Misconceptions about oil and gas drilling in the West

Denver Post Guest Commentary

By Chris Wood, the president and chief executive officer of Trout Unlimited.

Recent reports show oil and gas drilling in 2009 was at an 18-year low. Before the fingers start pointing at Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar for putting a stranglehold on the oil and gas industry, let's clarify that first statement: Oil and gas drilling in 2009 was at an 18-year low in Canada.

Some industry trade groups may blame Salazar for the declining trend in oil and gas activity in the Rocky Mountain West, but the reality is that the global recession isn't relegated to Vernal, Utah, Pinedale, Wyoming, and Rifle, Colorado. Well counts all across the western U.S. and Canada fell last year, with the province of Alberta seeing a 50-percent cut in the number of wells drilled in 2009 compared with 2008.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14710621#ixzz0ivLkQiVS

Innovative proposal will protect Dominguez waters

GJ Sentinel Regarding the March 11 editorial by The Daily Sentinel, “Future may be clear for Dominguez waters:” Trout Unlimited applauds the Sentinel for supporting a balanced, innovative plan to meet the water needs of the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area and Dominguez Canyons Wilderness Area.

Healthy wilderness rivers and streams require more than minimal flows. They also require larger “flushing” flows in the spring to ensure that natural stream processes and hydrology are maintained. In last year’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison settlement, for instance, all parties agreed on the need for flushing flows to mimic the flow variability that occurs under natural conditions

In the Dominguez case, the BLM plan is innovative in calling for the state to claim water rights to meet the flow needs of the federal wilderness area.  This arrangement allows Colorado to maintain control over the water resource while satisfying the purposes of the federal wilderness designation which, as the Sentinel points out, resulted from a constructive, cooperative effort

The Colorado Water Conservation Board should approve this plan to keep the Big and Little Dominguez creeks running wild

Drew Peternell, Director

Colorado Water Project

Trout Unlimited

West Slope questions Denver Water plan

By Bob Berwyn

Summit County Citizens Voice

Similar concerns were repeated by Erica Stock, an outreach coordinator with Colorado Trout Unlimited.The fisheries conservation group has specific ecological concerns related to lower flows, including warmer water that harms fish and higher concentrations of toxic metals. All those issues need to be addressed in the environmental study, she said. “We need minimum flows, flushing flows, adaptive management and monitoring. If we see the river is starting to collapse, we need to stop doing what we’re doing,” she concluded.

Check out the TU action page on the project for more information on how to comment before the March 17 deadline.

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2010/03/09/west-slope-raises-more-questions-about-denver-water-plan/

Projects mean better floating, fishing

By TRACY HARMONTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Three Trout Unlimited chapters and the Colorado Division of Wildlife headed the Trout Home Improvement project which provided strategically placed boulders where brown trout can rest from the strong current, feed and reproduce on their own to maintain the population naturally. Bushes and vegetation planted along the banks are vital for shade for the fish and also support insect life.

Sillox said Trout Unlimited members will be back this spring to conduct more plantings where some of the willows died. The members also helped with the informational signs that explain the benefits of the project.

 "Southern Colorado Greenback chapter paid for the three bases — about $1,000. Pueblo Community college's student welding program constructed the bases," Sillox said.The Canon City Recreation and Park District paid for the powder coating of the bases and installed them, while the Division of Wildlife paid for the informational panels recently installed on the bases.

"There was a whole bunch of different groups involved in the project and it is nice to see a lot of people involved," Sillox said.

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2010/03/07/news/local/doc4b933fc3e9dbb021565462.txt

Ethics: Don't fish spawning areas

By Karl Licis - Special to the Denver Post With the annual spawning run of rainbow trout up the Dream Stream about to begin, anglers face a question of ethics: Is fishing for the spawners acceptable, and if so, how much fishing pressure can the resource withstand, despite the protection of catch- and-release regulations?

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_14485729#ixzz0hRfTDQTU

Alpine Triangle

Protection plan an intriguing proposal Durango Herald

Ty Churchwell, who is leading the effort for Trout Unlimited, put it this way: “We want to form a coalition that includes counties and municipalities, watershed groups, sportsmen, private landowners, recreational-vehicle groups and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. They all have an interest in preserving our heritage and our economic viability."

It is an ambitious goal and a worthy one. But by taking an inclusive approach, both with the supporters he wants to attract and by not neglecting any current users' interest in the land, it may well be achievable.

For good reason, some things are banned in some places. True wilderness, for example, is incompatible with motorized traffic. But preserving the Alpine Triangle does not mean locking it away or curtailing its use by the public. Preservation in this context means just what its supporters say: Keep it like it is.

It is a goal that deserves support.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/2010/03/05/Alpine_Triangle/

Plotting the Alpine Triangle

Trout Unlimited looks for support in protecting 126,000 acres in San Juans

by Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer

A national river-conservation group is drumming up broad support for congressional protection of 126,000 acres in the San Juan Mountains where, a spokesman says, spectacular scenery, remnants of a rough-and-tumble past and recreational opportunities make the area a virtual paradise on Earth.

“The area is one of Colorado's most unique off-road and backcountry resources," said Ty Churchwell with the Five Rivers chapter of Trout Unlimited in Durango, who is heading the preservation campaign. “Our motto is 'Keep It Like It Is.'"

The target area - anchored by the towns of Silverton, Ouray and Lake City - is called the Alpine Triangle, although the shape more resembles a polliwog, with a long tail heading northeast down the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. This high-country terrain, Churchwell said, attracts 300,000 visitors annually who hunt and fish, admire towering peaks and wildflowers, explore 195 miles of four-wheel-drive roads, camp and backpack and visit old ghost towns and abandoned mines. The number of visitors doesn't include those who arrive in Silverton by train, he said.

“We want to form a coalition that includes counties and municipalities, watershed groups, sportsmen, private landowners, recreational-vehicle groups and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad," Churchwell said. “They all have an interest in conserving our heritage and our economic viability."

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/Earth/2010/03/04/Plotting_the_Alpine_Triangle/

National Conservation Areas: A primer

by Dale RodebaughHerald Staff Writer

National Conservation Areas, designed to protect cultural, historical and recreational assets, range in size from 19 acres to 799,000 acres. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's 10-year-old National Landscape Conservation System, which includes the conservation areas as well as national monuments, wilderness areas and wild and scenic rivers, protects 27 million acres at almost 900 sites.

The National Conservation Area label that Trout Unlimited wants for 126,000 acres near Silverton called the Alpine Triangle would be the fourth such area in Colorado overseen by the BLM.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/Earth/2010/03/04/National_Conservation_Areas_A_primer/

Surmounting the snow pile

Durango Telegraph by Missy Votel

As the giant mound at the city of Durango’s snow-storage site at Cundiff Park begins to melt, it also gives rise to worries over water quality. The 17-acre snow storage site just south of town, which the city has been using for the last eight years, sits adjacent to the Animas River. And come springtime, Mount Durango, as some locals have taken to calling it, creates a steady stream of murky brown run-off that concerns residents and river advocacy groups alike.

“I applaud the City’s snow removal team and recognize they do a great job during large snow events. However, there are certainly water-quality issues related to the current snow storage location(s),” said Ty Churchwell, former president of the Five Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited and member of the Animas River Task Force.

http://www.durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/10-03-04/coverstory.htm

U. bioengineer unravels how caddisfly silk remains sticky when wet

Courtesy - Salt Lake Tribune A new University of Utah study has pinpointed why the silk spun by caddis fly larvae remains sticky underwater, raising the possibility that one of nature's most remarkable adhesives could someday be replicated for surgical use. Western fly fishermen, who look for caddis fly hatches in their quest for hungry trout, call these round, silk-covered larvae "rock rollers."

The insects begin life in streams, using larval silk to build protective cocoons, and U. bioengineer Russell Stewart is exploring potential applications of this material and other natural adhesives in medical contexts.

"I picture it as sort of a wet Band-Aid, maybe used internally in surgery, like using a piece of tape to close an incision as opposed to sutures," said Stewart, an associate professor of bioengineering, in a news statement. "Gluing things together underwater is not easy. Have you ever tried to put a Band-Aid on in the shower? This insect has been doing this for 150 million to 200 million years."

Stewart's study, funded by the National Science Foundation, will be published this week in Biomacromolecules , a journal of the American Chemical Society.

"The caddis flies' successful penetration into diverse aquatic habitats is largely due to the inventive use by their larva of underwater silk to build elaborate structures for protection and food gathering," the study reports.

Stewart and his co-author, Ching Shuen Wang, began their study in trout streams, examining Brachycentrus echo , one of thousands of caddis fly species, which belong to an order related to butterflies and moths.

"There's just a fascinating diversity of these insects. Their adhesive is able to bond to a wide range of surfaces underwater: soft and hard, organic and inorganic," Stewart said. "If we could copy this adhesive, it would be useful on a wide range of tissue types."

The team gathered larvae from the Provo River and kept them alive in lab aquariums lined with glass beads instead of sand. The researchers harvested silk fibers from these beads for chemical analysis. They discovered the silk was made of large proteins known as fibroin with a heavy loads of phosphates, which are used in dentures and water-soluble latex paints to promote adhesion.

bmaffly@sltrib.com