National Poll Shows Hunters & Anglers Support Conservation

Our partners at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership recently released results from a nationwide survey of hunters and anglers on key conservation issues. The results show that sportsmen and women care deeply about habitat quality and public lands, and on a bipartisan basis - a perspective that hopefully will inform the Trump Administration and decision-makers in Congress as they take up issues affecting water quality, public lands, and conservation funding. A few of the key findings in the survey include:

• Four in five sportsmen support Clean Water Act protection for small headwater streams and wetlands - at a time when EPA is looking at whether to keep such waterways under the Act's protection
• 77% of Republican sportsmen and 80% of Democratic sportsmen support keeping the number and size of National Monuments that have protected lands for hunting and fishing - making sportsmen a key voice as the Interior Department reviews those monument designation
• 80% of Republican sportsmen and 77% of Democractic sportsmen want to see fees from offshore drilling used for conservation and access to public lands

You can click below to visit TRCP's interactive page with details from the survey, including downloadable PDF summaries on different survey topics.

http://www.trcp.org/trcp-national-sportsmens-survey/

Revegetation at Lower Creek Site

By Lauren Duncan On June 14^th, Trout Unlimited’s Abandoned Mine Lands team joined up with Colorado Trout Unlimited volunteers and US Forest Service staff and volunteers for a successful revegetation workday at the Lower Creek project site.

The Lower Creek site is located approximately 9 miles northwest of Boulder within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland in Boulder County, Colorado. Lower Creek (formerly known as Carnage Creek), is a tributary to Left Hand Creek in Boulder County and drains into the South Platte River is the prior to the 2013 floods, the area was used as an unregulated, undesignated shooting area for several decades. The accumulation of lead and target debris within the site became apparent during the flood event of 2013. In 2015, Trout Unlimited, the US Forest Service and RMC Consultants remediated the site to reduce concentrations of lead in soil, surface water, and streambed sediment.

The project team had the opportunity this year to revisit the site to complete follow up sampling to ensure the success of 2015 construction and to revegetate the site in areas where vegetation was struggling. This year’s efforts were extremely successful! Lefthand Watershed Oversight Group has conducted water quality sampling at the site, and their efforts have revealed greatly reduced lead levels across the site.

The revegetation work day included upwards of 20 staff and volunteers and, in several hours, we incorporated 600 pounds of fertilizer, 1,350 pounds of Biochar and 4,200 pounds of compost across the site. This was a tough day of work, but because of the efforts of everyone involved in the day, it was a great success.

Throughout this summer and early fall, Trout Unlimited and the Lefthand Watershed Oversight Group will continue to monitor revegetation success and perform water quality sampling under different flow conditions. We look forward to the future success of this site and are thankful to all our volunteers, project partners and for our continued programmatic support from Newmont Mining and Freeport-McMoRan.

Lauren Duncan is a projects manager for Trout Unlimited's Abandoned Mine Lands program in Colorado. 

Greenback Spawning at Zimmerman Lake - Success!

FORT COLLINS, CO – It was still dark out when I threw the thermos of coffee into the truck and left Denver for the Zimmerman Lake Trailhead just east of Cameron Pass.  The goal for the day was to join two other fellow TU volunteers and work alongside Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologists to help with Greenback Cutthroat spawning at the pristine high alpine lake. Since 2013, CPW and Colorado Trout Unlimited have worked together to establish a population of Greenback broodstock up at Zimmerman Lake that can be used to help populate other streams throughout the cutthroat’s native range.  The recent spawning project took place over four days and engaged a handful of CPW staff along with eight CTU volunteers from various Front Range Chapters.

The spawning process was pretty straightforward and designed by CPW staff to expand the genetic pool of Greenback Cutthroat Trout.  The pictures below highlight much of the process that took place over the four days.  A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who came out to support this important recovery effort!

CPW set up at the Zimmerman Lake inlet to capture spawning Greenbacks.

Fish were collected with a large net and put into a pen to be sorted and categorized by CPW staff and volunteers.

Fish were sorted based on their gender and stocking year.

RFID chips in the fish help to identify the stocking year and other critical data.

After the fish were sorted, CPW milked the males and females - making targeted genetic crosses among the various lineages to expand the genetic diversity.  The eggs and sperm were combined in bowls, packed into small coolers, put on ice, and shipped to the local fish hatchery in Leadville, CO for breeding.

This process is a critical step in the long-term recovery of the native Greenback Cutthroat Trout.  CTU is proud of the great work that its volunteers provided during these long days up at the lake.  The work undertaken at Zimmerman will help ensure that future fishermen and women are able to chase these rare fish throughout the Front Range for decades to come.

For more information on the project or to get involved with other upcoming Greenback recovery projects, contact Dan Omasta, CTU Grassroots Coordinator (domasta@tu.org).

Corps approves permit for Moffat Project in Colorado headwaters

The Army Corps of Engineers gave its approval to Denver Water's proposal to expand Gross Reservoir in Boulder County in order to firm its Moffat System water supplies from Grand County. While the project will increase total diversions from the Colorado headwaters, Denver Water has incorporated mitigation and enhancement measures to the project that local TU members in Grand County believe can actually improve the Fraser River's health. As part of its commitments under this permit and the associated mitigation and enhancement plans, Denver Water will manage diversions to help provide needed flushing flows on the Fraser and its tributaries, complete habitat and native trout restoration work in the Williams Fork basin, and contribute funds toward ongoing habitat improvement efforts like the Fraser Flats project.

“The Fraser is a river beloved by generations of anglers, boaters and other outdoor enthusiasts —it’s the lifeblood of our community,” said Kirk Klancke, president of TU’s Colorado River Headwaters chapter in Fraser and a longtime advocate for the river. “As an angler and Fraser Valley resident, I’m gratified that this agreement keeps our home waters healthy and flowing.”

Most significantly, Denver Water will participate in an adaptive management program called "Learning by Doing" through which Denver, Grand County, Trout Unlimited, and other local stakeholders are cooperating to apply mitigation and enhancement resources, monitor river and watershed conditions, and make adjustments to achieve the best results over time. "Rather than remaining an adversary, Denver Water has joined us and our west slope partners as a partner working to improve conditions in the Fraser watershed," explained Colorado TU Executive Director David Nickum.

In addition to the Learning by Doing effort, Denver Water has also pledged resources for improvement work on South Boulder Creek and on the North Fork South Platte (which will be impacted by ripple effects from Gross Reservoir expansion on Denver's systemwide operations, including the Roberts Tunnel). 5000 acre-feet in the enlarged reservoir will also be reserved as an environmental pool to be managed to help provide instream flows at key times to downstream reaches of South Boulder Creek.

Behind the Fin: Blake Fanning

How long have you been a TU member?I’ve been a member for 8 years, joining after moving to Colorado.  However, I really only started getting active in the past few years.

Why did you become a member and what chapter are you involved with? My grandfather taught me to fly fish when I was 8, learning on the streams in the Silverton, CO area. And my mother taught me to be in tune with the environment and how harshly man has treated it.  So TU was a natural fit with those passions.  I’m a member of the Collegiate Peaks Chapter in the Arkansas valley.

What made you want to become involved with TU? In addition to my lifelong pursuit of fly fishing for trout, and love of mother nature, it was a selfish reason. I wanted to learn how to fish the Arkansas river and figured the folks at our chapter could show me how to do so.  It’s not the easiest of rivers to catch fish on.

What is your favorite activity or project that you have done with TU? I’m going to the CTU youth conservation and fly fishing camp in June as a volunteer. I think it will be awesome learning from many experts on river ecology, as well as helping excite the next generation on river conservation and fly fishing.

I know you won’t tell me your top spot, so what is your second favorite fishing spot or favorite fishing story? I’ve really started to love high alpine lakes, particularly backpacking into them. The solitude and natural beauty always recharges my batteries.  Plus I have learned enough to usually catch some wild trout for supper.  My favorite river fishing is on a stretch of the Colorado River, where my brother and I catch 18-20+ inch rainbow and brown trout.  I will leave that stretch unidentified per my brother’s request.

What does being a part of TU mean to you? It means being involved in a community of men and women whom share the common goals of conservation and fly fishing. Youth education and teaching kids to fish is a definite plus.

What else do you do in your spare time or for work? Since moving into the mountains, I have started a new career in elder care, trying to keep folks in their homes.  A new focus of my fishing is the 9 wt rod I recently purchased.  I’m getting into kayak fly fishing for larger fish in the Florida flats and will be fishing for some pike this summer on the Rio Grande.  Love new adventures.