon (to acquire water rights),” Ted Sillox, a member of the Trout Unlimited Greenback Chapter, told state wildlife officials this week. “What’s the best route we can take to help stream flows?”

Sillox and several other members said the $7 million Legacy Project on the Arkansas River is threatened as more cities buy water rights and move the water out of the Arkansas Valley.

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/article_668ca93e-04ee-11e0-8f6e-001cc4c03286.html

Settlement reached in Dry Gulch water case

By Randi Pierce

PagosaSUN.com staff

After years of litigation, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation and San Juan Water Conservancy districts have agreed to the terms of a settlement with Trout Unlimited in the case of the proposed Dry Gulch Reservoir. The local chapter of TU brought forth litigation in 2004 over concerns that the then 35,000 acre-foot reservoir and accompanying rights for diversion and refill amounted to a water grab on the part of PAWSD.

“The settlement underscores that municipal water projects must be based on well-founded, substantiated data about future growth and water needs,” [Trout Unlimited’s attorney, Andrew] Peternell said in the press release. “In a time of water scarcity, Colorado must embrace water solutions that meet a range of needs, including municipal growth, agriculture and wildlife and recreation. No water user can take more than its fair share.”

http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2010/12December/120910/pg1drygulch.html

 

Pagosa reservoir closer to reality

Durango Herald

By Patrick Young

“This is a victory for the San Juan River,” Drew Peternell, director of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project, said in a news release issued Friday. “The original application could have been devastating to fish habitat and the river ecosystem, but now we have a settlement that balances the districts’ need for water with the health of the San Juan.”

Trout Unlimited twice appealed the district court’s decision to award water rights for the project on the grounds that the districts were being too speculative in their predictions of population growth. In both instances, the Colorado Supreme Court sided with the environmental group and denied the project’s water rights.

As part of the deal, the water districts have agreed to draw no more than 11,000 acre-feet per year with a 10-year average of no more than 9,300 acre-feet per year. The districts also must maintain water levels in the San Juan equal to twice the flow required by the Colorado Water Conservancy Board’s in-stream flow requirements.

In-stream flow water rights are water rights held by the water conservancy board, mandating minimum water levels in the state’s waterways to prevent environmental degradation.

http://durangoherald.com/article/20101206/NEWS01/712069944/-1/s

Biologists and hatcheries give Colorado fish a helping hand

By Bruce FinleyThe Denver Post

The kokanee operation here is one of many. Across Colorado, state biologists introduce 76 million fish a year into rivers and reservoirs.

Most of the fish in Colorado lakes and reservoirs, said Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton, are non-natives that require human management to survive.

Artificial spawning and stocking "is an important tool, but it is not a substitute for having healthy habitats and healthy trout," said David Nickum, director of Colorado Trout Unlimited, an ecosystem advocacy group.

Colorado River, greenback and Rio Grande cutthroat trout are the only native game fish in the state. Other native fish include razorback suckers, the humpback chub and the Colorado pikeminnow, bottom-feeders that need the warmer pools that form along free-flowing rivers.

"We want to make sure there are good, healthy native populations, especially of those cutthroats," Nickum said.

Read more: Biologists and hatcheries give Colorado fish a helping hand - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16676614#ixzz162D6pwWo

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