Check out the new Summer 2020 issue of High Country Angler e-zine!
Featuring articles on reading water with Landon Mayer, the new CTU president reflecting on silver linings, a walk down memory lane fishing for brown trout, Colorado’s fight against weakening the Clean Water Act, and much more, including the regular columns:
TUFTED GREEN DRAKE by Joel Evans
LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD by Hayden Mellsop
FLY FISHING DURING RUNOFF by Peter Stitcher
THE LAST CAST by Dr. John Nickum.
Repost from TU.org:
(June 17, 2020) WASHINGTON DC – The Senate voted today 73 to 25 to pass the Great American Outdoors Act, a bill that permanently and fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provides money for the growing maintenance backlog on public lands.
Upon its passage, Trout Unlimited issued the following statement:
“We know LWCF is incredibly important to hunters and anglers as one of the most enduring and vital funds for securing access to our public lands at no cost to the taxpayer,” said Chris Wood, president and CEO at Trout Unlimited. “We’re thrilled and grateful to see the Senate pass this pivotal piece of legislation. In addition to LWCF, we can’t overstate the importance of the funding provided for the maintenance backlog, which will help fix the thousands of miles roads bleeding sediment into our rivers and streams and replace undersized culverts that block fish migration. This upkeep, while not flashy, is a critical part of the stewardship of our public lands.”
“We ask that the House move swiftly to pass companion legislation and get this bill to the President’s desk,” continued Wood. “The sooner this legislation gets enacted, the better off our outdoor traditions will be, now and for future generations.”
The House of Representatives version of the bill, H.R. 7092, was introduced by Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) on June 4 with strong bipartisan support. The legislation currently has nearly fifty cosponsors from around the country.
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Trout Unlimited is the nation’s oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s trout and salmon and their watersheds. Follow TU on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram and our blog for all the latest information on trout and salmon conservation.
Duranglers Flies and Supplies: Supporting Conservation and the Fly-fishing Community for 36+ years.
In February of 1984, the Five Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited, led by Neill Peterson, John Flick and David Wilson, was certified as Chapter number 451 of Trout Unlimited. Among the founding members were Flick, Jim Herrig, Byron Hilliard and Tom Knopick.
The chapter was established only a couple of months after the founding of Duranglers Flies and Supplies by Flick and Knopick. John and Tom both recognized the intrinsic relationship between the business they planned to grow and the need for active conservation of the incredible cold-water fisheries to which they called home.
Pictured: Tom Knopick
This commitment by John and Tom and Duranglers has been carried forward, often with fierce dedication, to our present time and will carry on for the future. But, let’s go back and remember some of the past conservation efforts that Duranglers has helped advance.
Hermosa Creek, which is currently undergoing reintroduction of native Cutthroat to 23+ miles of East Fork and Mainstem, was an early focus of habitat improvement by Five Rivers TU and John, Tom and Jim Herrig. Most of this work was done on the reach above Hotel Draw. In addition, log structures were introduced on the East Fork for habitat development in the area of Hermosa Park.
The headwaters of the East Fork of Lime Creek also benefitted from habitat improvement undertaken by the Chapter.
Pictured: John Flick
One of the Rivers precious to John and Tom is the Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir, locally known as the “Lower D”. This tail water was created in 1984 when the Dam was completed. The result was a fabulous cold-water fishery that was stocked with Snake River Cutthroat Trout as well as rainbows and browns. The combination of (formerly) abundant cold water and great water quality allowed the bug life and fish to thrive. It was not uncommon to catch trout upward of 20” and 4 – 5 lbs. Needless to say this was the subject of many guided trips by Duranglers, video programs such as the Fishing The West TV show with Larry Shoenborn Guided by Tom Knopick and relentless attention to the conservation of the resource by the crew at Duranglers.
Then in 1990 the area began to endure a series of drier years. When McPhee was created an Environmental Assessment was undertaken, one of the first such assessments in the West. While the EAS called for releases of 70, 58 or 20 cfs, depending on the reservoir level to maintain the quality of the coldwater fishery, the fishing community felt these flows to be inadequate. This became abundantly clear when in just a few short years of 20 cfs releases most of the fish, particularly the healthy adults, died due to low water and heat stress. The golden age of the “Lower D” came to an end.
But not without Tom and John, personally leading the push for more water for the fishery. In subsequent years, they have been at the forefront of efforts to find water for the fishery and have been partners with Colorado Parks and Wildlife in helping to establish greater release of water for the fishery.
In the early 1990’s, Chapter leadership was taken over by Jay Engel and others. Jay had been a leader in the fly fishing community for years on the West Coast and was a tireless advocate for cold-water conservation, eventually being recognized with the Silver Trout Award. In the middle 90’s Jay passed away unexpectedly and was soon followed by the Chapter’s Treasurer. This left the Chapter leaderless and it went dormant for a couple of years.
In Spring 1999 a group from Duranglers led by John, Tom and Nate Bronson gathered a group together in the upstairs of Gazpachos, a local New Mexican restaurant, with the intent of reviving the Five Rivers Chapter. And, resurrect it they did, with John and Tom helping behind the scenes with fund raising and tolerating the occasional minor disruption from one of their part time employees, who had assumed the reins of the Chapter.
To this day in 2020, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to John and Tom for their support and dedication to conservation of our cold-water fisheries, particularly in southwest Colorado. This was evident in 2018 when CTU recognized Duranglers Flies and Supplies as Outfitter of the Year at its Rendezvous in Glenwood Springs, just one year after recognizing the Five Rivers Chapter they helped establish and revive as Exemplary Chapter in 2017.
So let us raise a glass of whatever beverage is preferred and toast Duranglers and John and Tom for their past and future support of all of TU’s conservation efforts. To check in on what is happening fishing wise in Southwest Colorado or to just say hi you can reach them and Duranglers Flies and Supplies at 970-385-4081 or www.duranglers.com.
Tight Lines,
Buck Skillen, Past President, Five Rivers Chapter TU
Profiles in Conservation is a new blog series sharing the stories of important long-term leaders in Colorado’s fly fishing and conservation community. If you would like to share a story or nominate a flyfishing leader for this series, please contact us at info@coloradotu.org.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next week on the Great American Outdoors Act, providing full dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and providing $9.5 billion over five years to help address deferred maintenance needs on public lands. CTU thanks Senators Bennet and Gardner for their support of this important legislation. We also thank our many members who have reached out to their elected officials in support of public lands; your voices have helped build the political momentum that is propelling this legislation. If you haven’t yet done so, consider taking a moment to thank our Senators for their efforts on this bill by clicking here.
Additional stories include:
Denver, Colo – Colorado Trout Unlimited strongly endorses the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), which is expected to be voted on by the U.S. Senate next week. The bill, introduced by Senator Cory Gardner and cosponsored by Senator Michael Bennet, would for the first time guarantee full, dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), one of America’s most successful conservation programs, as well as commit $9.5 billion toward public lands maintenance needs. The legislation has broad, bipartisan support with 58 cosponsors and President Trump has signaled his support.
“Colorado is fortunate to have bipartisan leadership from our Senators in securing funds for LWCF and maintenance on our public lands,” said Colorado TU Executive Director David Nickum. “We greatly appreciate the efforts of Senators Gardner and Bennet in sponsoring the Great American Outdoors Act and their hard work in moving it toward Senate passage.”
For more than half a century, LWCF has used a portion of federal offshore energy revenues — at no cost to taxpayers — to conserve our public lands, water, and open spaces and protect the outdoor recreation opportunities they offer. LWCF has invested over $268 million in Colorado, helping to secure access and conserve special places across the state, including the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and boat launches on the Colorado River.
Unfortunately, while $900 million is generated by energy royalties for the program each year, in its more than 50-year history the LWCF has only been fully funded once – with funds instead being diverted by Congress toward other unspecified purposes. The Great American Outdoors Act would solve this problem by permanently dedicating those annual revenues to LWCF.
"Public lands are an icon of democracy,” said Colorado TU President Matt Moskal. “They are places to celebrate our rich natural history and they provide all Americans with the freedom to recreate in our most cherished places. By fulling funding the LWCF and providing critical support for the stewardship of our public lands, the Great American Outdoors Act will maintain this legacy. Colorado Trout Unlimited, on behalf of its 12,000 members state-wide, strongly supports this legislation."
The legislation also includes $9.5 billion in funding over five years to tackle deferred maintenance on public lands. The legislative proposal originally included deferred maintenance funding only for the Park Service, but hunters and anglers championed a change to provide funding for all public land management agencies. The public lands maintenance backlog has been mounting for decades and is now estimated at $20 billion, with the Park Service share alone nearly $12 billion.
Region 2 of the Forest Service, which includes Colorado, has a deferred maintenance backlog of $477 million, and the road maintenance backlog on the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre National Forest alone is $49 million. This problem does more than create challenges accessing our public lands; poorly maintained roads degrade trout streams through increased erosion that bleeds sediment into rivers and streams. Oftentimes these roads also have undersized culverts that block trout migrations. TU partners with both the Department of the Interior and Forest Service on collaborative restoration projects and has leveraged nearly $43 million in funding to complete restoration projects on Forest Service lands.
“Fixing roads that are bleeding sediment and removing migration barriers for trout at road crossings are just two examples of how this bill and TU’s partnership with federal agencies benefit anglers and public lands users,” noted Moskal. “We hope to see this bill’s passage into law this summer so dedicated funding is guaranteed to continue our work to make fishing better.”
About Colorado Trout Unlimited:
Colorado Trout Unlimited is dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring Colorado’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. With a grassroots base comprised of nearly 12,000 members in 24 local chapters across the state, Colorado TU works both locally and statewide through advocacy, education, and on-the-ground restoration projects. For more information visit www.coloradotu.org.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Environmental Policy Act, and to provide a historical lens on several high-profile water projects currently underway, Water Education Colorado together with Colorado Trout Unlimited and the One World One Water Center of MSU Denver came together last year for a half-day educational event. The event told the story of the EPA’s 1990 veto of one of the largest water projects in Colorado history, and how the Denver metro area has moved forward in the aftermath of the project’s demise. You can watch the entire event below.
Recently, Connecting the Drops produced in partnership between Water Education Colorado and Rocky Mountain Community Radio stations put out a recap of that story on their page which you can listen to and read more about here.
We want to hear about your hopes for the Water Plan update! Please join us for any or all of the Colorado Water Plan Listening Sessions, a series of conversations on the future of water in Colorado.
The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) will host a series of online public listening sessions to share updates about the Colorado Water Plan (Water Plan), hear from water leaders across the state, and gather feedback about how the Water Plan should approach the critical issues around Agricultural, Municipal & Industrial, Environmental & Recreational, and Forest Health & Watershed Health.
The format will be a GoToMeeting webinar that will include:
A CWCB summary of the current Water Plan update process
A panel discussion with community and industry leaders
Open discussion with attendees
Session dates and times are listed below:
June 3, 10 AM-11:30 AM - Municipal & Industrial
June 4, 10 AM- 11:30 AM - Forest Health & Watershed Health
June 10, 10 AM-11:30 AM - Agriculture
June 11, 10 AM - 11:30 AM - Environment & Recreation
Youth Education Coordinator
Colorado Trout Unlimited (CTU) is Colorado’s leading fisheries conservation organization with a mission to conserve, protect, and restore coldwater streams and their watersheds. CTU has state offices located in Denver and 24 local chapters throughout Colorado. As the state affiliate of the national conservation group Trout Unlimited (TU), CTU’s focus is on effective grassroots advocacy for river conservation, coupled with on-the-ground volunteer efforts that directly contribute to stream habitat improvement, native trout restoration, and youth education.
Position Summary: CTU seeks an energetic, self-starter with strong communications and social skills to manage youth education programs. The successful candidate will work with our 24 local chapters and other education partners to engage young people from elementary school through college-age groups with watershed education, conservation, and angling. The position benefits greatly from experience in managing volunteers. The Youth Education Coordinator is a full-time position developing capacity for delivery of established Stream of Engagement educational programs to target audiences, assisting chapters in strengthening their programs for youth education, cultivating educational partnerships, and identifying and developing funding partnerships to support these programs. The Youth Education Coordinator reports to Colorado TU’s Executive Director, may supervise interns and/or seasonal employees, and is located in TU’s Denver office.
The position work plan includes:
Manage established programs: Manage communications and scheduling for existing programs among chapters and other educational partners. Identify program needs, develop outreach information, trainings, and maintain standardized program materials. Build chapter capacity to support existing programs through outreach, volunteer management support, and training.
Trout in the Classroom (TIC). Function as Colorado TIC Coordinator. Support existing sites by coordinating logistics between participating schools, chapters, partners, and agencies. Recruit and evaluate prospective new sites for TIC in Colorado.
STREAM Girls. Function as state-wide CTU coordinator with Colorado Girl Scouts Council. Facilitate program liability and risk management requirements. Coordinate event scheduling and work with volunteer leaders to assist program delivery, regional volunteer pool management, and volunteer training. Oversee equipment and supplies. Manage chapter outreach and volunteer recruitment. Identify and cultivate new volunteer partners.
RiverWatch. Work with chapters and school RiverWatch sites to advance outreach of both watershed education and water quality monitoring. Complete training for RiverWatch trainer certification to assist in training of new participants/sites and in conducting site visits for QA/QC purposes.
Youth camps. Work with existing and future recruited volunteers to ensure successful youth conservation camps on an annual basis including our high-school one-week summer camp. Facilitate meeting and maintaining state licensing requirements. Assist with camp administration, records tracking, outreach and camper recruiting. Provide assistance to chapters that wish to establish localized camp programs for youth in summer.
Program evaluation. Develop, refine and distribute education evaluation tools for use both in tracking and improving Colorado TU programming and as a resource for local chapters, partner groups and schools. Host training for volunteer leaders and evaluation participants. Serve as a central point for evaluation data collection, entry and analysis.
Adapt Programming for Families, Virtual Delivery, and DIY. Transform existing programming to virtual delivery and DIY family opportunities. Explore channels for maintaining significant outreach and personal connection.
Grantwriting and donor cultivation. Support fundraising efforts, in coordination with CTU development staff and Headwaters Committee, to cultivate potential donors for youth education programs. Identify, prepare and submit grant applications to prospective foundation and corporate giving programs for youth education efforts. Develop and maintain a management information system of quality information about grants, foundations, revenue sources, and donors. Prepare written reports on youth programs for grant and funder reporting. This position is funded primarily through successfully sustaining restricted fund sources.
Recruit and assist new sites for Trout Unlimited educational programs. Develop relationships with mentoring organizations, schools, and other youth-focused partners in order to bring Trout Unlimited Stream of Engagement youth programming to new audiences. With new sites, assist in building capacity for delivering appropriate Stream of Engagement programs (Stream Explorers, Trout in the Classroom, Outdoor Mentors, National Fishing in Schools Program, etc.) using a “gradual release” method by which CTU would provide appropriate levels of support initially while local volunteers, teachers, etc. would gradually take on more responsibility for continuing programming. Refine curricula for these programs based on experiences from participating sites.
Other duties. Provide content relevant to the above program areas for the Colorado TU blog, website, social media outlets and High Country Angler magazine; participate in core Colorado TU events such as the Annual Gala, Rendezvous, and Spring Meeting (including volunteer training opportunities); collaborate in other Colorado TU campaigns and initiatives, especially where there are crossover opportunities with youth education efforts.
Qualifications:
Bachelors or graduate degree in a related field.
Previous experience or demonstrated ability with development and/or delivery of youth education programs.
Strong communications and interpersonal skills.
Experience in managing partnership programs or projects (e.g., relationships with agencies, nonprofits, etc.)
Fundraising and/or grant writing experience preferred.
Ability to recruit and manage volunteers.
Experience coordinating special events for community engagement
Ability to travel statewide and to work weekend and evening hours when needed.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google suites.
Background knowledge of watershed and fishery issues and dedication to conservation; specific experience with water quality monitoring is a plus.
Must have reliable transportation.
Ability to lift and carry objects weighing up to 30 pounds.
Candidates must pass a background check for involvement with youth programs.
Salary Range: $32 – 36,000 plus excellent benefits, depending upon experience. Relocation not provided.
To apply, please email cover letter and resume by June 19 to: David Nickum, Executive Director, Colorado Trout Unlimited, at dnickum@tu.org. No phone calls please.
TU is an Equal Employment Opportunity & Affirmative Action Employer pursuant to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act & Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistant Act.
TU hires staff without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or disability.
The Clean Water for All Act is an effort to ensure that our headwaters - many of which are ephemeral or intermittent streams that do not flow year round - retain the Clean Water Act protections they’ve enjoyed for more than 40 years but that would be lost under a recently announced rule changing Clean Water Act definitions. If we don’t protect the sources of our larger rivers, we can’t protect those rivers or the fisheries and communities that rely on them!
Below is an excerpt from Steve Moyer, TU’s vice president for government affairs, read the full blog here.
The Clean Water for All Act would repeal the Trump administration’s harmful rule and direct the agencies to start over in a manner that protects America’s waterways—all of them—consistent with four decades of Clean Water Act precedent.
Research by Trout Unlimited suggests that the administration’s new rule will end Clean Water Act protections for more than six million miles of streams—half the U.S. total. These streams contribute to the drinking water supplies of 117 million Americans and provide essential fish and wildlife habitat that supports a robust outdoor recreation economy worth $887 billion.
The rule will also erase protections for more than half of the nation’s wetlands, a critical part of functioning watersheds. Wetlands help recharge groundwater, filter pollution and protect communities from flooding.
The EPA’s new rule was justifiably criticized by many state and local government agencies, fish and wildlife conservation organizations and hundreds of thousands of citizens during the rule-making comment period. It is a real threat to trout and salmon watersheds nationwide.
The Clean Water for All Act would help protect the rivers of southwestern Oregon, and streams across the nation. Please take a moment today to help us urge House members to work with their colleagues to pass this bill into law.
