It's Show Time! ISE is coming to town
This 33rd annual International Sportsmen's Expo takes up residence at the Colorado Convention Center from Thursday Jan 7 through Sunday the 10th. ISE is sponsored by the American Fly fishing Trade Association and if you've been there you know it's a really big show! This year's expo features a 40,000 square foot Discover Fly Fishing Center. For more info, click here to visit the ISE website.
Want $2 off admission to the show? Click here!
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ISE and CTU Present Colorado Premiere of "Rise"
Attend the International Sportsmen's Expo on Saturday night (the 9th) at 6:30pm and you'll be able to see the Flyfishing movie Rise - free! Rise is brought to you by the same film makers who put together the award winning film "Drift".
Your donation to CTU at this event will be greatly appreciated.
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Moffat: It doesn't have to be that way
Drew Peternell, director of TU's Colorado Water Project, recently wrote about Denver's proposed Moffat project in the Denver Post:
"It's true that many conservation groups oppose Denver's Moffat project as it is currently envisioned — and for good reason. Denver already takes 65 percent of the natural flow of the Fraser River. Under the Moffat proposal, Denver would take another 20 percent of the Fraser's water ... It's also true, however, that the Moffat project offers an opportunity for Denver to embrace a balanced water solution, one that meets the needs of Denver's citizens while preserving rivers and communities on Colorado's Western Slope."
Read the full story here! |
Army Corps Schedules Additional Public Meeting on Moffat EIS
A public comment meeting on the EIS for Denver Water's Moffat Expansion Project is scheduled for Thursday, Jan 7 in Breckenridge. Click here for details and talking points. The public comment period for the project has been extended to March 1, so there's still time for you to go on the record. Click the link above for details.
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Need a diversion?
Read Chris Woodka's history of Colorado's transbasin diversions in the Pueblo Chieftain.
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TU Revives Eagle County Chapter - The Aspen Times
Rivers may look alike on maps, but the people who fish those streams know better. That's one reason the Eagle River Valley has its own Trout Unlimited chapter again. Read more
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Upcoming TU Online Training Sessions
January 12 > Monitoring Fish and Aquatic Insects
(Warren Colyer and Kirk Dahle)
February 9 > Monitoring Water Quality
(Becky Dunlap, Rachel Kester, and Aaron Furgiuele)
February 17 > Leaders Only Section Training (Beverly Lane)
March 1 > Trout in the Classroom (Rochelle Gandour)
March 2 > Learning to Post FlipCam Videos to the Web (Chris Hunt)
Email Beverly Lane to sign up
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What's Up with WD?
You don't hear much about it nowadays, but whirling disease is still prevalent in western streams - and still being studied for solutions. The recent report, “Whirling Disease in the United States-A Summary of Progress in Research and Management, 2009,” prepared with support from the TU Whirling disease Foundation is available for download at the TU home page (www.tu.org). The report was authored by Leah C. Steinbach Elwell, Kajsa Eagle Stromberg, and Eileen K.N. Ryce.
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Support the businesses that support CTU - click here for the list
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Don't Flatline the Fraser!
At some point, there simply isn't more where that came from. And the Moffat Firming Project - the subject of public meetings this week - will bring the Fraser River dangerously close to that point.
Read more about one of President Eisenhower's favorite rivers and how you go on the record to help save it.
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Sentinel Calls for Roll Back on Roan
 The Grand Junction Sentinel has come over to TU's side - in an editorial about drilling leases atop the Roan Plateau.
"We hope the court will direct the Department of Interior to cancel the Roan leases, refund the lease money and consider technological changes that would allow the industry to extract the bulk of the natural gas." Read the full Sentinel editorial.
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Time to Talk Turkey - Army Corps Releases Moffat Draft EIS
The long awaited Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Denver Water's proposed Moffat expansion project, which would draw additional water from the Upper Colorado Watershed, was released on Friday. During the public comment period, TU and other conservation partners will be pushing for:
- Adequate baseline flows in the Fraser year-long to sustain fisheries and recreation
- Sustained peak flows at key times of the year to mimic natural flows
- Aggressive urban water conservation - more than half of residential water goes on lawns
- Ongoing monitoring of the river’s health and a mitigation plan to adapt to changing conditions
Read the TU news release
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Rep. Salazar Champions San Juan Wilderness Protection
 Trout Unlimited issued a double "thumbs up" for U.S. Rep. John Salazar's San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act, introduced Thursday. The bill, which includes 61,682 acres of public land on portions of Colorado’s Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, Gunnison and San Juan National Forests, and the San Juan BLM Resource Area, will provide permanent protection for some of the state’s most renowned mountain areas – including Mt. Sneffels and Wilson Peak – as well as the top-quality fish and wildlife habitat that surrounds them.
Read the TU News Release
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You could have an ad just like the one above - email our web editor
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Let’s Give ‘em the Business
They are the businesses and individual donors who support the CTU auction every year by donating trips, fishing gear and other merchandise, making it possible for us to pursue our mission. They deserve all the support we can give them in return. So click here and save this list on your computer. Use it when you’re trying to decide where to go to take a trip, buy some gear, or need a gift for a special occasion. Don’t forget to thank them for supporting CTU.
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 New York Times Discovers There's No Place Like Roan
"Standing in a canyon in hilly terrain, [CTU President] Ken Neubecker cast his fly into a cold stream. Minutes later he had a bite. Thrashing at the end of his line was a speckled green fish, a scarce Colorado cutthroat trout.... "
Read the rest of the story
Watch the [excellent] NY Tiimes video piece on the Roan
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Summit Daily News Sets Focus on the Upper Colorado
The Summit Daily News article Trout Unlimited: Upper Colorado 'on the brink', highlights CTU's concerns about the impacts additional diversions might have on the health of the Upper Colorado River. Here's a quote from the article:
“Multiple water diversions have pushed the Fraser River to the brink of collapse,” said Kirk Klancke, president of the Colorado Headwaters Chapter of TU, based in Grand County. “This is a river on life support.” Read more |
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Clean, Green and Sometimes Mean
At first splash, hydropower seems like the perfect alternative energy source. It doesn’t pollute, it’s easy to boost power output when you need it, and once you’re finished building a rather expensive facility, the electricity comes pretty cheap.
The fact that it’s so easy to imagine hydropower as “perfect” also makes it easy to overlook some of hydropower’s potentially terrible impacts on rivers, fish and riparian habitats. Read the short list of our concerns
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Welcome to the Future of Conservation
 Sure, we’ve done a lot of protecting, conserving and restoring over the past 50 years. But we’re still facing the same old threats – stream depletions, haphazard development and invasive species – and a few new ones like climate change. It’s pretty clear we need a 21st Century approach – one that helps determine the best and most timely use of our limited financial and resources. Guess what – we already have it! It’s called the Conservation Success Index and it’s already helping us create conservation strategies for the future. Read more
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Does the anti-CWRA argument hold water? We don't think so.
A recent guest editorial in the Denver Post argues against the Clean Water Restoration Act, claiming:
"The new definition of "waters of the U.S." contained in the legislation includes all "intrastate waters" including "intermittent streams" and "tributaries." This new definition could allow regulators and third parties to assert jurisdiction over roadside ditches, municipal storm drains used for flood control and other purposes, small desert washes that carry water only a few hours a year, and other features on the landscape that may carry water."
That's just not the way we see it. In an op-ed letter also published by the Post, Jo Evans does a good job of framing the argument for the CWRA. Read Jo's letter.
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National TU 50th Anniversary Video Now Available
The 50th Anniversary video, shown at the National Banquet August 22, is available for you to show to your chapters and councils. Please contact Andy Snyder (asnyder@tu.org) to obtain a copy.
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Help Us Pass the Clean Water Restoration Act
The Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) is under consideration by the U.S. Senate - and it needs your support. Despite amendments that have addressed the concerns of farmers and others, our senators have yet to indicate their support of the CWRA.
Since the mid 70s, the Clean Water Act has been protecting our rivers, streams and wetlands from kinds of pollution that spurred America's environmental movement (remember the burning Cuyohoga River?). But two narrow Supreme Court rulings have scaled back the legal scope of the CWA, leaving vast numbers of Colorado streams and wetlands at risk. The CWRA is designed to restore those protections - nothing more. Click here to visit CTU's CWRA page and learn more - and then take action by clicking here and contacting our Senators.
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Why Do You Volunteer? Read Paul Prentiss' Reasons Then Tell Us Yours
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Hey Chapter Leaders !
The CTU website has a new feature - the do-it-yourself events calendar. Now your chapter can post notices of meetings and special events on the CTU site without waiting for us to get around to it. To get started, send an email to our web editor to request your user name and password. Posting a notice only takes a few minutes - it's so easy a fisherman can do it.
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See the Greenback Cutthroat story in picutres, courtesy Alpine Anglers. Click here.
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How to Create a Chapter Strategic Plan. Click here
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What has TU done for youth lately?
 Reaching out to the next generation is one of TU's strategic priorities, and it's easy for you and your chapter to get involved, too. TU offers programs such as First Cast - a fly fishing instruction program; Trout in the Classroom; the Boy Scout Fly fishing Merit Badge program; and Stream Explorers - TU's new youth membership program that costs just $12 and features a magazine, website and games.
Find out more about TU's youth programs
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