The Colorado River Connectivity Channel

THE PROBLEM

The Windy Gap Reservoir blocks the movement of fish and other aquatic organisms and degrades the downstream habitat. The health of the river below the reservoir declined since it was built in the mid-1980s, with documented losses of 38% of macroinvertebrate diversity––including the complete loss of giant stoneflies (a major food source for trout), the loss of native sculpin populations, and the decline of trout biomass in this state-designated Gold Medal trout fishery.  

The goal of the Colorado River Connectivity Channel is to establish a natural river channel around Windy Gap to reconnect the river and eliminate the reservoir’s negative impacts. When completed, the project is expected to restore lost and declining aquatic species and improve the river’s resiliency in the face of increasing water diversions and climate change. The Channel will be open to the public, providing over a mile of Gold Medal trout quality waters for public fishing, providing significant economic benefits to the small Grand County communities that rely on recreation. 

THE CONNECTIVITY CHANNEL

The Connectivity Channel is the linchpin connecting multiple restoration efforts, including removal of fish barriers and channel improvements upstream of the reservoir, over $6 million worth of channel improvement and flood reconnection projects downstream of the reservoir, and a series of projects designed to restore both irrigation and aquatic habitat in the Kremmling area. The project is expected to benefit over 30 miles of Colorado River. Without it, the likelihood of success of this landscape scale effort is dramatically reduced.