Comments needed to protect the Roan Plateau!

The BLM’s Colorado River Valley Field Office (CRVFO) recently released its Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Roan Plateau. Colorado Trout Unlimited, along with national TU, has invested hundreds of hours and almost a quarter of a million dollars in the protection of Colorado River Cutthroat Trout (CRCT) in Trapper Creek, Northwater Creek, East Middle Fork of Parachute Creek (below the confluence of Trapper and Northwater Creeks) and the East Fork on the top of the Plateau.

You have probably heard about TU’s efforts to support responsible energy development. On the Roan, we are seeking a balanced solution that protects TU’s interests and the native trout that call streams there home.

We ask that our members help us spread the word and submit comments (by March 30^th) to influence the BLM into developing a plan that is most protective of TU’s and Sportsmen’s interests on the Roan Plateau.

Key points to include in your comments:

1. New roads, well pads and pipelines should not be constructed in cutthroat trout drainages on top of the Roan;
2. Undisturbed big game winter range at the base of the plateau should not be developed;
3. Big game migration corridors need to remain intact and undisturbed by drilling and development; and,
4. Where drilling is allowed, it should be done using state of the art practices (such as directional drilling and water and advanced waste management technologies) that will protect sensitive trout and wildlife habitat at the top, along the sides and at the base of the plateau.
5. To protect sensitive resources including trout and wildlife habitat, the BLM should retain the option of lease cancelation.

Submit Comments to: 

roanplateau@blm.gov

Attn: Roan Plateau Comments

For additional information please contact:

Bob Meulengracht

Coordinator Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development – Colorado

Trout Unlimited

303-232-3909 (W) or 303-514-8227 (C)

rmeulengracht@tu.org

Sneak Peek into 2013 Rendezvous

We know you are all anxious to hear what presenters we have lined up for Rendezvous this year, so here is a sneak peek into our Rendezvous weekend. The theme for Rendezvous 2013 is SUSTAINABILITY. We tend to think first about the sustainability of Colorado's rivers, when in fact the sustainability of our organization is what allows us to "conserve, protect, and restore." Ongoing fundraising programs help us fund restoration projects. Succession planning helps us ensure continuity and board effectiveness. Youth education programs help us groom future members and leaders. And so we sought to achieve a balance of presentations that address the sustainability of both our rivers and our organization.

This year we have something very special planned for the Saturday night banquet:

Sustain This! The Many Landscapes of Trout

Presented by Mark Lance

This program captures a photographer's view of the most spectacular landscapes in the world of fly fishing.  Though his compelling images, Mark takes the audience on a fly fishing journey from the heights of the Patagonian Andes, to hallowed fisheries of the Rocky Mountain West, to forbidden rivers of the Kamchatka peninsula. “Rivers are a key force in shaping the landscape,” says photographer Mark Lance. “Rivers are inseparably entwined with the surrounding ecosystem, the people, culture and development of a place.”

Mark Lance has been fly fishing for over 40 years and wielding a camera for nearly as long. He is the Rocky Mountain Field Editor for Southwest Fly Fishing Magazine. He shoots for many outdoor manufacturers and travel companies and is a frequent contributor to fly fishing magazines including Grays Sporting Journal, Fly Rod and Reed, Trout Magazine, American Angler, Saltwater Fly Fisherman, and the Contemporary Sportsman. His photography can be viewed at riverlightimages.com.

Below are some of the other presenters and topics that they will be presenting:

Healthy Rivers Sustaining Rural Communities

Richard Van Gytenbeek, Trout Unlimited’s Colorado River Basin Outreach Coordinator is responsible for enlisting support for healthy rivers in the Colorado River Basin from local agricultural interests, sportsman groups and river dependent businesses. The “Healthy Rivers Sustain Rural Communities on Colorado’s West Slope” presentation is an integral part of TU’s “Our Colorado River” campaign. The program examines the importance of healthy rivers to agricultural and recreation on Colorado West Slope and the vital economic role they play in their communities. The presentation additionally covers the essential physical components of healthy rivers, threats to the river and strategies to mitigate those threats. The presentation concludes by highlighting some examples of TU’s work on the West Slope through restoration, irrigation infrastructure improvements and water sharing.

Colorado Fish and Wildlife Service Funding Programs

Pam Sponholtz, Project Leader, Colorado Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Office, will be providing an overview of the Service's funding programs and how TU can effectively partner with CFWS on different projects.  With a focus on sustainability, she will be discussing various programs, the nuances of each, how to apply and some examples of completed projects.

Responsible OHV Recreation and Habitat Protection on Public Lands

Garrett VeneKlasen, Southwest Regional Director for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project (SCP), and Aaron Kindle, Colorado Field Coordinator for the SCP will present on Sportsmen Ride Right and how TU works to promote responsible Off Highway Vehicle recreation. Sportsmen Ride Right is a TU developed program that asks sportsmen to lend their energy to ensuring habitat protection and viability while using OHVs. We believe that all sportsmen who recreate on public lands use some form of an OHV to access their favorite hunting and fishing spots and that problems are not confined simply to ATV users. Mismanagement of motorized recreation and irresponsible use is a growing problem on our public lands and sportsmen need to play a large role in creating solutions. Join Garrett and Aaron as they talk about TU’s efforts both nationally and here in Colorado.

Energy Development in the Thompson Divide and What it means to Sportsmen

The Thompson Divide is right across the highway from Redstone and feeds numerous rivers important to anglers. The area also holds several conservation populations of cutthroat trout and is known as one of the best elk hunting areas in Colorado. The Thompson Divide is currently largely undeveloped but proposals for large scale development have been submitted. Aaron Kindle, Colorado Field Coordinator for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project, will present on TU’s efforts to work with sportsmen, surrounding communities, Colorado’s congressional delegation, and energy companies to find solutions and protect this magnificent area.

Want to visit the Thompson Divide and see what is going on?

Aaron Kindle, TU’s Field Coordinator, will be leading an optional field trip into the Thompson Divide for Rendezvous attendees. Topics will include proposed energy development, cutthroat trout conservation, sporting opportunities and an overview of Western Colorado energy development. You are encouraged to attend if you have not followed this issue and would like to learn more.

TU will provide transportation and will be departing from the front entrance of the Redstone Inn on Friday the 19^th of April. Please meet there at 8:30 AM. The trip will last approximately two hours, running from 8:45 – 10:45 AM. Please RSVP for this trip with Stephanie Scott 720-354-2647 or sscott@tu.org.

For more information about 2013 Rendezvous please click on the link below:

www.coloradotu.org/event/colorado-tus-rendezvous-at-redstone/

Colorado: Corps of Engineers pushes back decision for Denver Water’s Moffat Collection System expansion project

Summit County Citizens Voice by Bob Berwyn

The Fraser River already contributes a disproportionately large share of its water to transmountain diversions. Without adequate mitigation, increased diversions are likely to lead to unsustainable degradation of aquatic ecosystems, according to Colorado Trout Unlimited Director David Nickum.

“We assume this means they recognize they need to get more analysis into the assessment,” Nickum said. “The draft was badly flawed. It failed to address a lot of the impacts,” he added.

Read more...

Colorado TU welcomes the Dolores River Anglers!

Please join us in welcoming our 24th Chapter, the Dolores River Anglers (DRA).  Serving the counties of Dolores and Montezuma as well as the community of Egnar, DRA began out of a group of dedicated Five Rivers Chapter members who in October of 2009 met to see if enough interest existed to support a TU chapter “on this side of the mountain.” While they only became an official chapter in February 2013, DRA has already built an impressive record of conserving trout and educating kids over the past three years.  In 2010, the DRA had three members become certified to teach the National Fly Fishing in Schools Program curriculum and the group's name officially became the Dolores River Anglers.  The group partnered with Cortez Parks and Recreation and the Cortez Rotary Club to conduct a Kids Fly Fishing Clinic and Community Fishing Derby at Parque de Vida in Cortez.  Later that summer, DRA conducted an Upper Dolores River Road Trip to show members where to go to fish on the Upper Dolores River, assisted the then CDOW with fish counts on the Dolores River both above and below McPhee Reservoir, and conducted a Dolores River Cleanup.

By 2011, DRA was holding evening fly tying classes at the Cortez Cultural Center.  The summer brought the Kid’s Fly Fishing Clinic and Community Fishing Derby again at Parque de Vida, a second Dolores River cleanup in June, and the second annual Upper Dolores River Road Trip to find new places to fish.  In August of 2011, DRA members joined Five Rivers Chapter members in assisting as mentors for injured soldiers involved in a visit by Project Healing Waters participants from Ft. Huachuca, Arizona and Ft. Carson, Colorado.

In 2012, DRA conducted their Third Annual Kids Fly Fishing Clinic, First Annual Adult Fly Fishing Clinic and Third Annual Community Fishing Derby.  The DRA partnered with the Dolores River Whitewater Advocates in their annual Dolores River Cleanup.  In July and August, DRA, in partnership with CPW, collected DNA samples from over 40 suspected individual native cutthroat trout on Stoner Creek and Taylor Creek.  In September 2012, the DRA worked to designate three tributaries to the Dolores river as Outstanding Waters - Little Taylor Creek, Spring Creek, and the Rio Lado.

Dolores River Anglers are currently working with the Dolores District of the San Juan National Forest to repair damage to the banks of Taylor Creek adjacent to the Little Taylor Creek Trailhead, and they continue to expand their youth education programs through fly fishing clinics and by helping local libraries in their summer reading programs with aquatic entomology.

Congratulations to the Dolores River Anglers!  Keep up the great work!