Fall Fundraising Fun
Highlighting a few fundraising efforts from across Colorado:
Colorado TU 2024 Raffle Benefiting Cutthroat Chapter
Support Colorado TU’s Cutthroat Chapter’s conservation, education, and community engagement projects including restoring habitat and trail access in Cheesman Canyon - with a chance to win one of 25 great prizes valued up to $695!
Colorado TU 2024 Raffle Benefiting Five Rivers Chapter
Support Colorado TU’s Five Rivers Chapter and their efforts to restore the native San Juan Cutthroat Trout along with programs for youth education, conservation, and community engagement - with a chance to win a custom bamboo rod celebrating the San Juan Cutthroat valued at $1,800!
Colorado TU encourages a YES vote on Proposition JJ
The Colorado Water Plan embraces four key values for our state’s vital water resources – a productive economy supporting vibrant cities, agriculture, recreation and tourism; efficient and effective infrastructure; supporting healthy watersheds, rivers, and wildlife; and an informed public with creative solutions for sustainable and resilient water systems.
Through Colorado Water Plan grants, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has been able to fund important projects advancing these goals – including TU collaborations with water users. For example, water plan grants are helping with our work to restore cutthroat in the Poudre Headwaters, to improve efficiency and reconnect habitat on tributaries to the Colorado River, and to develop infrastructure improvements along South Boulder Creek that allow fish passage and delivery of low flow releases to preserve instream flows.
Key funding for these grants comes through voter-approved Proposition DD in 2019, which allocates funding raised from sports betting in Colorado to support the water plan. Proposition DD has generated nearly $77 million new dollars for water plan efforts in the past five years – benefiting our watersheds, farms, and communities.
Today, funding from this initiative is exceeding all original expectations – with revenues going over the original cap of $29 million per year. Proposition JJ will allow those extra dollars to be invested in the water plan; if it does not pass, those extra dollars will be returned to casinos and sports betting companies.
The Colorado legislature with bipartisan and near-unanimous support referred JJ to voters so that funds from sports betting can provide much-needed support for our state’s precious water resources.
Colorado TU encourages a YES vote on Proposition JJ
Celebrating STREAM Girls with Awesome Kids and A Special Guest Volunteer
Margot giving the Girl Scout Handshake and STREAM Girl patch to Eloise, a participant in the STREAM Girls program.
We had a wonderful STREAM Girls program on Sept. 21st at the CSU Environmental Learning Center in Fort Collins. Margo Iwanchuk, Great-Great Niece to Juliette (Daisy) Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, was among the volunteers that helped make this program possible.
Margot, an avid angler herself and lifetime Girl Scout said “Aunt Daisy was an avid fly fisher both in Georgia as well as Scotland. Juliette Low, Founder of the Girl Scouts, would approve of TU’s STREAM Girls.”
18 girls attended this event with about 10 volunteers. They learned about the Cache de Pourdre, caught aquatic macroinvertebrate, experienced a hatch of mayflies, and learned some fly fishing skills. At the end of the program the girls (who were all Girl Scouts) received a STREAM Girls patch for their sash.
CTU is excited to continue partnering with Girls Scouts and offering STREAM Girls across the state. Learn more about Juliette Gordon Low, her life, and her legacy on the Girls Scout website. Check out some photos below of the fun we had at STREAM Girls.
CCTU Fly Tying Fanatics Fest
Join Cutthroat Chapter on October 26 at Orvis Park Meadows from 10 am - 4 pm to hang with 27 of Colorado's finest fly tyers!
There will be refreshments, a Chili Cook Off, and raffles for prizes donated by Orvis, Umpqua, Montana Fly Company, and Solarez. Bucket raffles will be held for flies donated by each of the tyers. Enter your chili into the Cook Off - the winning chili will also be awarded a prize!
This is a fun opportunity to meet and talk with greats of the Colorado tying community, many of whom are signature tyers, fly designers, and artists.
This is a FREE Event, in a comfortable setting that is kid-friendly, where tyers are up close and approachable.
Come by and spend an hour or the day! Browse the latest Orvis products in the store, vote on the best chili, and learn about the origins of tyers' most effective designs!
CPW introduces Trojan Male brook trout in a historic effort to protect native cutthroat trout in Colorado
Aquatic Biologist Jon Ewert stocks Trojan Male brook trout into Bobtail Creek during a historic stocking event in the headwaters of the Colorado River basin.
From Colorado Parks & Wildlife:
HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS, Colo. - On Tuesday, Sept. 17, in an effort to restore native cutthroat populations in the headwaters of the Williams Fork River, Colorado Parks and Wildlife stocked 480 Trojan male or YY brook trout into Bobtail and Steelman creeks.
“This is a pretty historic moment for Colorado and native cutthroat trout restoration across the state,” said CPW Aquatic Biologist Jon Ewert. “This is a combination of both the hard work and dedication of CPW biologists current and retired.”
“This is yet another example of the groundbreaking work done by CPW biologists and researchers to preserve native species,” said George Schisler, CPW Aquatics Research Section Chief. “While Bobtail and Steelman creeks are the first to be stocked with YY brook trout, they will not be the last. This is just the first of many for Colorado.”
In 2010, an alarming number of non-native brook trout were discovered after completing a fish survey in the headwaters of the Williams Fork River. While it is unknown when brook trout invaded these creeks, it was evident the thriving brook trout had nearly decimated the native cutthroat population over time.
Cutthroat trout found within these two creeks are some of the highest-valued native cutthroat populations in the headwaters of the Colorado River basin. Considered a species of special concern in Colorado, this subspecies of trout is genetically pure and naturally reproducing.
“In 2011 we found 123 cutthroat trout combined in both creeks. Today, after 13 years of hard work by dedicated biologists we are seeing a little more than 1,400 cutthroats in these creeks,” said Ewert.
Trojan male brook trout are often called YY because they have two Y chromosomes, unlike wild males with an X and Y chromosome. These trout are stocked into wild brook trout populations and reproduce with the wild fish, producing only male offspring. Without a reproducing population (male and female fish), the brook trout will eventually die out, allowing for native cutthroat trout to be restored.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will continue to stock both streams with YY brook trout over the next several years to sustain the number of Trojan males in the population, eliminating the production of female brook trout in the creeks.
To learn more about Trojan male brook trout and cutthroat trout restoration project in the Upper Williams Fork drainage, read our latest Colorado Outdoors Online Magazine article.
The New Fall 2024 Issue of High Country Angler is Live!
Your new Fall 2024 issue of
High Country Angler is here!
Check out the Fall 2024 issue of High Country Angler e-zine, including these stories:
Landon Mayer with Getting Lined Up
Jeff Ditsworth with A Tribute to My Dad
Brian La Rue with Texas Intercoastal Redfish
Colorado TU Staff with Good News for Abandoned Mine Restoration
Hayden Mellsop with Into The Flattops
Other columns by Barbara Luneau, CTU Staff, Peter Stitcher, and Joel Evans
September Currents Newsletter
This month’s issue of currents features Fall Rendezvous, Denver Fur Ban, CTU Fall Raffle, and More!
Denver Fur Ban Initiative a Threat to Fishing
Colorado TU is urging its members and supporters in the City and County of Denver to vote no on Initiated Ordinance 308 this year, the proposed Denver Fur Ban. While farming of fur bearing animals and sale of luxury fur apparel are not coldwater conservation issues, the proposed fur ban is written broadly and vaguely enough that it puts at risk the purchase or sale of fly tying materials and many flies and lures. That poses a threat to our fishing and tying members in Denver, and to our business partners in the fishing industry.
Those industry members are not just important in sustaining angling, they are stalwarts in funding fish conservation. The fishing industry many years ago agreed to federal excise taxes that are charged on all fishing tackle items sold in the U.S., with the proceeds from those taxes earmarked for grants to state fish and wildlife agencies to support their fishery management programs. The program, popularly known as Dingell-Johnson, is a critical source of funding for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and its peer agencies across the country. Every time an angler purchases a rod, a reel, and yes, a fly or fly tying materials – a part of that purchase helps fund conservation through grants to those state agencies.
Unfortunately, under initiated ordinance 308, it appears that sale and purchase of flies, lures, or fly tying materials including animal fur would be prohibited in Denver – including delivery to a Denver address from retailers located outside of the city. If 308 passes – Denver anglers will no longer be able to purchase those flies and lures, or materials with which to tie them at home, within the City and County of Denver.
Other groups beyond the fly fishing community have expressed concern about the effects of 308 due to its broad and vague wording, including the National Western Stock Show (where exhibitors sell items that include fur, such as traditional cowboy hats); and tribal interests who note that 308’s exemptions for tribal cultural purposes are narrowly written and would not apply to the majority of Native Americans.
While the measure would apply only in the City and County of Denver, Colorado TU encourages members across the state to take note as proponents of the fur ban have previously voiced their interest in using passage of a ban in Denver as a stepping stone to seeking a similar statewide initiative.
If you live in Denver – VOTE NO on Initiated Ordinance 308!
Sig and Relay Creeks Passage Project Completed
Trout Unlimited (TU), in partnership with the San Juan National Forest (SJNF) and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), recently completed the Sig and Relay Creeks Aquatic Organismal Passage (AOP) project; it was successful due to the effective teamwork of these organizations as well as the commitment and dedication of the contractor, Medved Global.
The AOP effort replaced existing culverts with structures that allow all aquatic organisms to access upstream reaches of each tributary. This work is part of the Hermosa Creek Colorado River Cutthroat Trout (CRCT) Reintroduction effort and was listed as a project in the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area Plan legislation, signed in 2018. CPW and the SJNF have worked to reestablish a genetically pure CRCT population in the Hermosa Watershed.
“Between the two culverts, approximately 1.5 miles of new habitat will be available for cutthroat trout located downstream, which is significant because Sig and Relay Creeks regularly provide more water to the watershed than East Fork Hermosa during low flow periods.” Clay Kampf, Supervisory Aquatic Biologist, San Juan NF
The CRCT populations in the greater Hermosa drainage are experiencing a substantial rebound due to over 35 years of effort. Past endeavors dating to the 1990s included the construction of fish barriers to prevent upstream migration of non-native trout species and widespread habitat improvements. Decades of accomplishments were headlined by and in partnership with the San Juan National Forest, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Trout Unlimited Five Rivers Chapter.
Sources
USDA Forest Service Partnership Peaks, Winter 2023. “Connecting Habitat for Cutthroat Trout”; Abe Proffitt- SJNF Partnership Coordinator
Durango Herald, August 23, 2024- “Part of Hermosa Park Road closes through September 13”; Reuben Schafir- Herald Staff Writer
