Colorado: Proposed water deal could end decades of fighting

Summit Voice

By Bob Berwyn

Conservation groups did not have a seat at the table during the negotiations, which were dominated by traditional water interests, but Trout Unlimted director David Nickum said the agreement is encouraging. He praised several innovative provisions in the deal, including a Denver Water pledge that future West Slope water diversions must be approved by the host counties, and a “Learning by Doing” management plan to monitor and evaluate restoration efforts.

“While recognizing that much work remains, we join in celebrating what this agreement does accomplish:  putting new resources to work to improve the health of the Upper Colorado River, and offering a new model for greater cooperation between the Front Range and Western Slope,” said Nickum.

“Denver Water brought a great deal of creativity and collaboration to this deal,” added Mely Whiting, counsel for TU’s Colorado Water Project. “It deserves credit for a good-faith effort to meet the concerns of West Slope communities.”

TU leaders said the collaborative agreement offers a template for tackling other complex Colorado River water issues.

“The Colorado River faces a host of challenges, from population growth to climate uncertainty,” said Whiting. “Solving them won’t be easy. This settlement provides some hope that all sides can work together to do the right thing for the river.”

While praising the settlement, TU emphasized that significant outstanding issues remain unresolved.

“Some have called this deal a ‘global solution,’ but it certainly isn’t global in scope, as it does not address the future impacts of the pending Moffat and Windy Gap expansion projects,” said Nickum. “Nor does it involve the single largest user of Upper Colorado River water—the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District.”

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/04/28/colorado-proposed-water-deal-could-end-decades-of-fighting/

Kumbaya on the Colorado River?

Summit County Citizens Voice

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Gov. John Hickenlooper will join West Slope officials and water managers from both sides of the Continental Divide this Thursday (April 28) to announce a water deal that could — if adopted — end decades of bickering over Colorado’s most precious resource. Read about the announcement at the Colorado River Water Conservation District website. Whether or not the deal can improve those conditions remains to be seen, and it’s also unclear as to who will decide what constitutes a healthy ecosystem — especially since conservation groups apparently did not have a full-fledged seat at the table during the negotiations.

It’s also unclear what would happen — if, as most reputable studies predict — there is less water in the Colorado River Basin due to climate change in the coming decades. Most research suggests drought will become more intense and widespread in the Southwest, which could increase demand for Colorado River water from the states lower in the basin, including Arizona, and especially California.

Nevertheless, stakeholders like Trout Unlimited have expressed cautious optimism. Based on what they know about the deal, they say it’s a solid first step toward collaborative water management, which to many people is better than fighting.

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/04/27/kumbaya-on-the-colorado-river/

Western Slope water deal surfaces

By Bruce Finley The Denver Post

The most important parts of the deal are "that it looks at the Colorado River Basin from the headwaters to the state line as a whole," said Colorado River District general manager Eric Kuhn, who represented Western Slope communities. "It looks to future solutions rather than past problems."

Environmental advocates are responding favorably — albeit with reservations.

"The deal's great, innovative, the way of the future," said Drew Peternell, director of Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project. "But it doesn't deal with the impacts of Denver's Moffat Tunnel project. We want to make sure the stream-flow impacts of that project are fully mitigated. If it is permitted, that project should not be allowed to damage fisheries."

Read more: Western Slope water deal surfaces - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17912543#ixzz1KYksUKB6

Denver fires up anglers with, yes, carp

By Scott Willoughby The Denver Post

If you tried, you couldn't come up with a sorrier-looking puss to put on a poster than a carp.

And, oh, has it been tried.

"It's the classic 'lemonade' story," Denver Trout Unlimited chapter president Todd Fehr said of the "lemons" that dominate Denver's hometown fishery along the South Platte River. "The Pro-Am Carp Slam started because that's what we had to work with. And the thing is just quirky enough to have taken off."

The irony of using the lowly regarded carp to promote and preserve the would-be habitat of the regal trout is not lost on Fehr. But after years of frustration over the lack of a productive local trout fishery in metro Denver, DTU member Tim Emery suggested in 2007 that the group might try to take advantage of the abundant bugle-mouthed fish that reside in the neighborhood.

Read more: Denver fires up anglers with, yes, carp - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/outdoors/ci_17885629#ixzz1K4lw1uf2

Trout Unlimited more than a social club

Tri Lakes Tribune

By Norma Engelberg

A lot of people think Trout Unlimited is just a social club dedicated to fly fishing. Erik Heikkenen, president of the Cheyenne Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, says the organization is much more. “We do love to fly fish but for the last 25 years we have worked on numerous watershed conservation and restoration projects,” he said. “We’ve concentrated most of our work on the South Platte in Eleven Mile Canyon on the Trees for Trout project. We use trees taken from the Hayman Fire burn area and use them to stabilize the banks. Some of the timbers are placed in the stream bed to provide more trout habitat.”

The first project for the local Trout Unlimited chapter was work on Trout Creek north of Woodland Park in 1986.

“Grazing cattle had destroyed the banks and we did a lot of work restoring them,” Heikkenen said. “Later the beaver moved in and undid some of our work but much of it is still there.”

The organization has also worked with the Fountain Creek Restoration Committee to restore the creek banks in Manitou Springs.“We’ve restored the creek from Soda Springs Park to Memorial Park,” Heikkenen said. “We’ll finish up at Mansion and Fields parks.”In the last few years, Trout Unlimited’s Trout in the Classroom program has also been very popular. Trout Unlimited provides large aquariums, training and trout eggs and students see what it takes for trout to go from eggs to fry to releasing size.

 http://www.coloradocommunitynewspapers.com/articles/2011/04/08/tri_lakes_tribune/news/13_mo_trout_unlimited.txt

 

Thanks to Coyote Gulch for the link!

Mitigation plan released for proposed Gross Reservoir expansion

Daily Camera

By Laura Snider

Drew Peternell, director of Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project, said that he has several concerns with the mitigation plan and the proposed "enhancement plan."

"The heavy focus on what they call enhancements -- they are fine and good -- but they really address past problems," he said. "What does this mean about these new projects?"

Peternell said he also worries that the plan lacks teeth and clear thresholds for enforcement. For example, Trout Unlimited would like assurances that Denver Water will stop withdrawing water from the upper Colorado River if stream temperatures get too high, endangering fish. And they're also concerned that spring "flushing flows" -- which are ecologically important to the river -- won't be preserved.

"We need more guarantees," Peternell said. "Is this a guidance document or is it actually binding?"

Read more: Mitigation plan released for proposed Gross Reservoir expansion - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_17829771#ixzz1JQK6kife DailyCamera.com

Water diversions imperil Western Slope river flow

Denver Post Re: “Fraser’s Ehlert says diversions damaging food sources on Colorado River,” March 30 Outdoors story.

Kudos to reporter Scott Willoughby for alerting Coloradans about how water diversions to the Front Range are seriously damaging Western Slope rivers. The Colorado and Fraser rivers and their fisheries already are on the verge of collapse due to existing Front Range diversions. Additional diversions from the proposed Windy Gap and Moffat Tunnel expansion projects could flatline the Fraser and devastate what’s left of the upper Colorado — unless these projects include strict safeguards and guaranteed flow protections. Front Range residents should tell their elected leaders that they care about protecting our rivers and streams. Nothing less than Colorado’s quality of life is at stake.

Drew Peternell, Boulder

The writer is director of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2011/04/11/water-diversions-imperil-western-slope-river-flow/12631/

2012 Gala Committee Member

Committee members are led by the Gala Chairperson and assigned specific areas of responsibility. Some of the areas include catering, silent auction, live auction, guest speakers and entertainment

2012 Gala Chairperson

Our Annual Gala & Auction is the premier fundraising event of the year. It starts with the selection of the Gala Chairperson, who then assists in the formation of the Gala Committee. Committee members are volunteers assigned to specific areas of responsibility such as catering, silent auction, live auction, guest speakers and entertainment. This event was very successful in 2010 and 2011, so the Gala Chairperson will be working from a proven template.

Flaming Gorge water

Pueblo Chieftain

Re: “Flaming Gorge water plan inches along,” March 31 Chieftain: Let me explain why Colorado should “stick a fork” in the proposed Flaming Gorge pipeline. Colorado’s Front Range communities can meet their future water needs with innovative strategies that are faster and cheaper to develop and less controversial and environmentally damaging than the proposal to pump water 500 miles from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the Front Range.  The pipeline proponents claim that Colorado must develop its remaining Colorado River Compact water or risk losing it to downstream states. Recent state studies show, however, that Colorado may not have any water left to develop under the compact, especially if water availability in the Colorado River basin declines as a result of climate change, as many scientists predict.

Even if there is Colorado River water left under the compact, developing it through the Flaming Gorge pipeline would reduce opportunities in other parts of the state, including the Western Slope.

There are better alternatives. As recently outlined in the “Filling the Gap” report, Front Range communities from Denver to Greeley can more than meet their water needs in 2050 through a pragmatic mix of voluntary and temporary ag/urban sharing arrangements, conservation, reuse, and environmentally responsible water projects.

Simply put, there’s no compelling need for a Flaming Gorge pipeline. For more information, see http://www.tu.org/sites/www.tu.org/files/documents/FillingTheGap.pdf. 

Drew Peternell

Director

Colorado Water Project

Trout Unlimited

Boulder

http://www.chieftain.com/opinion/tell_it_to_the_chieftain/flaming-gorge-water/article_9624018c-624b-11e0-b08c-001cc4c002e0.html