Matt Clark, Backcountry Coordinator, Western Water Project and SCP

I grew up on a farm and ranch in SW Colorado. From a very young age, playing and working on the land was most of what I did. Growing up outside, and with a family that instilled an appreciation for all of our environment and our duty to work with, not against nature, is one of the big things that led me to conservation work and to TU. I didn’t become immersed in hunting and angling until after college, but when I did, it quickly became my favorite excuse to be outside. Spending days in the wilderness chasing elk and eating brookies for breakfast (catch and release is a great and necessary thing but about half my fishing these days is targeting brook trout in cutthroat waters and enjoying them with bacon and eggs) was the second thing that led me to Trout Unlimited. I represent TU for both the Sportsman’s Conservation Project on land protection, planning, and policy, as well as the Western Water Project implementing on the ground conservation projects with landowners and on public lands in collaboration with our local chapter, the Dolores River Anglers. Working across TU program areas, serving on the board of our chapter since I started with TU six years ago, and having been fortunate enough to work closely with CTU, has given me a deep appreciation of how much our organization, how much we all collectively, are accomplishing for fisheries and watersheds across the state.

Here are some current highlights illustrating what this means in my neck of the woods. In the on the ground category, there is a large cobble push up dam the spans the Dolores River for about 9 months of the year (the other three it’s blown out by spring high flows, after words it’s rebuilt to work as a diversion for the rest of the summer and fall), blocking fish passage both up and down stream because the cobble is so porous water flows through it, not over it. Working closely with the landowner, the NRCS, and the Forest Service (because the diversion happens to be on federal land), we are replacing the push up dam with a series of large rock cross vanes that will provide fish and boat passage and reliable and maintenance free access to the ranch’s water right. A win-win situation for everyone involved.

The policy and protection side has seen us working successfully for stream and riparian area setbacks and No Surface Occupancy stipulations to protect winter elk habitat on the San Juan National Forest and adjacent BLM lands. Currently we are diving into Travel Management Planning in the upper Dolores River watershed. The previously release plan failed to adequately analyze and account for impacts to fish and wildlife and was successfully appealed by a coalition of TU and other conservation organizations. We are now working with the Forest Service to help ensure a good conservation outcome this time around.

The common thread of needing the land and it’s resources both for enjoyment and sanity, as well as survival, was not lost on our forefathers. Leaders such as Teddy Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold helped point the way toward living appropriately on the land and the work that TU and it’s members do day in and out is building on that legacy. I look forward to continuing to work with you on projects and ideas large and small. If you have any questions or thoughts, please get in touch with me.

--- Matt Clark, Backcountry Coordinator, Western Water Project and SCP mclark@tu.org, 970-799-0274

The Rocky Mountain Flyathlon

I have long believed that the best fly fishing spots in Colorado can’t be found by flipping through the majority of guidebooks that you currently have sitting on your shelf.  Nor are they frequently updated in colorful chalk on the big board of flow conditions at your local fly shop.  And they certainly aren’t in locations that most guides choose to venture (at least not with clients). No, to get to my best fly fishing destinations in Colorado, you are going to have to work harder than that.  Because these special places are “back there”.  Way back there.  To get to these waters, you will have to drive on paved roads until you get to dirt roads until those dirt roads narrow and then run out.  Even then, you will still have many miles to go, on foot, often up crushing inclines on trails that may or may not have not been maintained in a while.  And when you finally get there, you will not catch twenty inch brown trout or pig rainbows.  But you will be happy.  Alone, exhausted from the journey and surrounded by the most majestic landscapes that the Centennial State has to offer, you can catch a piece of Colorado’s natural history.  And when you see that signature orange slash along the lower jaw, in an instant, you will know that the effort was worthwhile.  Because this is fly fishing in Colorado.

It is the relentless pursuit of this native high that can only be found within the high mountain lakes and streams contained within Colorado’s many wilderness and roadless areas, and within the remotest of remote reaches of our national parks, that led me to discover what I call the “flyathlon”.  As the father of two young girls, my time away from home is inherently limited, so to be a good dad and still get my cutthroat fix, I pack lightly and carry a seven-piece, three-weight stick.  And I run.  I run so that I can maximize my minimal free time reaching out to these beautiful fish.  I run so that I feel like I earned it.  And then, back at the trailhead at the end of that remote and narrow dirt road, I typically enjoy another of Colorado’s finest, our superior craft beer.

run.  fish.  beer.  Simple as that.

It turns out, while I may be the first one to formally put a name to this Colorado multi-sport experience, I now know that I am not the only flyathlete.  One afternoon several years ago, as I eagerly described the concept to a friend, he quickly cut me off, indicating that this is something that he has done for years.  And the movement has grown quickly from there.

Last August, fifteen brave pioneers dragged themselves out of their tents/beds to make the journey to Monarch Lake in Grand County, Colorado, to compete in the inaugural (yet entirely unofficial) Flyathlon race event.  Many toed the start line having endured wave after wave of soaking rain as they stood around the pre-race campfire the night before, drinking some of Colorado’s finest craft beer. The race day premise was simple. Run around Monarch Lake, catch a fish, and do it as quickly as possible.  The bigger the fish you caught, the more time that was taken off at the end of your run.  Of the 15 race participants, more than half hooked, landed, and documented their catch.  And while some were thwarted by the fishing gods, everyone had a wonderful time.

After that first event, the feedback that I received was amazing.  S othis year, I am taking the event, and the concept, to the next level.  The 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Flyathlon will be held near Saguache, CO, the weekend of August 15th-17th.  The event will be permitted through the U.S. Forest Service, making it “official.”  The course will be approximately 7 miles total length, with opportunities to catch brown, rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout (bonus time off for the native fish!).  Participants are encouraged to spend the weekend in the San Luis Valley, as camping sites will be provided with the event registration for Friday and Saturday evenings.  The event is sponsored by several fine Colorado breweries, so the post-race celebration will likely be legendary.  So that we can give back, we’ll also include some fundraising to help benefit native trout conservation through Colorado Trout Unlimited.  There will be cool prizes for the top finishers and top fundraisers.  If you are a closet flyathlete, or just want to give something new a try, please consider joining us in Saguache in August.

For more information about the Flyathlon or to participate in the August event, please visit my website at www.flyathlon.com, or send me an email at cutthroat@gmail.com.

--- Andrew Todd

Women on the Fly are on the Rise

Across the country Trout Unlimited chapters are actively engaging women into our conservation work. While the sport of fly fishing is mainly dominated by men, most of those men will tell you that when it comes to fly fishing, women are naturals!! There are a variety of opportunities for women to learn about fly fishing and to advance their angling skill throughout Colorado, and Colorado Trout Unlimited is helping to build the conservation knowledge of women as well. By becoming a Colorado member of Trout Unlimited, you receive the award-winning magazine Trout, stickers, the High Country Angler publication, calendars and discounts for various merchandise; but most importantly you are a small piece of the largest effort in the country to keep the cold water fisheries healthy! That is amazing!!

In the fall of 2012, Trout Unlimited launched a campaign aimed at getting more women to sign up as members. In doing so, women were offered complimentary trial memberships over the course of the year. Over 2,500 women signed up! What a great success. Thanks to all of you who reached out to women in your community and invited them to join Trout Unlimited.  It is undoubtedly because of your efforts that we can boast a 13 percent retention rate so far on these trial members.

To help bring women into our river conservation world, we are pleased to bring back this complementary trial membership and to announce that women can sign up for their first time annual membership for FREE right now!! In addition, women can renew for half price, at a special $17.50 rate. To add a little incentive for our chapters, any recruiting chapters (for women membership renewals) will receive $15 of that $17.50 in the form of a special rebate. AND, for even more incentive from March 1 - May 31, Trout Unlimited will be tracking which chapters recruit the most women and which have the highest rates of renewals (allocated proportionally based on chapter size.) The chapter that recruits the most women will be issued a plaque. Cash rewards will be awarded to the chapters that have the highest rates of renewals: $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $100 for third place.

Colorado Trout Unlimited has partnered with a lot of groups across the state who are engaging women like Colorado Women Flyfishers and the Fly Gals from Collegiate Peaks Anglers. We have also created a “meet up” type page on Facebook where women throughout Colorado can find other ladies to fish with and to share their fishing stories. You can join that page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowomenonthefly/.

To learn more about these efforts or to get involved, please contact Stephanie Scott at sscott@tu.org.

Colorado TU honors Chapter leaders and others at Rendezvous 2014

At the 2014 Rendezvous, Colorado TU presented its annual awards for outstanding contributions by chapters and individuals at the evening awards banquet. Colorado TU presented its “Trout Conservation Award”, recognizing outstanding contributions by TU partners, to Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist Ken Kehmeier for his leadership in developing mitigation plans for water projects.  Kehmeier’s efforts helped secure mitigation commitments to protect fishery resources in association with the Chatfield, Moffat, and Windy Gap projects.  He has also been a leader in developing the proposed collaborative project for native trout restoration in the Poudre headwaters.

The “Trout Communication Award”, recognizing leadership in public education and communications around river conservation, went to Dan Crabtree, recently retired from the Bureau of Reclamation.  Under Dan’s leadership, the Bureau’s Aspinall public stakeholder meetings – held three times a year to coordinate operations on the Bureau’s Gunnison River dams – became a valuable forum for constructive dialogue between the agency and its stakeholders, and helped create a new spirit of cooperation.

As “Outstanding Guide & Outfitter”, Colorado TU honored Freestone Outfitters’ Clint Packo.  Clint helped develop the concepts for Colorado TU’s “Protect Our Rivers” corporate donation program and stepped up with a “Round Up For Rivers” program with Freestone itself – through which clients are invited to “round up” their purchase of a trip with an extra $25 donation for conservation.  Each donation is matched by Freestone.  In addition, Clint helped develop the innovative Hartsel Easy Access Recreation Trail with the Cherry Creek Anglers Chapter, providing an outstanding new angling opportunity on the Middle Fork South Platte for mobility-impaired anglers.

Colorado TU recognized two of its own “Outstanding Volunteers” as well.  Mike Nicholson was honored for his volunteer work as director of Colorado TU’s annual youth conservation camp, which he has guided into being a flagship program for engaging Colorado high schoolers with river conservation and angling.  Ric Tarr was honored for his 32 years of commitment as a volunteer with the West Denver chapter, stepping in wherever help was needed and providing leadership around chapter programs for both youth education and public education.

The Rocky Mountain Flycasters were recognized as “Exemplary Chapter” for their outstanding programs across the spectrum – strong community engagement, outstanding communications, vibrant youth programs including a summer day camp, and meaningful conservation projects.  In particular, the chapter was recognized for its leadership in promoting watershed health in the aftermath of two natural disasters effecting its home waters on the Poudre and Big Thompson Rivers – the 2012 High Park fire and the 2013 floods.

The West Denver Chapter was honored both for “Outstanding Communications” and “Exemplary Youth Education”.  The Chapter was recognized for its first-rate “Angler’s Edge” newsletter and effective website, and for youth programming that includes a long-standing partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools Outdoor Lab through which 6th graders get a week of in-the-field outdoor education experience.

Two chapters were recognized with “Exemplary Project” awards.  The Colorado Headwaters Chapter was honored for its long-standing, and very effective, campaign for public engagement behind protection of the Fraser River basin in the face of expanding water diversions.  The “Save the Fraser” campaign recently culiminated with an innovative agreement among TU, Grand County, and Denver Water for collaboration in conserving habitat in the watershed.  The Yampa Valley Flyfishers were recognized for their multi-year project, operating in coordination with their close partners with the Yampa Valley Stream Improvement Charitable Trust, recently completed a multi-year project investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in restoring quality habitat on the Yampa River in the Chuck Lewis State Wildlife Area.

In addition to Colorado TU’s annual awards, the Silver Trout Foundation presented its “Silver Trout” award – the highest honor for contributions to coldwater conservation in Colorado, recognizing lifetime efforts – to two individuals: Colorado TU past president Sinjin Eberle and Colorado TU Lobbyist Jen Boulton.  Sinjin was recognized for his effective leadership of Colorado TU, overseeing a period of strong financial and program growth and contributing his significant marketing and communications skills to successful campaigns to protect the Fraser and Upper Colorado Rivers.  Jen was recognized for her nearly 20 years of service as a lobbyist duing which she helped Colorado TU to secure legislation strengthening instream flow programs, water quality protections, and funding for habitat protection and fishing access – as well as holding off countless attacks on laws for protection of natural resources.

Congratulations – and thank you – to all of this year’s awardees!

Hermosa Creek legislation - moving forward, slowly

Sportsmen and women from the Southwest corner of Colorado continue to be hopeful the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act will soon receive markups in the subcommittees of Congress.  In the meantime, Trout Unlimited and our sportsmen partners are doing our part to see this magnificent land protected, forever. In March, the ‘Sportsmen for Hermosa’ worked the campaign and were rewarded.  The bill’s Senate sponsor, Senator Bennet, came through Durango and requested a private meeting with the local supporters to discuss the progress.  Hunters and anglers, representing the coalition, spent about a half hour chatting with the Senator about the value of protected public lands, Hermosa’s economic input and habitat.  Attending were TU, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Duranglers, American Rivers, Conservation Colorado, Waterfall Ranch Outfitters, Gardenswartz and Rep. Tipton’s local staffer.  The Hermosa bill is a priority for the Senator and we’re grateful.

One of this campaign’s most important partners, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, hosted their national Rendezvous in Denver.  Hermosa was a major topic of discussion all weekend.  Rep. Tipton attended a small, private breakfast and spoke candidly about Hermosa and his efforts to see it enacted.  Several ‘Sportsmen for Hermosa’ partner organizations were represented, including TU, BHA, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Bull Moose Sportsmen and Nat’l Wildlife Federation.  The coalition thanked the Congressman for his work and leadership on Hermosa.  Additionally, Senator Udall was the keynote speaker Saturday night and mentioned Hermosa numerous times.  Several new sportsmen supporters joined the coalition, including some notables such as Dvorak Expeditions, Anglers Covey, Dragonfly Anglers, CO Wildlife Federation and Rep Your Water.  We’re grateful for their voice.

It’s an arduous journey for a bill, as School House Rock taught us, but when sportsmen and women stand unified for a special place, good things happen for trout and public lands.  You can follow the progress and lend your support on Facebook at ‘Sportsmen for Hermosa.'

--- Ty Churchwell, Sportsmen's Conservation Project, tchurchwell@tu.org

CTU Hiring River Cleanup Intern

Colorado Trout Unlimited is hiring an intern to help with our River Cleanups across Colorado. Most of our 24 chapters host at least one cleanup a year and we are hiring an intern to help make a bigger impact with river cleanups in local communities. This intern will also help to bring a strong conservation message to the cleanups and help to strengthen cleanup partnerships. This is a non paid position, however we will work with your college to arrange credit for the internship. Click here to view the position description. To apply for this internship please email your cover letter and resume to Stephanie Scott at sscott@tu.org

Runners Giving Back to Rivers?

Trout Unlimited has been very active since the floods of 2013. Four of our twenty four chapters were impacted by the floods; Alpine Anglers (Estes Park), St. Vrain Anglers (Longmont), Boulder Flycasters (Boulder), and Rocky Mountian Flycasters (Ft. Collins). Our chapters have been on the ground and working with existing partners like federal and local level governments, ditch companies, land owners, biologists and water suppliers; but recently an unexpected partner approached us and wanted to get involved in what we were doing. When all of that rain began to fall a lot of people had to change their plans. There was no exception for the Road Less Traveled Relays and Runners team whom organized the Flaming Foilage Relay.  The runners had trained  to complete this long and difficult race, and the race organizers had everything ready to go until the rain started to pour. Unfortunately, after all of the preparation, the 165 mile relay race from Idaho Springs to Buena Vista had to be canceled as it was scheduled the same weekend the flooding occurred.

Of course the runners were disappointed, but they were very understanding. All of the runners had already registered and paid for the race, and their money was non-refundable; even in the case of the flood. However, Paul Vanderheiden, the Race Director who works for Timberline Events wanted to do something with those registration fees that would give back to communities involved in the flood. Paul got in contact with the runners and promised the participants that he would make donations to groups that helped out people affected and/or groups helping with the rebuilding. Paul started to search for member groups that were involved in flood restoration projects.

Paul found information online about all of the work that Colorado Trout Unlimited had been doing with the flood restoration so he contacted Colorado Trout Unlimited wanting to donate to our efforts. This donation, courtesy of Roads Less Traveled Relays and Runners, will be used for on the ground restoration in the communities that were impacted from the floods.

For a lot of people the floods of 2013 were a horrific time. Thanks to groups like Roads Less Traveled Relays and Runners, Colorado Trout Unlimited can continue to be an active part of rebuilding the South Platte Basin. Timberline Events LLC has been a member of 1% For the Planet since 2006 and we thank them for giving back to conservation groups like Trout Unlimited.