Rise to the Future Awards - Durango TU Chapter Recognized

During a virtual ceremony on May 26, Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen and Acting Deputy Chief Tina Terrell announced the 14 employees and partners who are recipients of the 2020 Rise to the Future awards. The awards, created more than 30 years ago, recognizes leadership in stewardship of fisheries, soil, water and air resources on national forests and grasslands. In recent years, the Jack Adams and Lloyd Switch Sr. awards were added to distinguish excellence in wildlife program management.

The winners showcase a wide variety of work on and behalf of national forests and grasslands.

“2020 was a very challenging year. First, a pandemic that changed how we get our work done. A historic fire season in the west and a series of devastating storms in the south,” said Chief Christiansen. “I continue to be amazed at the resilience and perseverance of our employees and partners to face the challenges that come our way.”

Among the many recognized, our partners at the Forest Service, as well as the Five Rivers Trout Unlimited Chapter out of Durango, CO were recognized with the Collaborative/Integrated Aquatic Stewardship Award for their work on the Himes Creek Instream Flow Project.

The Himes Creek Instream Flow Project Team on the San Juan National Forest in Colorado collaborated to achieve critical aquatic habitat protection for a trout once thought to be extinct. Working within the confines of Colorado State Law, the team’s integrated efforts secured instream water flow to protect trout habitat on lands managed by the Forest Service, an accomplishment recognized by the Governor of Colorado. These protections would not be in place without the strong collaboration of partnership. The team includes representatives from the following organizations:

Forest Service: Andrea Rogers, Polly Hayes, Bill Janowsky, Kelly Palmer and Kara Chadwick

Colorado Water Conservation Board: Linda Bassi

Trout Unlimited: Buck Skillen

Colorado Parks and Wildlife: James White

Another award went to one of Colorado’s regional office’s for the Friend of the Fish/Watershed Award going to Doug Wise and the Engineering staff at the Rocky Mountain Regional Office, who are cited for their work using the Great American Outdoors Act to establish a project evaluation team, bringing together multiple resource leads to prioritize projects. The engineering staff has been instrumental in facilitating 15 aquatic organism passage projects in the region, working to address deferred maintenance of the region’s infrastructure. The collaboration between fisheries, engineering, and other programs within the agency provided the region with an integrated and productive team leading the way to complete many beneficial and crucial projects. These projects improved recreational fishing access across the region and opened new opportunities to work with external partners, engage local students, and continue to improve fish habitat on the forests.

Congratulations to the Colorado winners, it is much deserved for all the hard work you do in our state!

Good News for Headwater Protection

Anglers received welcome news as the EPA announced it will be repealing the rollback of Clean Water Act protection for ephemeral streams from the previous administration. States including Colorado had challenged the legality of the rollback, and by returning to the Bush-era rule the EPA will restore protection for the feeder streams whose health drives downstream conditions in larger rivers as well. Read TU’s statement below:

EPA to repeal 2020 rule and move to reinstate Clean Water Act protections for small streams 

Contacts:  

• Chris Wood, president and CEO, Trout Unlimited, chris.wood@tu.org

• Steve Moyer, vice president for government affairs, Trout Unlimited, steve.moyer@tu.org

ARLINGTON, Va.—Trout Unlimited welcomes today’s announcement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the “Waters of the United States” rule promulgated by the previous administration is illegal and must be redrawn. In moving to repeal and revise the rule, the EPA is listening to the many states, businesses, and conservation groups, like TU, that are working to reinstate federal Clean Water Act protections for the nation’s waters and wetlands. 

Trout Unlimited opposed the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule because it dropped decades-long protections nationwide for “ephemeral” streams, which flow only after rainfall. The 2020 rule made it easier to pollute and degrade these streams, which provide drinking water, flood protection, outdoor recreation opportunities, and fish habitat. 

“These small headwaters constitute more than half the nation’s stream miles, and are the capillaries of the nation’s aquatic systems,” said Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “They provide seasonal habitat for fish and wildlife, and protect water quality downstream. The 2020 rule left streams and fisheries across the country unprotected. We applaud EPA Administrator Regan for taking action to safeguard clean water.”  

EPA assessments of more than 1,500 streams in the Southwest determined that they were no longer covered by the Clean Water Act under the 2020 rule. Around the country, some 333 projects that would have required dredge-and-fill permits went ahead without them after the rule took effect.

Regan said the EPA is committed to a meaningful stakeholder engagement process that leads to a more durable “Waters of the U.S.” replacement rule, one that is both scientifically and legally sound, and garners broader stakeholder support. TU will bring to that process deep and longstanding relationships with farmers, ranchers, and foresters, and we will make sure that these partners’ voices are heard and considered by the EPA. 

“We believe that through meaningful stakeholder engagement, the EPA will be able to craft a more durable ‘Waters of the U.S.’ rule that will continue to provide a solid foundation for the Clean Water Act, and maintain protection of our valuable streams and wetlands,” said Steve Moyer, vice president for government affairs at Trout Unlimited. 

With today’s announcement, the agencies will now initiate a repeal of the 2020 rule, after which protections for streams and wetlands would revert to 2008 guidance until a new rule is finalized. That guidance, put in place by the Bush administration EPA, protected most ephemeral streams and many additional wetlands. 

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Trout Unlimited is the nation’s oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization dedicated to caring for and recovering America’s rivers and streams, so our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. Across the country, TU brings to bear local, regional, and national grassroots organizing, durable partnerships, science-backed policy muscle, and legal firepower on behalf of trout and salmon fisheries, healthy waters and vibrant communities.

May Currents

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The latest issue of Currents, CTU’s monthly newsletter, includes:

• Introduction to Trout Fishing: A 3 Day Evening Virtual Event

• Trout Unlimited Fights Water Quality Rollback

•  The Keep Colorado Wild Pass

• #UnwasteYourWater

• TU moms share and learn about the outdoors from their kids

• Reconnecting the Colorado River to enhance resiliency and fishing

• Spring 2021 High Country Angler

and more! Check out the latest issue to see what’s happening with Colorado Trout Unlimited.

Action Alert: Support Colorado State Parks!

Action Alert: Trout Unlimited Fights Water Quality Rollback

South Platte River, Denver, CO

For nearly 50 years, the Clean Water Act has been a tool for improving the quality of waters in Colorado and nationwide – reducing degradation from discharges of pollution into our waterways. Unfortunately, the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission is now considering a rollback of its anti-degradation rules that could allow for increased pollution discharges into many Colorado waters. Urban rivers like the South Platte in Denver or Arkansas in Pueblo would be especially at risk - but mountain streams could also see their protections weakened.

You can sign our petition to oppose the water quality rollback here.

Colorado’s long-standing anti-degradation rules limit pollution dischargers on how much they can degrade existing water quality for most rivers, even when current quality is above minimum standards. Those minimum standards work as a floor, not as a target. This has helped Colorado maintain and improve the quality of its waters over time.

More specifically – Colorado’s antidegradation rule provides for three levels of antidegradation protection. At one end of the spectrum, the Commission can designate waters that are so pristine that no degradation is allowed. These are called “outstanding waters” and must meet a rigorous water quality test and exhibit special qualities that merit the strict designation (e.g., they support conservation populations of native trout, or are in a unique site such as National Park).

At the other end of the spectrum, the rule provides for the designation of streams which allow for waters to be polluted down to the floor level established by water quality standards, whether or not there are compelling reasons for doing so. These are the so-called “use-protected” waters.

Waters that are not designated outstanding or use-protected are called “reviewable waters.” Degradation of these waters is allowed, but only to accommodate important economic or social development. Currently, most Colorado streams enjoy the middle level of protection afforded to reviewable waters.

The antidegradation rule implemented by the Commission for the past 33 years has narrowly limited the weakest use-protected designations to instances where the quality of the designated waters is already fairly poor. Under the proposed rule, the Commission may designate the stream use-protected even if it is of good quality but fails to meet standards for a single pollutant. For example, under the new rule, a stream that supports a good fishery but has occasional high stream temperatures could now be designated as use-protected, allowing additional degradation of the stream by polluters – and not only for temperature, but for any other contaminant, such as nitrates and metals.

Worse yet, increased pollution would be allowed even if the reason the stream fails to achieve higher quality in the first place is because of the pollution caused by the entity now asking for the weaker use-protected designation – so that they can be allowed to pollute even more.

Many likely waters for this weakened protection will be in urban areas, creating an environmental justice issue as well, where pollution can be disproportionately worsened in already disadvantaged communities. Indeed, the Commissioner proposing this change has previously suggested that “crystal clear mountain streams” should be protected from degradation, not our Front Range urban waters. Major urban river restoration investments (like those from Denver TU and its allies along the Denver South Platte) also will be at risk from increased pollution if those waters are moved to the weaker “use protected” status.

Instead of promoting further improvement in water quality, the proposed rule would allow far more waters to have the weakest anti-degradation protection – a lowest-common-denominator approach to water quality protection that will lead to declining water quality. Making matters worse – this proposal was initially buried in the rulemaking notice as a “clarification and correction.” Fortunately, TU and other allies were alerted to the proposal and have become parties to the rulemaking; we will fight vigorously against this rollback of water quality protection. You can read our coalition’s Prehearing Statement on the rule here. Those who want to speak out against this measure can help by signing a petition we have launched on our website. The Commission will be taking this issue up for action at its hearing on June 14th – stay tuned for additional updates as we work to stop the rollback!

April Currents

• The Start of a New Colorado Fishing Season is here!

• Enter for a chance to win a 'Dream Year of Colorado Fly Fishing' 

• Virtual STREAM Girls Events along Colorado’s Front Range during Spring 2021

• Opinion: If we fight each other over water, we’ll all come out losers

• Learning to Row

• Fishing and Conserving Rare Waters in the Rockies

• How will the huge wildfires of 2020 impact Colorado’s trout fisheries?

• The Lightning Bug

• *NEW* Spring 2021 High Country Angler and more!

How will the huge wildfires of 2020 impact Colorado’s trout fisheries?

By Ashley Rust, PhD

Question: Colorado, along with many states in the Rocky Mountain West, experienced a record-breaking fire season in 2020 where over 650,000 acres burned in our state. How will the trout populations in nearby streams be impacted? What should anglers expect to see in the rivers this year?

Dr. Rust Replies: Yes, 2020 was an unprecedented year, Colorado experienced three of the largest fires in the state’s history; the Cameron Peak fire, the East Troublesome fire and the Pine Gulch fire, each burning well over 100,000 acres a piece. And this is after the Grizzly Creek fire had engulfed forest areas around I-70 and caused highway closures.

With climate change, our fire season each year is two months longer on average, starting a month earlier in the spring and lasting a month longer in the fall. Combine a longer, drier season with current forest management practices and more people living in the wildland-urban interface and we are observing fires that are larger, more severe, and more costly than ever before. We are reckoning with our attitude of fire suppression, which has been a warfare on fires, allowing forests to age and fuels to accumulate. However, fires are a part of the forest landscape.

Fires are a natural disturbance, and the inhabitants of the West, including our beloved trout, have evolved with fire. Native plants, insects and fish have all adapted to return after fire. If you take the “long-view” fires generally help revitalize ecosystems, acting as a natural re-set in climax communities.

I have spent much of the last decade studying how wildfires disrupt water quality, impact water supplies and affect aquatic life. I have been on the ground sampling aquatic insect and fish populations immediately after and many years following fires in Colorado. And I have utilized public data to evaluate the most common water quality responses in streams disturbed by hundreds of wildfires. My main observation is that Mother Nature is incredibly resilient and ecosystems recover healthier after fire when enough time has passed. I hope to convince you to be patient, remain hopeful, and observe some remarkable landscape scale changes and recovery.

Wildfires are evaluated by their burn severity, a spectrum where foresters consider how much of the vegetation was combusted. Low severity fires leave much of the vegetation intact, are more like crown fires, and do not disrupt the hydrology, water quality, insect or fish populations in the streams within and below the burn scar. Moderate and high severity fires, where vegetation is completely combusted and the ground is scorched, result in higher streamflows and compromised water quality for 1-5 years after the fire. The greatest impacts on streams have been observed after rainstorms. In moderate to high severity burn scars, the forest floor becomes hydrophobic because the organic material has been cooked, reducing infiltration capacity of the soil, preventing rainwater from percolating into the ground and causing rain to accumulate as surface runoff, delivering more water to the streams after rain. The higher flows can scour stream bottoms, flushing fine sediment and material from the system.

During Colorado’s monsoon season late in the summer, short intense rain-events also physically dislodge soil from burned landscapes increasing erosion and delivering soil to streams. The eroded soil carries nutrients, like nitrates and phosphates, and absorbed heavy metals from ash and minerals to the stream. But it is the dirt alone that causes the most commonly-observed disruption: higher suspended solids in streams within and below wildfire areas. Algal growth has been observed to increase in some areas after fire because the streams are receiving more nutrients from the burned landscape and the canopy over the stream is open allowing more sunlight. These are temporary effects that are more common in landscapes where the fire burned at a moderate to high severity; large but low severity fires do little to change the stream. So, within and below the high severity burn areas, anglers can expect to see muddier water after each rain event, shifting deposits of ash and fine material and maybe more algae growing in streams. Generally, after 1-5 years these impacts dissipate as the landscape recovers and vegetation returns, stabilizing soils.

Aquatic insect populations experience the disruption from fire in and below burned areas. Surprisingly, the density and total number of insects inhabiting streams generally remains the same. But there is a species shift in diversity, from a wide variety of orders and sensitive species, to a few hearty pollution tolerant species. The stoneflies, most caddisflies, and most mayflies are temporarily absent from the community after fire and there are more chironomids (midges). The high flows that follow rainstorms in high severity burn areas scour the streambed, removing many species and the fine sediment embedded between rocks. This acts as a re-set to the ecosystem, and the early pioneer, pollution tolerant insect species come back first and the diversity of sensitive species tend to return in 2-5 years. Anglers may notice changes in their favorite local hatch, but impacts are extremely localized to within and directly below high severity burn areas, so hatches may be patchy throughout a burned landscape.

Stream fish, including trout, can be killed directly from the heat of the fire and from high suspended solids (turbid water) that follow monsoon storms. The suspended solids in the water can clog the fish gills and suffocate them. Patchy fish kills can occur 1-3 years after a fire if fish are trapped in streams with poor water quality. However, even when fish kills occur, and I have observed several after fires, the fish return and populations rebound quickly. The key to fish survival in streams is connectivity. If a fish can escape a poor water quality event, such as muddy water after an intense rainstorm, by swimming upstream, downstream, or into another tributary, they can survive. And even when fish kills do occur, if the stream has high connectivity, other fish will be quick to re-populate the open habitat. I have personally observed several trout populations rebound with higher numbers of adults and young of year 2-3 years after a fire caused a fish kill or burned the area upstream. While the purple fireweed is still carpeting the burned landscape and the aspens begin to re-establish, the fish and the population of insects they rely on for food are back stronger than before. For them, the fire was not a catastrophe but a moment that rejuvenated their ecosystem.

We have to get used to a future with more fires. It is hard to watch, but the change that follows as the landscape recovers from black and scorched to a fresh bright green, scattered with wildflowers and new young tree growth is awe-inspiring.

Ashley Rust is a researcher and professor at the Colorado School of Mines.

Check out the new Spring 2021 issue of High Country Angler e-zine!

Check out the new Spring 2021 issue of High Country Angler e-zine! Featuring articles on TU's abandoned mine reclamation work, public lands advocacy that will safeguard some 400,000 acres of the wild and historic landscapes, a story about the 2021 Conejos Superfly, exploring the impacts of the 2020 wildfires on fisheries, Denver TU's Trout in the Classroom Eddy Tank, and much more, including the regular columns:

• Getting Salty in Wyoming by Brian LaRue

• Spring Fever by Landon Mayer

• For the Birds by Hayden Mellsop

• Fly Fishing Rigs for Leader & Tippet Tags by Peter Stitcher, and more!

March Currents Newsletter

Currents is Colorado Trout Unlimited’s monthly newsletter. We feature stories about our work, chapters, and partners. You can also learn more about upcoming events and ways to participate across the state.

In this month’s issue:

• Women's History Month

• Macro of the Month

• 2021 Fly Fishing Film Tour Tickets

• Virtual STREAM Girls coming this Spring

• Fishing with, and learning from, Sharon Lance

• Helping rivers & watersheds through your Colorado tax return

• Public lands package passes House - includes the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act

• The San Juan Worm, but make it wigglier

• Indicator Fishing, mending the line

and much more!

Fishing with, and learning from, Sharon

Repost from TU.org, TROUT Magazine, by Chris Wood

“Whoo hoo!”

The first time Sharon shouted as she brought a fish to hand on the Roaring Fork, I waded out of my hole, ran upstream, pulled out my camera and took a few pictures of her with the fish. The next time it happened, I walked to the bank and asked if she needed help. The third time, without moving I yelled back upstream, “great job, Sharon!”

The fourth time she hollered, I gave a thumbs up, and quietly shuffled downstream around a bend in the bank where she could not see me, and her jubilant fish-shouts were a little less audible.

Sharon Lance strikes a familiar pose (Mark Lance photo)

I could go on and on about the inspiring, courageous, and trail-blazing women I have met at Trout Unlimited. There are so many unsung women in our history that made Trout Unlimited what it is today. In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to celebrate one woman who has made an outsized impact on coldwater conservation and me, personally, Sharon Lance.

Her spouse, Mark, first introduced her to both fly fishing and then Trout Unlimited. He took her to a chapter meeting, and after seeing she was the only woman in the room, Sharon realized “TU needs my help.”

And help she did. Before Sharon came to the Board of Trout Unlimited, she was president of the Cutthroat Chapter in suburban Denver. She served at the state level in Colorado as treasurer, vice-president, and president. Sharon created the immensely successful Colorado river conservation and youth camp.  She also won Trout Unlimited’s highest volunteer honor, the Mortensen award, in 2010.

Sharon (left) with budding conservationists at the Colorado camp

She invited me to speak to the Colorado council a few years before I became CEO and picked me up at the airport in her 1987, Porsche 911. “We are running a little late,” Sharon said.” But I have to be careful because I just got a speeding ticket for driving 105 miles per hour on Interstate 70.”

I sat white-knuckled as she drove us to the meeting. Along the way, she made clear her intention to recruit younger and more diverse leaders into the leadership of the Colorado council. I didn’t say much on that ride, half out of fear from distracting her eyes from the road, but mostly because I just wanted to enjoy the slipstream of her passion and enthusiasm.

This should be enough… (Mark Lance photo)

I am one of many on that ride. When Sharon latches on to a topic. She Latches. On. To. A. Topic. Her spouse of 25 years, Mark, whose photographs adorn this piece is not only a gifted artist, he is Sharon’s anchor to windward. A few days ago, he told me “Sharon is a force of nature. That is for sure.”

When I ran the conservation programs of Trout Unlimited, and Sharon joined the national board of directors, I would attend board meetings, and much like my high school experience, sit in the back, and keep my mouth shut. Sharon would seek me out and ask me about different issues.

“What is happening on the Roan Plateau, and how can I help?”

“What can we do to stop irresponsible energy development on public lands?”

“You need to speak up more at board meetings.”

“When will the national organization better appreciate what the grassroots do for Trout Unlimited? When will we build one agenda for all of TU?”

“Some people fish all of their lives and realize it is not the fish they are after. Well, I have not reached that point yet. I really do enjoy catching fish.” 

Sharon lance

That result of that last line of questioning likely marks Sharon’s most significant contribution to Trout Unlimited, and more important, conservation.

One of the goals in our new strategic plan speaks to developing a shared agenda among TU chapters, councils, staff, and partners. Another speaks of the necessity of engaging people—whether they are members or not—in our mission of caring for and recovering the lands and waters that sustain us. Both goals are a direct reflection of Sharon’s influence and leadership.

Her mentorship of me, and her overall leadership, generally, helped to quell a latent hostility that used to exist between the grassroots organization and the national organization.

Back to the Roaring Fork: Later that day, Mark and Sharon called me back upstream. I was getting hits but kept breaking off fish. Sharon said, “Chris, when you see that fly or line drop, gently, gently lift your rod, don’t yank it. Just be gentle with it.”

Lift, don’t yank (Mark Lance photo)

We walked out into the river and she stood by my left shoulder and waited until I casted. Then, she whispered “Ok. Wait, wait, wait… now! SET NOW!  No-one ever wants to disappoint Sharon, but I broke that one off, too.

I did a podcast with Sharon after she won our most prestigious volunteer award, and she said, “some people fish all of their lives and realize it is not the fish they are after. Well, I have not reached that point yet. I really do enjoy catching fish.” 

Fish on, Sharon, and thanks for making Trout Unlimited a better organization, and me a better leader.  

by Chris Wood