"The Greenbacks give younger members the opportunity to engage with Colorado TU in fun and diverse ways." Co-Founder of the Greenbacks & Cutthroat Chapter Member
Rob Firth
“The decline of the Upper Colorado River is disheartening. When the opportunity to join TU in the fight to protect this river presented itself – I jumped at the chance!” Colorado River Headwaters Project Coordinator
Bill Honeyfield
"Fish need cold, clean water to survive. I participate in the River Watch program to help Colorado agencies monitor and maintain the health of our rivers. As an added bonus, it’s fun!” Cutthroat Chapter Member
Sharon Lance
"The tireless work of volunteers is inspiring, putting in hundreds of hours to protect our rivers and teach the next generation of stewards. I give back with my time and money." President, Cutthroat Chapter and National TU Trustee
Denver Post: Colorado's South Platte River a viable fishery
Denver Post Will Rice
Tyler Kendrick stalked the water slowly in front of me, about 40 feet ahead in clear shallow water. His lime-colored fly line trailed behind like a tail.
I squinted against the hot sun and scanned the far bank looking for tails and fish. They were there; we just had to find them. Tyler suddenly stopped and stood dead still. His body language, like a cat stalking a mouse, indicated he spotted a fish. He stripped out a few more feet of line and took a half step forward.
It was going to be a longshot. Tyler made two powerful back casts and punched his cast to the right into the faster current moving downstream.
Kendrick and I had teamed up for Denver Trout Unlimited's fifth annual Carp Slam, a fishing tournament created to raise money for improvements on the battered and bruised metro section of the South Platte. Sixteen amateurs and 16 professionals competed last month and raised more than $30,000 for projects intended to improve the river as a fishery and a recreational waterway.
"We want to expose people to angling opportunities close to home and provide an opportunity for youth to take the first cast," said Todd Fehr, president of Denver Trout Unlimited. "First-time casters grow up to be future conservationists and stewards of our state's water resources."
TU now accepting Embrace-A-Stream grant applications
Trout Unlimited is pleased to announce that it is now accepting Embrace-A-Stream (EAS) grant applications for eligible coldwater fisheries conservation projects. Embrace-A-Stream (EAS) is the flagship grant program for funding TU's grassroots conservation efforts. Since its inception in 1975, EAS has funded over 980 individual projects for a total of more than $4 million in direct cash grants. Local TU chapters and councils contributed an additional $13 million in cash and in-kind services to EAS funded projects for a total investment of more than $17 million. In 2011, EAS funded 25 projects in 15 states, with an average grant award of $5,000. View the list of projects funded by EAS last year. Please be sure to read each section of the application for funding carefully so that you understand the guidelines, proposal format and submission requirements. EAS committee members and staff are able to provide advice and guidance on potential project applications. Even if you do not have questions about preparing your proposal, applicants are required to contact their EAS committee representative to discuss proposal ideas by November 14, 2011. The deadline for submission is December 12, 2011. For further information or to request additional copies of the application, please contact Rob Roberts at 406-543-1192. To participate in a webinar training on November 2 at 8 p.m. EST, please RSVP to Rob Keith at 703-284-9425.
Fall fishing on the Arkansas
This year has been one of contrasts for the Arkansas River, with spring upper basin snowpack far exceeding normal while the drainage from Salida east languished in drought. The result was forty days of flows over 3000 cfs while an observer standing on shore was subject to arrest for even lighting a cigarette. The high water has long since passed, but the effects have played out to anglers’ benefit in the later season. Many hatches have been prolonged or delayed, leading to recent observation of midges, tricos, red quills, blue wing olives, caddis and golden stoneflies all in the air during the second half of September. Meanwhile, trout are still feeding hard as they retire the calorie deficit incurred during the extended runoff. The result has been some outstanding fishing, even if zeroing in on specific food source has been complicated by the diversity and sheer numbers of aquatic insects available. Tough problem to have! Looking ahead, a seasonable low flow (375 cfs on 9/21) coupled with a strengthening La Nina in the eastern Pacific suggests dry fall weather will keep the river clear and low into mid-November. With these conditions, fish will be able to continue a strong feed and should have a successful spawn (brown trout) in October. As happened last year, we will be floating well into November and wading throughout the winter.
In the weeks ahead, look for the insect diversity to narrow and for blue wing olive mayflies and midges to comprise the primary hatches. Stonefly nymphs and caddis larvae will continue to round out the subsurface diet. Up to date fishing reports are available at www.arkanglers.com or by calling 719-539-4223.
Over the River Update
The Over the River art project proposed by Christo Javacheff continues its journey through the Bureaucracy of Land Management. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was released in late July and we all await release of the BLM’s Record of Decision soon. Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed by ArkAnglers, Arkansas River Fly Shop, and the citizen’s group Roar against the Colorado Department of Natural Resources is about to enter its next phase with the Response from the State due in the next week. Also pending is an intervention in the lawsuit by Mr. Javacheff’s Over the River Corporation. The next few weeks should clarify the strength of our case and give us clearer direction on the fight ahead.
For those who would like to make their feelings about this project known, we encourage visitation and comment submittal through this link. The American Sportsfishing Association will relay comments directly to DNR Director Mike King, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, and to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
Feel free to contact me for a copy of ArkAnglers comments on the FEIS or to view a PDF of the complaint filed against the state.
Greg Felt, Guide Service Manager ArkAnglers 719-539-4223
Update on "Over the River"
"Over the River" is a proposed art installation by the artist Cristo which would drape large fabric covers over wires installed across the Arkansas River. The project as proposed would cover about 5.9 miles of the Arkansas, in segments spread over a 42-mile reach of the stream. Colorado TU has raised concerns about the project - particularly in terms of potential impacts from sedimentation created by the construction and installation, and in ensuring that designated "Areas of Critical Environmental Concern" are protected. The BLM's Final EIS suggests that harmful impacts to these critical environmental areas are OK, so long as they are ultimately reversible. Colorado TU disagrees with that approach, and believes that Areas of Critical Environmental Concern need to be managed to protect those critical values for which they were designated, not to damage and later repair them. A full copy of our recent comment letter can be read here.
The American Sportfishing Association, which represents members of the sport fishing industry, has developed an action alert on Over the River. If you would like to learn more about their concerns or take action by sending an email to key decisionmakers, click here to visit their action site.
Highlights from the 2011 Annual TU Meeting
Last week, I attended the Annual TU Meeting in Bend, Oregon. This meeting features a large collection of the NTU staff, along with volunteer leaders at all levels of the organization from across the country in one place. Opportunities for collaboration and exploration across states and regions abound, and it has become a valuable platform to learn and gain experience from others. Of course, it would be hard to adequately summarize the entire 3-day meeting, so I thought that I might hit some of the highlights. Certainly, if there are questions about anything specific, you can email me at Sinjin.Eberle@coloradotu.org for more information. Here we go…
1) West Denver TU Wins Silver Trout Award – The West Denver Chapter was awarded one of the highest chapter awards in TU. They are very deserving of this honor for their broad based, steady, and consistent approach to all aspects of being a TU chapter. They run a strong youth program, are consistently reaching out to new members, have done phase after phase of restoration work on their home streams, and are engaged in various aspects surrounding impacts from the I-70 corridor. Congratulations!
2) New National TU Community Website – while it is still in the testing phase, National TU has come a long way in developing a community-oriented website. Most importantly, the new website will feature pre-built chapter templates that, for free, chapters can use as the basis for developing their own site. There are many advantages to this – especially the integration of chapter activities being highlighted by NTU, as well as NTU news feeds streaming into the chapter websites. I think you will be excited about the new toys as they become available (in the next couple of months)
3) Upper Colorado Makes National Conservation Agenda – the National Leadership Council sets a list of National Priorities every year – and this year the Upper Colorado work has made that agenda. This is great as we will be able to get increased focus on Colorado’s top priority issue.
4) Youth Education Programs get more defined – The National TU Youth folks are building out their suite of youth education offerings, and in a pretty smart way, I might add. They are building programs to ensure that they have youth-ed coverage for all ages, from the very young through college-age persons. More to come on this as these programs are rolled out!
5) Annual Financial Reports and Chapter By-Laws– STRONG REMINDER from National that ALL chapters must submit their Annual Financial Reports by November 15, 2011 – this is REQUIRED of all chapters and there are strong penalties for not doing so. Also, this year is the year for updating chapter bylaws – please be working on your new chapter by-laws and have them uploaded to the National TU website by December 31, 2011!! We need to have 100% compliance on this. Help is available for this on the National TU website, in the Toolbox in the Leaders Only section. Please contact Dennis Cook (rkymtnangler@q.com) or I if you need help on these!
West Denver Chapter wins National TU Award
The West Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimited was presented with the "Silver Trout" award at the National Trout Unlimited Awards Luncheon in Bend, Oregon on Friday September 16. The Silver Trout award recognizes the outstanding chapter within its region. West Denver was recognized for its consistently excellent programs in youth education and conservation. Highlights include:
- a partnership with the Jefferson County Schools' Windy Peak Outdoor Lab where the chapter teaches entomology and fly tying, as well as providing fishing opportunity, to sixth graders from across the County;
- completion of the "Golden Mile" stream restoration project on Clear Creek in Golden, along with ongoing work for further restoration in the "Canyon Reach" project several miles upstream on Clear Creek;
- statewide leadership with Trout Unlimited participation in the RiverWatch program and with engagement on stream protection and mitigation with Department of Transportation project;
- community service and engagement through programs such as river cleanups and fly fishing classes for adults with the Lookout Mountain Nature Center,
Chapter leaders were unable to make it to Bend personally, but Colorado TU President Sinjin Eberle accepted the award on behalf of West Denver and will present it to the chapter at an upcoming meeting.
Congratulations, West Denver!
