Save Bristol Bay!

  Pebble Limited Partnerships recently applied for one of the major permits they’ll need to mine in Bristol Bay. Filing that application is huge news because it brings their catastrophic proposal one step closer to becoming a reality. Now, we have the first chance for you to weigh in on this process.

Pebble Limited Partnerships wants to develop an open-pit mine in southwest Alaska, approximately 17 miles west/northwest of the villages of Iliamna, Newhalen, and Nondalton. They also are proposing a 188-mile natural gas pipeline from the Kenai Peninsula across the Cook Inlet to the mine site as their proposed energy source. These developments would dramatically affect Bristol Bay’s fisheries which are critical to Alaska's economy and culture.  Speak up and let The Army Corps of Engineers know that we should protect Bristol Bay, and the businesses and communities these waters support.

Add your name and comment below to tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject Pebble's proposal as incomplete. Feel free to edit the suggested content. Click the button to take action!

Hitchhikers NOT welcome

We have been dealing with invasive species since humans starting transporting goods across land and sea. Many species that we think of as natives might just be an original hitchhiker from a long time ago. Sometimes these things happen by accident when something snags a ride with an unsuspecting host or species are brought in on purpose. Why are invasives such a problem? Well, when a species is introduced to a new area, it usually has all the advantages in the world. They are likely to not have any predators and that provides them the opportunity to eat, populate quickly, and encroach on other's habitats. By the time all the original habitants catch up on who the new species is, the new guys have already established themselves and have depleted much of the area's resources.

In Colorado, we have been lucky to not be plagued with the aquatic invasives that the Great Lakes area has seen, but with increased tourism and boating the state is becoming more worried about an unstoppable outbreak of the invasive species. Testing is done regularly on Colorado's bodies of water and there have been positive results for mussels. New legislation has been making its way through the State Senate and House entitled the Mussel Free Colorado Act HB18-1008, with hopes to combat the fast-spreading is invasive mussels.

[1] Zebra and quagga mussels pose a great ecological and financial threat to the state.  The invasion of these mussels can affect every Coloradoan and visitors in some way and the impacts could be devastating. Potential impacts include:

• Prolific reproduction
• Clog water infrastructure
• Ecological impacts
• Recreational impacts
• Economic impacts
• Social impacts
• Difficult or impossible to eradicate
• Quick spread to new waters

[2] Both adult zebra mussels and the larval form, known as veligers, can be transported into other bodies of water. Adult zebra mussels can attach to boats or other equipment and be transported to new waters.

Adult zebra mussels are able to close their shell and may survive out of water for several days.

Veligers (larval zebra mussels) are able to hitchhike in water held in the bilge, live wells, motors, or bait buckets, or they may cling to plant fragments, boats or trailers, or other equipment or recreational items that came into contact with water.

You can’t always see zebra mussels because the larvae are invisible to the naked eye. They can survive for days in water trapped in a boat. The only way to be sure you’re not carrying zebra mussels to another body of water is to always Clean -  Drain - Dry your boat, trailer, and gear. To minimize the potential spread of zebra mussels, follow these simple steps:

• CLEAN: your boat, trailer and gear by removing all plants, animals and foreign objects.
• DRAIN: all water from the boat, including the motor, bilge, live wells and bait buckets, before leaving the lake.
• DRY: boat, trailer and gear at least 5 days before entering another water body. If unable to let it dry for at least 5 days, rinse equipment and watercraft (with high pressure, hot water when possible) and wipe with a towel before reuse.
• DISPOSE of unwanted live bait and worms in the trash.
• NEVER introduce fish, plants, crayfish, snails or clams from one body of water to another.

Keep yourself updated about potential invasives threats in Colorado:

• [1] Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Invasives Zebra and Quagga
• [2] Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers
• Colorado Boat Inspections
• State Aquatic Nuisance Species Program 
• 2018 Aquatic Nuisance Species Bill 

Yelling at storm clouds

A few days ago, I found myself standing in my yard yelling “Yeah, c’mon!?” while shaking my fist at a rather feeble-looking storm cloud. Now, I normally reserve this type of a pointless weekend lunacy for Broncos games and the like, but considering the dire state of the snowpack in the Colorado River Basin, including my home watershed of the Uncompahgre basin—the reaction seemed appropriate. Beyond the obvious lack of snow in my front yard, I'm seeing a seemingly endless chain of news stories highlighting lack of snow, record low river flows and, perhaps worst of all, dire projections that long-term weather trends won’t provide respite—all serving to fuel my anxiety about the summer to come.

Droughts of years past have taken a serious toll on important fisheries and inflicted economic pain and hardship on water users of all stripes who depend on diverting water for their livelihoods and quality of life. These periods of shortage have also taught us valuable lessons about reacting to and preparing for drought in the West.

One of those lessons is about the importance of working together on our water challenges.

Throughout the basin, Trout Unlimited and water users are partnering on innovative strategies to address water supply shortfalls while protecting rivers and streams. For instance, TU is helping irrigation districts and the water users they serve in the Gunnison Basin improve irrigation infrastructure on and off the farm to reduce system losses, thereby improving stream flows on important tributaries like the Cimarron River.

TU has also been at the forefront of water planning efforts in Colorado that identify needs of both the environment and water users and establish watershed-specific approaches to reducing the impacts of drought.

In another innovative approach, TU is working closely with agricultural producers in the Upper Colorado River Basin through a pilot project that reimburses water users who voluntarily reduce consumptive water use through fallowing, partial fallowing or switching from high to low water-use crops. The program, known as the System Conservation Pilot Program, or SCPP, aims to improve flows on Upper Basin tributaries in a manner that not only helps reduce supply gaps at Lake Powell but also improves important fisheries.

With all the water uncertainty, there’s one thing we can be certain of—this drought period won’t be the last. In fact, scientists say it’s likely that the Colorado River Basin will be facing a drier and more variable climate—all the more reason why scaling up collaborative conservation and efficiency efforts now, regardless of the snowpack levels, is critical to preparing for future drought and protecting our valuable watersheds and all that they support.

Working together, we are finding solutions that can help buffer the impacts of drought years and keep our rivers and fisheries healthy.

And that’s surely more effective than yelling at clouds.

By Cary Denison

Cary Denison is TU’s project coordinator in the Gunnison Basin.

Blog Post via Trout Unlimited.

Colorado voters consider themselves to be conservationists - Not a surprise to us.

A new bipartisan study, the Conservation in the West Poll, was released January 25, 2018 by the State of the Rockies Project, in conjunction with Lori Weigel, Public Opinion Strategies and Dave Metz, Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, and Metz & Associates. The survey, conducted in eight western states, explores bi-partisan opinions in each state and for the Rocky Mountain West region concerning conservation, environment, energy, the role of government, trade-offs with economies, and citizen priorities. The survey now includes polling in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Colorado College in Colorado Springs has released all of the polls publications broken up by state, topic, and additional reports about Sportsmen and Agriculture. You can go through them all here, but we are going to take you through some of the most interesting results.

One demographic that we are very familiar with is those who identify as a sportsman or woman. The poll found that 79% are the most likely vote sub-group to identify as a conservationist which is a 4% increase from last year. Among that voter group, 58% preferred that the Trump Administration would focus on protecting clean water, air quality, and wildlife habitats on public lands.

In relation to the recent national monuments and public lands reductions happening to Utah's Grand Staircase and Bear's Ears, a majority of those who identify as a hunter or angler found this to be a largely bad idea and that any future reductions or stripping of other Monuments was also a bad idea. 

Currently, there is legislation around our national monuments and you can speak up against it with our current action alert. 

Another demographic that is extremely involved in the water issues of Colorado are voters who identify as being part of a rural or small town. Now some might think they don't share the same values as those in the growing cities of the Front Range, but that notion couldn't be farther from the truth. Rural communities overwhelmingly share similar values in regards to conservation, development, and public lands.

And to sum up the state's opinions as a whole, below is an infographic showing the support for different initiatives regarding water conservation, national monuments, and outdoor recreation. If you would like a closer look at the reports shown here or any of the images in this post, see the links at the bottom of the page.

Takeaway from the Data

The results of this poll are encouraging and also not unexpected. As part of Trout Unlimited, we know that our members who identify as sportsmen/women, farmers, activists, and outdoor recreationists are and have always been conservationists. This poll just further proves that we are a strong majority of people who believe in the future of clean water, access to public lands, and healthy fisheries. We stand together as a collaborative and influential community that puts conservation first.

Resources and References:

1. Conservation in the West 2018 Report - Sportsmen
2. Conservation in the West 2018 Report - Rural
3. Conservation in the West 2018 Report - Colorado Infographic
4. Conservation in the West 2018 Report - All Materials & Reports

Funding the Future of Conservation

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is looking for the legislature to provide it with authority to increase hunting and fishing license fees for the first time in more than a decade, and we expect to see legislation along those lines during the 2018 legislative session. At one level, the reason for such an increase is very simple - the revenue generated by license fees has been eroded by inflation since the last increase, and in order to deliver the same kinds of service the agency needs to have the funding to keep up with those escalating costs.

But the most frequent question we've heard from anglers and sportsmen generally has been to hear more of the story: what are these funds needed for, and what types of investments specifically will the state make if anglers and hunters increase what we pay for licenses?

The most recent issue of High Country Angler offers some answers. Needs run the gamut from modernizing fish hatcheries, to restoring funds for the "Fishing is Fun" program to improve habitat and create new fishing access, to completing needed maintenance on fishing reservoirs that otherwise could be forced to be drained for dam safety reasons.

Read all about it here - and decide for yourself - are these investments good reasons to pay more on my fishing license? You'll have the chance to speak up on that question with your legislators this year.

When Collaboration Works

Collaboration is key when it comes to making positive steps towards conservation. Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project is one of those collaborative initiatives working with agricultural leaders and organizations to conserve, protect, and restore our limited water resources around the state. Cary Denison, TU Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, was featured in the first segment of "This American Land" and talks about the ways that conservation can work with western water laws in providing the stakeholders with what they need and how Trout Unlimited is part of that conversation.

Water is a limited resource in the west and is one of the major talking points for Coloradoans when discussing conservation. The state experiences very little rainfall in summer, fall, and spring but the mountains collect feet upon feet of snow-pack. Snow-pack is like Colorado's natural water storage that slowly melts as the warmer seasons approach, filling our streams, creeks, and rivers with the water needed to last until next winter. With the decreasing amount of precipitation, that snow-pack is becoming a resource that we cannot solely count on. That's where water conservation comes in.

Water conservation is key in using this limited resource wisely and free up more water for other uses including nature. Not to mention more water for our trout to flourish in.

Check out the episode below!

Interested in the story or project?

Contact Cary Denison, Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, cdenison@tu.org

When Collaboration Works

Collaboration is key when it comes to making positive steps towards conservation. Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project is one of those collaborative initiatives working with agricultural leaders and organizations to conserve, protect, and restore our limited water resources around the state. Cary Denison, TU Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, was featured in the first segment of "This American Land" and talks about the ways that conservation can work with western water laws in providing the stakeholders with what they need and how Trout Unlimited is part of that conversation.

Water is a limited resource in the west and is one of the major talking points for Coloradoans when discussing conservation. The state experiences very little rainfall in summer, fall, and spring but the mountains collect feet upon feet of snow-pack. Snow-pack is like Colorado's natural water storage that slowly melts as the warmer seasons approach, filling our streams, creeks, and rivers with the water needed to last until next winter. With the decreasing amount of precipitation, that snow-pack is becoming a resource that we cannot solely count on. That's where water conservation comes in.

Water conservation is key in using this limited resource wisely and free up more water for other uses including nature. Not to mention more water for our trout to flourish in.

Check out the episode below!

Interested in the story or project?

Contact Cary Denison, Project Coordinator, Gunnison Basin, cdenison@tu.org

A second look at "trash fish"

Ugly fish. Trash fish. Suckers. Chubs. A lot of native fish in our rivers don’t get no respect. Many anglers consider them good for nothing, except for throwing back—way back onto the bank.

But we anglers and sportsmen who care about rivers and cutthroats need to adjust our attitude a bit and quit looking down our noses at some of the “other” native fish.

Turns out “trash” fish like Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpbacked chub, bonytail and other native species are critically important to river and trout habitat conservation efforts here in the Colorado River Basin and other watersheds in the West.

And trout and other angler-favored species are riding their fintails to a better life.

The pikeminnow has been around for millions of years in the Colorado Basin and can grow up to 6 feet long and live for decades. Pioneers used pitchforks at times, it’s said, to haul them out of the river, they were so abundant. The fish provided food (albeit a bit bony) for the settlers.

But with growing water diversions, drought, invasive species and other factors pressuring the river in the last half century, the numbers of these native fish plummeted, and they were listed under the Endangered Species Act. In 1988, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program was launched to bring them and the chubs and suckers back to sustainable numbers.

For three decades, the program has fostered cooperation, rather than conflict, among water users and directed federal and state funds to infrastructure projects that have benefited multiple users, from ranchers and farmers to municipalities.

Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups have supported those efforts, because the water projects, improved infrastructure and enhanced river flows needed to recover pikeminnows, suckers and chubs also benefit upstream coldwater species like trout.

For instance, TU helped upgrade the Relief Ditch and Hartland irrigation diversions on the Gunnison River a few years ago—a project that improved habitat and flows for trout.

The project would not have been possible without funds directly tied to native fish recovery.

Cary Denison, TU’s project coordinator in the Gunnison area, says that many anglers don’t realize that much of the West’s native trout have been removed from their historical ranges, and the remaining “natives” are those fish that many consider to be trash fish.

“If we aim to improve these rivers, we need to leverage the importance of these species to improve trout habitat as well.”

They are some of the original members of that river community, and they belong there. We need all of the pieces of a river ecosystem intact to keep it healthy.

So take a second look at that “trash” fish and give it some serious props for helping improve and restore our rivers for the other fish species we love.

Randy Scholfield is TU’s communications director for the Southwest.

Photo credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Partnerships Paying Off for Fraser River

The fish are returning to Fraser Flats. It took years of vision and persistence, but Trout Unlimited’s long-game strategy of collaboration on the Upper Colorado River is paying big dividends for anglers and local communities that depend on a healthy river.

Exhibit A is the Fraser Flats Habitat Project. The Fraser River, a key tributary of the Upper Colorado, had been degraded by years of water diversions and other pressures.

TU and a host of water stakeholders joined forces to reverse that decline. The effort, called Learning by Doing, brought together a variety of partners including Denver Water, Northern Water, Grand County, Trout Unlimited, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to help restore the Upper Colorado watershed.

The group’s inaugural project at Fraser Flats aimed to restore a roughly one-mile stretch of the Fraser between the towns of Tabernash and Fraser, with the goal of providing healthy habitat for trout even during periods of reduced flows. The Fraser in this section had become too wide and shallow, resulting in sedimentation and high temperatures that smothered bug life and pressured coldwater-loving trout.

Design work began last fall. In late spring, more than 150 volunteers turned out to plant willows and cottonwoods along the streambank for shade and bank stability. Then in summer and fall, the group brought in Freestone Aquatics to narrow the river with point bars and other structures to increase velocity and depth of the river. Freestone also created a series of riffle and deep pools to provide better holding water for trout.

The results already have been nothing short of spectacular.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife conducted a fish survey on Oct. 5, shortly after completion of the project, and found dramatic increases in the biomass of brown and rainbow trout in the stretch compared to previous surveys, and an even larger increase in numbers of larger (14" and up) fish.

Preliminary electrofishing survey results from CPW showed the reach experienced a 415% increase in brown trout biomass, and a 550% increase in the numbers of brown trout greater than 14" in length. While rainbows are a smaller component of the population (15% of biomass, 25% of larger fish #s), they also blossomed with an increase of 267% in biomass and a 400% boost in fish over 14".

"We are elated," Mely Whiting, legal counsel for Trout Unlimited, told the local Ski-Hi News. "This is amazing. The biomass [in the river] has more than tripled, just from last year, and only in the matter of a couple of weeks since the project was completed.”

Biologists also reported seeing large brown trout actively spawning in many areas of the stretch. In short, Fraser River trout have wasted no time moving into the improved habitat.

What’s more, starting in spring 2018, the project will also provide public fishing access along a half-mile of the Fraser Flats section.

“This section of the Fraser River is the healthiest I’ve seen this river in the 47 years I’ve lived here,” TU’s Klancke said. “The best part is we’re hoping to do more river improvements like this in the future with our Learning By Doing partners.”

Colorado Public Radio this week aired a segment about the successful project and the "unusual partnership" between TU and Denver Water .

Watch the video below from Denver Water for another good overview of the project benefits.

River Rising: the Denver South Platte

Ronnie Crawford first discovered the urban fishery of the South Platte by accident around 15 years ago. He was taking a couple of kids fishing with bait on the river near his house off Evans. Much to his surprise, they started catching trout. That was the simple beginning of a long-term love for fishing the “Denver South Platte,” and for introducing others to all it has to offer. For more than a decade, the Denver Trout Unlimited chapter (DTU), of which Ronnie is a board member, has been working to improve the health of the Denver South Platte – the section of the river starting below Chatfield Reservoir and then flowing through the southern suburbs and downtown Denver. Eleven years ago, the chapter held its first “Carp Slam” fishing tournament, to build awareness of the Denver South Platte and its fishery potential, and to raise funds for river restoration efforts. This year's Carp Slam takes place September 23, with Denver's most awesome after-party taking place atop the DaVita building in LoDo on Saturday evening (purchase your tickets here).

As the name suggests, the Carp Slam’s fishing focus is carp—but the goal is to improve habitat in the South Platte for a variety of fish.  And many anglers in the Carp Slam routinely catch impressive trout, suggesting the potential for a much more robust urban trout fishery.

Restoration work started with the South Suburban Parks and Recreation District in 2012, working to enhance the reach of the South Platte by Carson Nature Center to better support native fish, recreational fishing, and riparian habitat.  DTU contributed to the District’s effort with $10,000 raised through the Carp Slam and another $80,000 leveraged through a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Fishing is Fun grant.

The restoration effort and partnerships have grown exponentially since then.  DTU has worked with the City and County of Denver and the Greenway Foundation on a South Platte Restoration plan that lays out a restoration vision for the river and corridor all along the Denver South Platte. Millions of dollars are flowing toward efforts to improve several miles of river and to create economic benefits from a healthy South Platte as a new recreational centerpiece of the Denver metro area.

While appreciating the broader efforts to improve the entire greenway corridor, DTU has helped keep a strong focus on the river habitat itself. “We’re the ones focused on what’s happening below the waterline,” explains DTU member John Davenport.

Part of focusing below the waterline has been to pay attention to water quality, including stream temperature. To better document water temperatures and understand the river's fishery potential, DTU purchased and placed in-stream loggers starting in February 2016, collecting hourly water temperature data at six sites along the Denver South Platte.  Results to date, Davenport says, look very similar to those for the Arkansas River in Pueblo – a river supporting a popular trout fishery.

While finding a future for trout fishing in downtown Denver is definitely part of DTU’s vision, a healthy river and fishery is the key goal – not just trout.  “I call this a potluck stream,” explained Crawford. “You never know what you’re going to get.  I’ve hooked carp, brown trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth – all on the same fly and some on the same day.”

For Crawford and DTU, it is all about making the most of a resource that has been hiding in plain sight.  “It’s right under everybody’s nose, but they don’t think about it,” he said.  “They don’t know the grand array of fish that can be caught here.”