Take action to protect trout fisheries and watersheds from the impacts of climate change

Photo courtesy of Trout Unlimited/Josh Duplechian

We are at a critical moment. Congress is now considering major infrastructure and spending bills that would have far-reaching impacts on America’s rivers and streams, wild and native trout and salmon, and all of us who care about them.

Trout Unlimited is asking you to take action today by contacting your elected officials and urging them to responsibly address the risks posed by a changing climate. Legislation under discussion this month could shape how our country responds to the threat facing rivers, communities, and fish and wildlife. Please urge your lawmakers to prioritize policies that address the root causes of climate change, as well as legislation that funds projects to help our lands and waters adapt to warmer temperatures and more frequent drought, wildfire, and floods.

In Colorado and throughout the west we’ve seen these impacts first hand, from the ongoing serious Colorado River basin drought to last year’s record wildfire season in Colorado. Now is the time to act, and targeted investments in watershed stewardship and promoting clean energy can help secure a future for our imperiled fisheries.

Trout Unlimited has set up a page where you can learn more and take action at tu.org/climate. Please take a moment to visit the site and use the action alert to reach out and convey your interests to your members of Congress.

Thank you for engaging on this vital issue, and for all you do for Trout Unlimited!

EPA announces reinstatement of Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay, Alaska watershed

Following Ninth Circuit ruling in favor of Trout Unlimited, EPA moves to vacate unlawful 2019 decision to withdraw the Proposed Determination for Bristol Bay and reinstate longstanding proposed protections.   

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would move to vacate its 2019 decision to withdraw proposed protections for Bristol Bay and reinstate the agency’s earlier 2014 Proposed Determination.  These proposed protections would limit the amount of waste water and mine waste discharge that could be released in to Waters of the United States in the Bristol Bay region. The announcement comes in the wake of a lawsuit brought by Trout Unlimited against the withdrawal decision and recent ruling in favor of TU by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. TU looks forward to working with the EPA to finalize these protections, which are critical to protecting Bristol Bay’s world-class fisheries. 

“This is a smart and significant step toward putting more durable safeguards in place for Bristol Bay’s fish, clean water, communities and businesses,” said Nelli Williams, Alaska director for Trout Unlimited. “This is an important layer of protection that makes it much more difficult for the Pebble Partnership, or any other companies in the future, to mine the Pebble ore deposit. Now is the time to get these much-needed protections across the finish line, and we look forward to working with EPA and Congress to get it done. Let’s put the Pebble mine proposal in the review mirror for good so we can focus on a bright, prosperous and fish-filled future for Bristol Bay.” 

“Today’s announcement by the EPA represents a victory for common sense. Blocking industrial-scale mining from Bristol Bay is the right thing to do for the Alaska Native Peoples who have depended on the fishery for millennia,” said Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “It is the right thing to do for the 17,000 family wage jobs that the $1.6 billion commercial fishery provides. It is the right thing to for a place that provides half of all of the world’s wild sockeye salmon. Congratulations to the EPA for making the right call and to the thousands of people who fought tirelessly to protect Bristol Bay.” 

In 2019, the EPA under the previous administration moved to withdraw the 2014 Proposed Determination for Bristol Bay—a sudden decision based on politics, not the robust scientific record demonstrating the potential for unacceptable adverse effects. Trout Unlimited sued, challenging the EPA’‘s decision as arbitrary and capricious and contrary to the Clean Water Act’s governing standard. In July 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of TU, finding that the EPA could withdraw a proposed determination only if the discharge of materials would be unlikely to have an “unacceptable adverse effect.” Today’s decision by the EPA recognizes that the agency could not meet, that stringent standard, and fully vindicates TU’s legal challenge. TU looks forward to vigorous engagement in the 404(c) process to ensure that strong and lasting protections are established for Bristol Bay. 

Courtesy of Fly Out Media

In November 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a key federal permit for the proposed Pebble mine, concluding that the project could not comply with Clean Water Act standards and that the mine would be “contrary to public interest.” In the wake of that decision, Bristol Bay Tribes, business owners, sport anglers and hunters, tourism operators, commercial fishermen, and thousands of advocates from across the country have called on the Biden Administration to establish permanent safeguards for the southwest region of Alaska.  

As wild salmon populations decline globally, Bristol Bay’s prolific wild salmon runs and the economies they support make it a place of international importance. This summer, over 65 million sockeye salmon returned to Bristol Bay, making it a record-breaking year for the world’s largest sockeye fishery. Healthy salmon runs underpin the Bristol Bay region’s economic, social, cultural and ecological well-being. More than 30 Alaska Native Tribes in the region depend on salmon to support traditional subsistence ways of life. 

### 

Trout Unlimited, the nation’s oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization, is dedicated to caring for and recovering America’s rivers and streams, so our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. Across the country, TU brings to bear local, regional, and national grassroots organizing, durable partnerships, science-backed policy muscle, and legal firepower on behalf of trout and salmon fisheries, healthy waters and vibrant communities.  In Alaska, we work with sportsmen and women to ensure the state’s trout and salmon resources remain healthy far into the future through our local chapters and offices in Anchorage and Juneau. 

Contacts:  

• Nelli Williams, Alaska director, Trout Unlimited, (907) 230-7121, nelli.williams@tu.org

• Chris Wood, CEO and president, Trout Unlimited, chris.wood@tu.org

September Currents

This month’s Currents features stories such as:

• A Big Win for Small Streams

• CTU Develops New Partnerships with STREAM Keepers Programs

• FY21 Colorado Trout Unlimited Report

• RareWaters and Colorado Trout Unlimited are teaming up!

• State of Colorado Trout Unlimited Livestream Event on October 6, 2021

• Late Summer Fly Fishing Tactics and more!

CTU Develops New Partnerships with STREAM Keepers Programs

Credit: Lincoln Hills Cares

by Geoff Elliot, Youth Education Coordinator, Colorado Trout Unlimited

Summer 2021 brought a return to in-person programming and opportunities! With the recent success of the STREAM Girls program in reaching new audiences of elementary through middle-school girls and their families, CTU sought opportunities to adapt the program to reach new, diverse audiences. Fortunately, we were not alone in seeing this opportunity and could build off the STREAM Keepers resources developed by other TU volunteers and staff.

With the goal of reaching new and diverse audiences, we knew this effort could not be achieved alone. To help us build the STREAM Keepers program in Colorado, we collaborated with youth serving organizations, community coalitions, and school districts. In partnership with these groups, CTU worked to refine the curriculum and identify suitable locations to connect participants with their watersheds. In the end, the STREAM Keepers program focused on watershed exploration, fly casting/fishing, macroinvertebrate sampling, and fly tying (if time allowed).

Credit: Eagle Valley Outdoor Movement

In June and July, CTU hosted three STREAM Keepers events in partnership with Littleton Public Schools Extended Middle School, Eagle Valley Outdoor Movement – A GOCO Generation Wild Coalition, and Lincoln Hills Cares. Across these three collaborations, CTU connected with 100 youth and families. This included students who struggled amidst the pandemic, Spanish-speaking families, and youth from immigrant communities. With Littleton Public Schools, students explored Lee Gulch, competed in a casting olympics, and learned to tie a midge pattern. In partnership with Lincoln Hills Cares and Eagle Valley Outdoor Movement, youth and families enjoyed on-site fishing opportunities (with some participants catching fish) and macroinvertebrate sampling in small stream! At the conclusion of these STREAM Keepers programs, participants expressed their excitement to continue fly fishing and share their appreciation for local watersheds.

A big THANK YOU goes out to the volunteers who led and facilitated activities during each program, as well as the partners who recruited and provided space for these events! Colorado Trout Unlimited is excited to continue to build the STREAM Keepers program by cultivating new partnerships and further developing existing ones to provide increased access to watershed exploration experiences and fly fishing opportunities! If you are interested in learning more about STREAM Keepers, other opportunities in the Headwaters Youth Program, or how to support CTU’s youth education program, please contact youth@coloradotu.org!

A Big Win for Small Streams

In a decision that restores critical Clean Water Act protections for small headwater streams and wetlands across the country, a federal judge has vacated the 2020 “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” developed by the previous administration. That rule had stripped Clean Water Act protection from ephemeral streams, which are critical tributaries to larger streams.

Responding to a case brought by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O'odham Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Márquez found that the 2020 rule illegally and unscientifically put these waters at risk of destruction.

“This is a big win for common sense, science, and clean water,” said Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “It is especially fitting that six Tribal nations, the representatives of peoples who have relied on clean water for millennia in North America, were the plaintiffs who won this landmark victory.”

Over the past two years, Trout Unlimited scientists have documented how drafters of the rule failed to assess its potentially devastating impacts on “ephemeral” streams, which are critical tributaries to larger streams.

Streams that do not flow year-round, but instead flow seasonally as “intermittent” streams, or in direct response to precipitation events as “ephemeral” streams, are the backbone of every watershed and had largely been protected for decades under the Clean Water Act. The 2020 rule categorically removed Clean Water Act protections for all ephemeral streams, which in Colorado represent greater than 25% of the state’s more than 350,000 miles of streams as mapped by the US Geological Survey.  Those figures are conservative; TU scientists determined that nationally ephemeral streams account for almost 50 percent of stream miles in the lower 48 states when accounting for other ephemeral stream channels not included in USGS maps.

“It seems like basic common sense, but for the Clean Water Act to protect our rivers it needs to prevent pollution and protect watershed health at the source – the many small headwater streams that feed our larger rivers,” said Colorado Trout Unlimited Executive Director David Nickum.

““Pollution and degradation in ephemeral streams will make its way downstream to the rivers that support our fisheries, farmlands, and communities. Thankfully the District Court recognized how the illegal and ill-informed 2020 rule ignored that most basic connection.””

— David Nickum, Colorado Trout Unlimited, Executive Director

The court’s ruling is good news for river conservation, which was already suffering from weakened Clean Water Act protection on the ground. By examining the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act Approved Jurisdictional Determinations (JDs) database, TU determined how many streams and wetlands were no longer receiving Clean Water Act protection.  Of the 14,224 waterbodies evaluated under the 2020 rule between June 22, 2020, and June 9, 2021, TU found that 6,266 wetlands were determined to be no longer covered by the Clean Water Act, along with 3,096 ephemeral stream reaches. Many of these were in watersheds that support trout and salmon.

With large-scale damage to the nation’s waterways now averted by this week’s federal ruling, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can turn to the critical job of developing a new “Waters of the United States” rule that is scientifically sound and durable.  Both Nickum and Montana TU Executive Director David Brooks recently provided comments on that rulemaking effort at EPA/Corps Town Halls, highlighting the importance of protecting headwaters and ephemeral streams.

FY 21 Colorado Trout Unlimited Annual Report

We’re excited to bring you a new report looking back at another great year! Thank you taking the time to see what we have accomplished and are looking forward to.