Check out this great Trout in the Classroom article from the Colorado Sun!
https://coloradosun.com/2022/05/15/trout-unlimited-colorado-school-children/
May 2022 Currents
Featuring updates on reconnecting the Colorado River at Windy Gap, Trout in the Classroom fish release days, final chances to see the Fly Fishing Film Tour on screen in Colorado, and more - click here to check out the May issue of Currents newsletter!
Help Stop Water Raid on the San Luis Valley!
Water is Colorado’s lifeblood, and that is certainly the case for the San Luis Valley. From the region’s vibrant agricultural community to its natural and recreational treasures like the Rio Grande River and the Great Sand Dunes, water has been essential to the Valley. Unfortunately, demands for water in the Valley already outstrip supplies and changing climate will only make the challenges even greater. Valley residents have been collaborating - including through water sharing partnerships facilitated by Trout Unlimited - to bring ground and surface water use back into balance.
Now those collaborative efforts are in jeopardy, as the misleadingly named “Renewable Water Resources” (RWR) proposal seeks to pump groundwater out of the San Luis Valley and export it to Colorado’s southern Front Range. RWR sponsors have now asked Douglas County to provide $20 million in Covid relief funds to promote the project. The San Luis Valley’s environment and communities - not to mention Douglas County taxpayers - stand to lose with this damaging boondoggle of a project.
You can help by contacting Douglas County’s commissioners and asking them to reject RWR’s request and to instead invest in other water solutions working with willing communities and in environmentally sound ways.
Trout in the Classroom Trout Releases
We are thrilled to celebrate another successful Trout in the Classroom program year! Students, Teachers, and TIC Volunteers Leaders have worked hard all school year to raise Rainbow Trout in their classrooms, libraries, schools, and organizations. They have learned about the Trout lifecycle, monitored tank water quality, learned about pathogens that could effect fish health, and made new connections with their local watersheds. Many of the schools celebrated with a Trout Release Event where CTU and other amazing TIC partners came together to celebrate watersheds, macroinvertebrates, and all things fishy! Here are some picture of the fun we had!
Colorado River Connectivity Channel Gets Federal OK
Partners applaud decision allowing $30M river reconnection project to proceed
DENVER, Colo.—The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) today released a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) drawn from its Environmental Assessment of the Colorado River Connectivity Channel. The decision paves the way for construction to begin on the project to reconnect the Colorado through a restored channel around Windy Gap Reservoir in Grand County.
The $30 million project, proposed by Trout Unlimited (TU), Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Municipal Subdistrict, Grand County, and the Upper Colorado River Alliance, will build a natural river channel around Windy Gap Reservoir for the purpose of improving aquatic habitat in the Fraser and Colorado rivers. The project is expected to reopen the Colorado River to fish passage and improve habitat and water quality in downstream reaches.
“The idea to reconnect the Colorado River channel was conceived more than 20 years ago by local residents like Bud Issacs, whose vision, passion and persistent hard work built the partnerships and gathered the many resources needed to do this important project,” said John Andrews, NRCS State Conservation Engineer in Colorado. “NRCS is just thrilled that we can combine the Watershed Program’s funding authority with all they have done over these many years to ensure that the community’s vision for a healthy, thriving Colorado River becomes a reality.”
Built in the mid-1980s, Windy Gap currently blocks fish and sediment passage upstream and downstream of the dam. It also holds water in a shallow reservoir, sometimes elevating stream temperatures downstream of the dam when water is released. Construction of the Connectivity Channel will route Colorado River and Fraser River flows around the reservoir, reconnecting aquatic habitat, reducing stream temperatures, and restoring natural river processes currently impacted by the presence of the dam.
“The NRCS decision is a major step toward making the Connectivity Channel a reality,” said Mely Whiting, the project lead for Trout Unlimited. “This project is the linchpin connecting all other ongoing efforts to prepare the headwaters of the Colorado River for a much hotter and drier future.”
“Grand County’s Board of County Commissioners applauds the work of NRCS in reaching this decision and acknowledges the tremendous work of the project partners and individual champions,” the board said in a statement. “The project is so important to the health of the Colorado River the citizens and visitors of Grand County, and the entire river basin. Grand County has been a longtime proponent and partner in this project. We look forward to seeing the Connectivity Channel provide significant benefits to the region’s environmental, agricultural and recreational interests for generations to come.”
“The Colorado River Connectivity Channel is an example of the positive outcomes that can occur when diverse groups come to the table to meet the challenges of delivering a reliable water supply to Colorado residents, all while addressing important habitat in the Colorado River,” said Northern Water General Manager Brad Wind. “The Connectivity Channel Project also serves as a key enhancement for the Windy Gap Firming Project that provides critical water supplies to beneficiaries situated on both sides of the Continental Divide.”
In an agreement with TU, the NRCS committed over $4 million toward construction of the project, provided that an environmental assessment was completed showing that the project will not have significant impacts on the environment. The FONSI draws from NRCS’ Environmental Assessment evaluating both beneficial and adverse impacts of the project, concluding that the project “will result in long-term beneficial impacts for environmental resources (i.e. soil, air, water, animals, plants, and human resources).” With the FONSI secured, NRCS can now provide those pledged funds toward the project construction, and may consider granting up to $9 million in additional funds still needed for the project.
In addition to its benefits for fish passage and water and habitat quality, the Connectivity Channel will also be open for public fishing, creating approximately one mile of new river angling opportunity.
“Local anglers can celebrate this project, which will both improve the treasured Gold Medal fishery of the Colorado River and open up a new mile of public fishing through the restored channel,” said Kirk Klancke, president of the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of TU.
Work on the project is scheduled to begin in June 2022 and is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2023. Public angling access is expected to open in 2025 to give time for the habitat and fishery to establish.
In addition to the funding support from the NRCS, the Connectivity Channel has received significant contributions from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Northern Water, Grand County, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, the Upper Colorado River Alliance, and corporate sponsors, including PepsiCo., Frito Lay, Intel, and CocaCola. Other contributors include the Gates Family Foundation, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Great Outdoors Colorado, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Occidental Petroleum Corporation.
“I am truly awed by the level of support for the project,” TU’s Whiting said. “The Connectivity Channel is a great example of what we can accomplish when working together to accommodate water supply and ecological needs.”
To view the NRCS Finding of No Significant Impact, visit this link.
April 2022 Currents
Featuring updates on Gold Medal waters including an emerging threat to the Colorado, an introduction to CTU’s new Youth Education Coordinator, and info about upcoming chapter and CTU events - click here to check out the April issue of Currents newsletter!
Gala Success in 2022!
We are pleased to share that this year’s River Stewardship Gala raised more than $80,000 for coldwater conservation and our youth programs! With these proceeds this year, we will be taking our STREAM Girls and Trout in the Classroom programs into more communities and engaging with our 24 chapters around Colorado on projects benefiting their local watersheds. Thank you to all who made this year’s Gala possible. Stay tuned for an exciting announcement about a summer event at Coors Field!
Special thanks to our 2022 CTU Gala Sponsors:
River Guardians
River Stewards
Celia Sheneman & Joe Zell
River Defenders
Colin Davis
Michael Imhoff
Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter CTU
Timothy Gablehouse
And- Congrats to our Raffle winners: Ed L. won the custom Sarabella Fly Rod and Torie R. won a grand prize trip to Madison Valley Ranch in Montana! Thanks to Sarabella and Madison Valley Ranch for their support – and to all of you who took part in the Gala raffles.
Headwaters Youth Update & Volunteer Opportunities
Natalie Flowers recently joined the Colorado TU team as our Youth Education Coordinator. She has provided this brief update on our major program areas within the “Stream of Engagement” for youth education.
The Headwaters Youth Program offers engaging youth programs for the next generation of anglers and river stewards. Through the Stream of Engagement, we connect kids of varying ages and their families to their watersheds and build stronger communities. I am excited to join the Colorado Trout Unlimited team as the new Youth Education Coordinator. I am blessed to be able to come into this role and not only find a strong program foundation, but also find so many passionate volunteers, staff members, CTU Chapters, and partners who are eager to help!
If we haven’t met yet, here is bit about me. I am a positive extrovert who loves igniting sparks curiosity, wonder, and outdoor exploration in people of all ages, especially kids. My background is in environmental education, nature-based programming, and volunteer management and I’m passionate about increasing outdoor play, accessibility, and cultivating a love of nature. I love my family who includes my husband Robby and two daughters, Eloise (9) and Lorelei (7). I am an animal geek at heart and in my free time I enjoy hiking, skiing, SCUBA diving, bird/wildlife watching, and fishing. I look forward to connecting with you and collaborating as we strengthen our Stream of Engagement youth programs and building new interactive programs and activities. Feel free to drop me a line or shoot me an email at natalie.flowers@tu.org.
Below are a few Stream of Engagement updates and opportunities.
STREAM Girls/Keepers:
We are working on solidifying dates and location for 2022 STREAM Girl and STREAM Keeper programs.
I hope to update our CTU calendar with programs in the next few weeks.
Trout in the Classroom:
We are wrapping up our 2021/2022 Trout in the Classroom program.
We look forward to revamping this program this Summer to allow growth and more collaboration with partners.
River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp:
We are currently taking applications (deadline is April 10th) and as I am writing this we only have 8 slots left!
Volunteers wanted!
We are ready to re-engage CTU volunteers to help support these and other Stream of Engagement Youth Programming.
Please fill out the CTU Youth Volunteer Survey and tell us how you can help!
Thank you for helping us cultivate and grow the next generation of conservation-oriented anglers!
Utah Railway Could Spell Trouble for Colorado Rivers
A proposed new rail line in Utah would result in up to 10 two-mile-long trains daily of heated rail cars filled with waxy crude traveling along the Colorado River and through some of Colorado’s most vulnerable landscapes.
The proposed Uinta Basin Railway would connect oil fields in Utah to the national rail network, specifically the Central Line adjacent to the Colorado River through Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Eagle and other small towns, along the Colorado and Fraser Rivers and through Denver before heading south and east to refineries in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast.
The project has sparked opposition from more than 70 counties, municipalities, and sanitation districts and dozens of environmental groups. Concerns are many. Eagle County has filed a lawsuit to stop the project, citing the need for further environmental assessment, and the local elected officials have opposed the project, voicing concerns that a derailment could devastate local tourism. Others say the project will more than quadruple the production of the Unita Basin oil fields – an increase of more than 350,000 barrels per day – and cause more than 53 million tons of additional carbon pollution per year. And there are concerns that increased traffic through the Moffat Tunnel would prompt a reopening of the Tennessee Pass rail line, putting the Eagle and Arkansas Rivers at risk.
Colorado Trout Unlimited has reached out as well to our elected officials, voicing our concern for the environmental devastation that will occur when there is a derailment - and it is a question of when, not if, as the Environmental Impact Statement estimates there will be an average of 0.89 accidents per year involving a loaded train and another 0.89 accidents involving unloaded trains; Table 3.2.2). Waxy crude is solid at room temperature and each of the railcars on these two-mile-long trains is heated to around 110 degrees to keep the substance liquid.
As they move through Colorado, these heated oil tankers will travel along the river – through the center of Glenwood Springs and on through Glenwood Canyon, Eagle County, through Gore Canyon and Grand County along the headwaters of the Colorado river, then along the Fraser River through Winter Park and the Moffat Tunnel. East of the tunnel the train will rumble through 33 tunnels and navigate horseshoe curves as it makes its way to Denver and beyond.
It is all too easy to envision the dangers. Picture what the Colorado River would look like if even one of the tanker cars split open and spilled its load of 29,400 gallons of waxy crude, which solidifies as it flows into the river. The devastation to the river ecosystem would be catastrophic. Picture oil tankers heated to 110 degrees derailing in tinder-dry forests on the West Slope or the bone-dry grasslands of the Front Range. In an era where more and bigger fires are predicted, it’s easy to see another Troublesome Fire on the West Slope or another out-of-control grass fire on the Front Range sparked by one of these heated tankers.
Colorado Trout Unlimited does not oppose all oil and gas development and indeed has worked with the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission and other stakeholders on rulemakings to manage such development responsibly. This project, however, poses unacceptable levels of risk – and the impacts to Colorado have largely been ignored in the federal permitting processes to date as they have looked only at the immediate local effects in Utah’s Uinta Basin. By raising our voices of concern, we hope that Colorado’s elected officials, CTU, and other concerned groups can get the Uinta railway re-considered by federal agencies like the Surface Transportation Board and the US Forest Service.
Colorado River photo credit: Tony Webster, used under Creative Commons license.
Introducing - Colorado Gold!
APRIL 2022
“We are close. So close to a new mile of the Colorado River.”
– Mely Whiting, Trout Unlimited attorney who has led the Colorado River Headwaters Connectivity Project for more than a decade.
Welcome to Colorado Gold!
As a Trout Unlimited supporter, you may have seen Mely Whiting’s quote in the Colorado Sun story published on March 22. Her comment referred to the mile-long Colorado River Connectivity Channel designed to bypass Windy Gap Reservoir near Granby, CO, and unwind nearly 40 years of damage to the river by restoring flows and once again allowing fish passage through what was once one the state’s most prolific trout fisheries.
She’s been waiting – and working – more than 10 years to utter those words, and thanks to the sustained efforts of folks like Mely and our partners at Northern Water, Grand County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Colorado River District and NRCS, we really are close. So close to restoring one of Colorado’s iconic Gold Medal fisheries for generations to come.
The ongoing effort to reconnect the upper Colorado River at Windy Gap serves as one of the signature restoration projects of the Colorado Gold campaign designed to help give Colorado’s “highest quality cold-water habitats” the protection they need and the conservation champions they deserve. That’s where you come in. Your support as a member of the rapidly expanding Colorado Gold Coalition is a vital piece of the conservation equation. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to all of you who have already joined us in this mission, along with an invitation to everyone else interested in joining the movement we’re creating.
In this inaugural newsletter we also want to give a shout out to our Gold Level sponsors at Northwest River Supplies (NRS) and Down River Equipment (DRE) for donating a shiny new NRS Otter 142 self-bailing raft and custom-built XD fishing frame for our first Colorado Gold fundraiser. Valued at more than $13,500, the raft is adorned with the Colorado Gold logo and comes with dual rod holders, diamond-plate casting platforms and other deluxe accessories hand-crafted by DRE. It’s currently on display at the DRE showroom in Wheat Ridge.
If you haven’t bought your raffle tickets yet (or maybe just decided you want to buy a few more), you can do that here. The drawing takes place on June 1 at the Colorado TU offices in Denver. Unfortunately, it’s only open to Colorado residents.
We’ve got a lot more brewing on the Colorado Gold calendar, including some timely upgrades to our website incorporating more detailed angling info on Colorado’s Gold Medal fisheries as we head into high season. Meanwhile, be sure to buy your raffle tickets, encourage friends and local businesses to join the coalition and stay tuned for news on more ways you can tap into Colorado Gold!
COALITION PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: BLUE RIVER WATERSHED GROUP
The mission of the Blue River Watershed Group is to promote, protect and restore a healthy Blue River watershed through cooperative community education, stewardship, and resource management. And they’re working hand in hand with TU on revitalizing 19 miles of the former Gold Medal fishery through the “Getting the Blue back to Gold” campaign. Link up to learn more about how you can get involved here.
Colorado Gold Medal Waters in the News:
Demand Management Planning is on Hold in Colorado – For Now
Management Pause Doesn't Bode Well for the Future of Lake Powell – Where the Forecast Calls for Pain
TU Supporter Paul Bruchez of Kremmling Selected to Fill Colorado Water Conservation Board Seat
Recent Snowfall has Pushed Summit County's Blue River Basin to Almost 100% of Average
But the Snowpack Totals Aren't as Good as They Might Sound in the Roaring Fork Valley
Meanwhile, the Fishing Must be Good Somewhere
2022 State of the River Meetings Schedule
The Colorado River District is holding its annual State of the River events across the 15-county River District, bringing District staff, local partners, hydrologists, and water users together to discuss and address the most pressing water issues facing West Slope communities today.
Visit the sites below to register for a State of the River event near you:
Where: Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction
Where: Old Ace High, Rangely
Where: Morgridge Commons, Glenwood Springs
May 16 – Delta County
Where: Robideau Room, Delta
May 17 or 19 – Grand County
Where: Location TBD
May 24 – Summit County
Where: Silverthorne Town Pavilion, Silverthorne
June 8 or 9 – Gunnison County
Where: Gunnison River Festival, Gunnison
TBD – Eagle County
TBD – Crystal River State of the River
Where: Redstone Church, Redstone
F3T IS BACK!
The Fly Fishing Film Tour returns to Colorado with a series of upcoming shows around the state. Get your fishing stoke on with the best in fly fishing films - and meet up with your local TU chapters who will be on hand as well! Upcoming stops include: April 29 (Gunnison), and May 11 (Longmont). Check out their stoke reel trailer here, and find details and ticketing here.
