Janet UrquhartThe Aspen Times
Pitkin County is poised to loan its water rights to boost flows in the Roaring Fork River — an unprecedented move made possible by state legislation adopted last year. Read more
Review of Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West (Second Edition) from High Country News - by Matt Jenkins
Now, Water and the West is back, in a second edition with a new preface and epilogue. Many good books on the topic have followed in its wake, but Water and the West remains the single most important source for understanding the origins of (and the seemingly incomprehensible political gyrations behind) the 1922 Colorado River Compact. Read more
Casper Star-Tribune Online - Editorial
Public hearings in southwest Wyoming have shown overwhelming objections to Million's project. Residents are worried that it could hurt local industry, curtail future growth in Green River and Rock Springs, and threaten a world-class fishery. Read more
By Charlie Meyers The Denver Post
First, as a board member of West Denver Trout Unlimited, he [Miles Williams] served as director of the heralded Golden Mile project that breathed a $250,000 revival into the creek just upstream from the town of Golden. Work was completed last year.
Now he has taken the lead in a similar surge of fundraising for what will be the Courtney Riley Cooper Park in Idaho Springs.
By Charlie MeyersThe Denver Post
"There needs to be some awareness. It's a controversial little creek. There needs to be some regulations. Take Bear Creek, for instance. If it wasn't for the work by Trout Unlimited to get catch-and- release on rainbows, it would be virtually sterile by now."
Audrey Gilpin - Mail Staff Writer Habitat restoration was completed in August at Fooses Creek and the South Fork of the Arkansas River, which feed two antique hydroelectric plants operated by Xcel Energy.
During a tour of the restored sites last week, U.S. Forest Service fisheries biologist Phillip Gaines said the project began after studies found the sites east of Garfield and below Maysville had insufficient fishery habitat.
Collegiate Peaks Anglers and Cheyenne Mountain chapters of Trout Unlimited donated $5,000, Xcel Energy contributed $50,000 and the Colorado Division of Wildlife made in-kind donations to the project.
"Trout Unlimited really came to the rescue," Gaines said.
http://www.themountainmail.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=17539
“There are projects that have significant adverse environmental impact that we could not support,” said Melinda Kassen, managing director of the Western Water Project for Trout Unlimited. “And there are projects that have substantially fewer environmental impacts that we can support,” she said, if mitigation measures are included.
By Juley Harvey [Estes park] Trail-Gazette
"River Watch is a wonderful way to get many people interested in protecting our rivers and streams," they said. "Anyone from the community could become involved, if they would like to make a change in the world. River Watch is extremely enjoyable for people ages 12 and up, because you get to work, hands-on, collecting your own data and know that you are working for a great cause....We learned information that will help us become both local and global stewards of our streams and planet."
By Juley Harvey Trail-Gazette The Supreme Court`s rulings in 2001 and 2006 narrowed protection to only "navigable waters," leaving wetlands, ponds waterfowl habitats and the intermittent creeks and streams that run throughout Colorado`s mountains open to the jeopardy of pollution. Wildlife organizations say that more than 76,000 miles of Colorado streams (73 percent of the state`s waterways) are at risk because of the looser law.
"Headwater streams, especially the intermittent and ephemeral streams that are dry for parts of the year, are the 'Rodney Dangerfields` of the water resource world: they don`t get enough respect," Steve Moyer, vice president for government affairs for Trout Unlimited, said. "Yet the best science we have tells us how extremely valuable headwater streams are for drinking water, water quality and fish and wildlife habitat. If the Clean Water Act`s visionary goals are ever to be achieved, Congress must restore protection for these critical resources."
By MATT HILDNERTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Elizabeth Russell, who works on Kerber Creek and other mine cleanup projects for Trout Unlimited, said the legislation also would likely free up funding from government agencies and other organizations who might have shied away from doing so because of the liability concern.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed," she said.
The bill, titled the "Good Samaritan Cleanup of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act" is in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/10/15/news/local/doc4ad6b2e50a4a6906261873.txt
