Support Restoring and Reconnecting the Upper Colorado River!

The Windy Gap Reservoir was placed on the mainstem of the Upper Colorado River in 1984, blocking the passage of fish and aquatic insects, reducing water quality and habitat, and blocking natural river maintenance processes. Now, Trout Unlimited is working with Grand County and Northern Water to reconnect the Colorado at Windy Gap and create positive changes to the river’s health and the entire ecosystem. These efforts will improve downstream fisheries, enhance riparian condition, and create a new mile of public fishing access on the re-establshed river channel.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has issued a Draft Plan and Environmental Assessment for the project and is accepting public comment through March 10. If the project is approved, work can begin this May and be completed by November 2023.

You can support restoration and reconnection of the Colorado River at Windy Gap by submitting supportive comments to the NRCS through our simple online action center.

Restoring Fish Passage at Canyon Creek

Canyon Creek flows from the Flat Tops and is a spawning tributary to the Colorado River located near New Castle - but much more of the stream could be available to fish coming up from the Colorado were it not for an existing box culvert structure under Interstate 70 that restricts fish passage into 10+ additional miles of available upstream habitat.

Now, spawning fish will have the chance to return to Canyon Creek thanks to a collaborative project developed by TU with in-kind assistance from Wright Water Engineers (WWE). Using a design for baffles and hemispheres to be placed along the floor of the culvert, the newly installed structures provide velocity shelters for spring-spawning fish making their way upstream at higher flows, and increase depth for those fall spawners moving upstream during lower flows.

This collaborative project was made possible thanks to technical and logistical assistance from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Transportation, and generous financial support from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Colorado River Water Conservancy District, Trout and Salmon Foundation, and Trout Unlimited donors including the Eagle Valley Chapter.

Check out this video showing the project from pre-construction through design and to post-construction conditions, produced by our partners at WWE.

Youth Camp Applications Open!

Colorado Trout Unlimited will host the 17th annual River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp for teen youth at AEI Base Camp in Taylor Park, Colorado, June 12-18, 2022. Since 2006, youth from across the state and beyond have gathered to complete a week-long program of STEM-based conservation education and instruction in the art of fly fishing. Youth 14-18 are eligible to apply for camp, chapters statewide provide scholarships to campers in need. In parallel with Orvis, we are working to achieve 50/50 gender diversity at camp.

This camp provides an unique immersive experience for teens interested in the outdoors, fly fishing, and potential conservation-related career paths. Campers participate in hands-on conservation activities and receive one-on-one and group instruction in the art of fly fishing. Their experience is enriched as they make lifelong relationships, "finding their people" and bonding with peers of similar interests. The program exposes campers to the complexity of water management in the west and its nexus with recreation. The diversity of the conservation program is designed so that participants can envision multiple education and career paths that align with their personal passion for the outdoors.

This summer, 22 upcoming youth leaders will come together to camp, fish, and explore. They will create a memory that will impact their lives for the decades to come. The words of Sam Goldstein, 2010 Alumni, encapsulate his experience: The opportunity to attend Trout Unlimited’s Fly Fishing Youth Camp came when I was at a crossroads in my life. I had been making poor choices as a young man and a very dear friend of mine took me fly fishing, presumably so the rivers might help straighten me out. As a result of his tutelage and kindness, I was awarded a spot in the upcoming Trout Unlimited Youth Camp. Being delighted to partake in the retreat, I soon learned many lessons that would stick with me through my years of fishing and adulthood alike. I have very fond memories of everything from learning different casting methods, tying basic fly patterns, and the joy that comes from showing off your catch! I will always be grateful for experiencing the fly fishing community through the Youth Camp the way I did. The biggest takeaway for me will always be learning how to take care of our rivers whilethey in turn, take care of us.

For more information or to apply for the 2022 River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp, or if you are an adult and interested in volunteering with the camp, please visit our Youth Camp page here. Applications are due by April 10, 2022.

New Senate legislation to boost abandoned mine cleanups

Last Thursday (February 3, 2022), a bipartisan bill that would help address the chronic problem of pollution leaking from abandoned hardrock mines was introduced in the U.S. Senate. Lead bill sponsors Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Senator James Risch (R-ID) were joined by Colorado’s senior Senator Michael Bennet (D) as an original cosponsor, as well as Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jon Tester (D-MT), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and John Barrasso (R-WY). 

The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2022 would help address an estimated 500,000 abandoned mines - mines with no one remaining that is responsible for clean-up – 33,000 of which are known to be causing environmental damage. More than 110,000 miles of streams are listed as impaired for heavy metals and/or acidity, and abandoned mines are a major source of these impairments due to acid-mine drainage with toxic metals, such as mercury, lead and arsenic.  

“Abandoned mines represent the least addressed and greatest threat to water quality in the nation,” said Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “There is no constituency for abandoned mines and orange water, and we’re excited for Congress to take bipartisan action that will allow organizations such as TU to help protect our communities and clean our rivers and streams.”  

Under current law, Good Samaritan parties can and do voluntarily undertake projects to clean up “non-point-source” abandoned mine pollution, such as moving contaminated waste rock piles away from streams. However, under the Clean Water Act, groups wanting to take on “point-source” mine cleanups—where toxic drainage is discharging directly from the mine opening —face daunting obstacles, including complicated permitting and long-term legal and financial liability for any remaining mine pollution.

The Good Samaritan cleanup bill would establish a pilot program for a permitting process administered by the Environmental Protection Agency that would enable qualified nonprofit groups and other third parties to tackle cleanups of abandoned mine sites, in part by providing targeted, limited liability protection for these so-called “Good Samaritan” groups. State and federal governments have spent billions cleaning up leaking abandoned mines where current law allows, but there is much more work to do. Good Samaritan legislation would help get a handle on the problem by providing an alternative to relying solely on federal Superfund cleanups, which suffer from a lack of funding and capacity. Additionally, Superfund is not well-suited to address the tens of thousands of isolated, smaller mines that would not likely qualify as Superfund sites.      

The challenge of abandoned mines is very significant for Colorado. After the Gold King mine spill in 2015 that impacted the Animas River, numerous Federal and State agencies placed a greater emphasis on quantifying the scope and scale of draining mines in Colorado. A study by the State Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety showed over 250 draining mines in Colorado with 148 likely degrading downstream water quality.

“From the San Juans to the Mosquito range, Colorado’s mountains are dotted with abandoned mines that pollute many of our headwater streams,” said David Nickum, Executive Director of Colorado TU. “Under current law, watershed stewards who could help solve the problem instead would face long-term liability for problems that they had nothing to do with creating. We are grateful to Senator Bennet, and to lead sponsors Senator Heinrich and Senator Risch, for bringing forward common-sense, bipartisan legislation to empower Good Sams to start the important work of cleaning up these abandoned draining mines.”

Newly introduced federal legislation can help Good Samaritans tackle the pollution caused by abandoned mines in Colorado and throughout the West.

Coming Soon: A Home for Greenbacks in the Poudre Headwaters

This first major construction work for the Poudre Headwaters Restoration Project was largely completed just before the end of 2021. Contractor L4 Construction installed a fish barrier at the terminus of the Grand Ditch by La Poudre Pass. The barrier will isolate the planned Greenback cutthroat trout recovery area in upper La Poudre Pass Creek and Long Draw Reservoir from western slope waters intercepted by the Grand Ditch.

The Poudre Headwaters Restoration Project is an ambitious multi-year effort to create a stronghold for Greenback cutthroat trout in the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River on the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests and Rocky Mountain National Park. The project includes establishing permanent barriers to safeguard the native trout recovery waters from invasion by non-native species, as well as temporary barriers to help break up the nearly 40-mile total project into smaller manageable pieces for reclamation and reintroduction of greenbacks. With completion of the Grand Ditch barrier, the first phases of fish reclamation to remove existing non-native fish can proceed in 2022-23 in collaboration with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and then stocking of Greenback cutthroat trout can proceed in a first section of recovery habitat that will include Long Draw Reservoir and Neota Creek.

Installation of the Grand Ditch barrier created some real challenges as winter weather began to set in at the project site over 10,000 feet in elevation. L4 crews had excavated the area for the barrier installation to specifications from US Forest Service engineers who designed the barrier. Pouring the concrete for the barrier - in a series of three different pours for different portions of the structure - required both keeping the work area dry by blocking inflow above the site and pumping water, and maintaining temperatures for the concrete to cure properly by building a large tent over the site and using large heating units to blow warm air into the tent. Plowing snow to keep road access to the site safe for work crews and trucks delivering the concrete was another challenge.

Work on the concrete barrier was ultimately completed in the final week of December. Additional channel work is planned in 2022, and efforts will also begin on other aspects of the larger Poudre Headwaters Restoration Project. In addition to the Forest Service, Rocky Mountain National Park, and L4, key partners and funders for the barrier installation included Water Supply and Storage Company’s Long Draw Reservoir Mitigation Trust (providing mitigation funding for impacts of their reservoir), the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund. Partners in the broader project also include Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Colorado TU is grateful to all of those who are making this ambitious native trout recovery program possible.

Images below show the tented area and construction process, culminating in backfill material placed behind one of the wing walls for the new fish barrier.