Biologists and hatcheries give Colorado fish a helping hand

By Bruce FinleyThe Denver Post

The kokanee operation here is one of many. Across Colorado, state biologists introduce 76 million fish a year into rivers and reservoirs.

Most of the fish in Colorado lakes and reservoirs, said Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton, are non-natives that require human management to survive.

Artificial spawning and stocking "is an important tool, but it is not a substitute for having healthy habitats and healthy trout," said David Nickum, director of Colorado Trout Unlimited, an ecosystem advocacy group.

Colorado River, greenback and Rio Grande cutthroat trout are the only native game fish in the state. Other native fish include razorback suckers, the humpback chub and the Colorado pikeminnow, bottom-feeders that need the warmer pools that form along free-flowing rivers.

"We want to make sure there are good, healthy native populations, especially of those cutthroats," Nickum said.

Read more: Biologists and hatcheries give Colorado fish a helping hand - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16676614#ixzz162D6pwWo

Christo’s Plan for Arkansas River Wrapped in Controversy

New West

By David Frey

In its comments to the BLM, Colorado Trout Unlimited voiced concerns about 9,100 boreholes that would be put in the riverbank to anchor the cables. The group also worried about the possibility of fuel or chemical spills and the risk of a “catastrophic failure” of the project. “Long-lasting scars can remain in watersheds even after reclamation work is completed,” wrote Colorado Trout Unlimited Executive Director David Nickum.

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/christos_plan_for_river_wrapped_in_controversy/C41/L41/

Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River Read more: Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River

By Bruce FinleyThe Denver Post

As skiers roll into the high country seeking snow, each vehicle that crosses the Continental Divide over Berthoud Pass worsens the damage to a key tributary of the Colorado River — despite 15 years of trying to solve the problem.

State highway, Denver Water and U.S. Forest Service officials last week said work on a traction-sand removal system along the Fraser River will begin in the spring — at the earliest.

This material slides off the road into the Fraser River, "smothering the rocks, which smothers the bug life, which is the bottom of the food chain. Then the fish starve," said Kirk Klancke, president of Trout Unlimited's Colorado River headwaters chapter and manager of two water districts, who helped line up about $240,000 in federal and state grants for sediment removal.

Read more: Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16613779#ixzz15N6IGXQF

Read more: Agencies agree to tackle problem of traction-sand deposits in Fraser River - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16613779#ixzz15N6E594H

Cutthroat Chapter's Conservation Auction is November 16th

Mark your calendars for November 16th at 6:00 PM to be sure you’ll be available for our Annual Conservation Auction. It’s a fun event with lots of outstanding items up for auction. There will also be a cash bar with plenty of time for socializing and inspecting the various items available for auction. Please check out our site for daily updates of auction items http://www.cutthroatctu.org/.  Some of the items include guided trips (both local and not-so-local), fly-fishing equipment, boxes of flies tied by renowned fly tyers, artwork (both fishing and non-fishing related), gift certificates ranging from the obvious (fly shops) to massages and financial planning.

Besides all the great things available to bid on, there’s another important reason for you to participate. The Auction provides most of our Chapter’s annual income. It makes it possible for us to run our monthly meetings, to carry on our Cheesman Canyon maintenance, river clean-up and river testing activities, to fund a graduate fellowship in the Fish Biology and Wildlife Department at Colorado State University, to carry on youth education, and to cooperate with National Trout Unlimited and Colorado Trout Unlimited in their various conservation programs. In other words, it’s a win-win evening. You’ll enjoy it and we’ll get the financial support that we need.

So mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 16th at 6pm and join us at the Terrace Gardens. The address is 13065 East Briarwood Ave., Englewood, just south of Arapahoe Rd, 2 miles east of I-25. Admittance is free.

And guys, please bring your wives and daughters with you as we’ll have plenty of items of interest to them. Plus, there’ll be a special door prize drawing for the ladies only.