Blog — Colorado Trout Unlimited

Importance of Ground Water to Colorado

Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 11:00 AMLory Student Center, Room 213

Guest Lecturer, Robert A. Longenbaugh, Consultant Water Engineer is a two-time CSU Alumni and ex-professor.  He has over 47 years experience working in the ground water profession with 19 years teaching and applied groundwater research at Colorado State University (1960-1980); followed by 11 years (1981-91) as Assistant State Engineer for groundwater for Colorado.

As Assistant State Engineer he coordinated the Engineering data analyses and testimony in the US Supreme Court Law suite by Kansas against Colorado on the Arkansas River Basin.  Since 1991, he has done part time groundwater consulting and conducted a variety of educational classes.

Lecture topics

Description of the major aquifers in Colorado and current issues controlling their use

History and issues of conjunctive use in Colorado

Focus on alluvial aquifers, such as the South Platte

Need for legislative and administrative change to allow us to optimize the use of both ground and surface water

Discussion on potential employment for both graduate and undergraduate students in the ground and surface water fields

Event Contact: Domenico Bau can be reached at (970) 491-6060

Sponsored by Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Every Coloradan has a stake in healthy rivers

Opinion piece from Drew Peternell, Director of TU's Colorado Water Project: Re: “Diversions,” Oct. 26 Perspective article.

As the state’s leading coldwater fisheries conservation group, Trout Unlimited shares the concerns expressed in Gretchen Bergen’s commentary about the potential impact of the Windy Gap and Moffat Tunnel water diversion schemes on the health of the Colorado and Fraser Rivers and the wildlife and communities that depend on them.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2008/11/10/every-coloradan-has-a-stake-in-healthy-rivers/

Forest Service echoes concern over Ritter plan

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Environmentalists have gotten some support from Forest Service officials who agree that the state’s plans to overhaul protections for roadless lands across the state could hurt wildlife.

“I think the state has been on a learning curve with this,” said Sloan Shoemaker, executive director of Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop, which says the state’s roadless protections are too weak. “Initially Gov. Ritter and the Department of Natural Resources had the perception that this was a no-brainer because there was a perception of 100 percent consensus and buyoff from all the stakeholders, but in fact that wasn’t really the case.”

Environmental groups have panned Ritter’s proposed roadless rules, meant to replace federal rules that have been at least temporarily struck down by federal court, as too full of loopholes to adequately protect 4.4 million acres of Colorado forest land free from roads.

In recent weeks, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), both environmentally oriented sportsmen’s groups, have released studies critical of the plan.

“We are concerned that the current draft rule has too little focus on protecting these valuable areas and too much focus on granting exceptions — some exceptions that are very broadly worded and could significantly undermine conservation of backcountry habitat,” David Nickum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited, wrote to the Forest Service.

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/130451

Pitkin County voters like water and land swap, reject roads

Jeanne McGovernThe Aspen Times Aspen, CO Colorado

As approved, Referendum 1A will raise the county’s sales tax rate by one-tenth of 1 percent, or one penny for every $100 purchased, to keep local lakes, rivers and streams healthy and clean.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20081105/NEWS/811059993/1077&ParentProfile=1058&title=Pitkin%20County%20voters%20like%20water%20and%20land%20swap,%20reject%20roads

Fish will be free to swim in south Boulder

Daily Camera By Laura Snider Sunday, November 9, 2008

A new concrete ramp covered in flowing water will let fish swim all the way from Valmont and Baseline Reservoirs in eastern Boulder to Eldorado Springs.

The city’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department is working to install a “fish passage” at the McGinn Ditch diversion on South Boulder Creek just north of U.S. 36. When the passage is finished, the 20 or so species of fish that live in the creek will be able to move more freely across Boulder’s waterways.

“This will open up the whole area to spawning grounds,” said Larry Quilling, president of Boulder Flycasters.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/nov/09/fish-will-be-free-swim-south-boulder/

Walden hears rumble of energy boom

 North Park braces for clash over sage grouse, drilling territory By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)  - Published November 8, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

A western coalition of hunters, anglers and some businesses called Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development has made North Park a priority for protection...

.... "For a species on the decline, this seems to be an important piece of habitat, really a stronghold," said Corey Fisher, a Montana-based activist with the sportsmen group Trout Unlimited.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/08/walden-hears-rumble-of-energy-boom/

What will election mean for the West?

Grand Junction Sentinel Opinion

From a local’s standpoint, one of the more important decisions resulting from Tuesday’s presidential election will be the person tabbed for the Secretary of the Department of Interior....

...One name missing from Barker’s list is that of Colorado’s senior Democratic senator, Ken Salazar of Alamosa.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/sports/stories/2008/11/08/110908_6B_OUT_column.html

Interior Dept. needs balance

Denver Post Opinion

On Bush's watch, public land policy favored oil and gas extraction. Obama should also weigh environmental concerns....

... Tending to the complex environment of the vast open spaces, mountain ranges, rivers, forests, deserts and plains takes tremendous skill. Unfortunately, Westerners have watched the Bush administration's Interior leadership shrug off the complexities to pursue a single-minded and out-of-balance approach focused on oil and gas extraction.

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_10921020

EPA cites Erie CO excavator for Clean Water Act violations

"Kenneth L. Schell and Twin Peaks Excavating, Inc. of Erie, Colo., have agreed to pay a civil penalty of $35,000 for alleged unauthorized discharges of excavated material to Rock Creek." From Coyote Gulch http://radio.weblogs.com/0101170/2008/11/06.html#a12752