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A boom for trout (and taxpayers)
New drilling policies are a win for fish and wildlife. Now we need to modernize oil and gas leasing rules on public lands. Last month, as part of landmark climate legislation, Congress acted for the first time in decades to modernize the outdated oil and gas leasing program on our public lands. The reforms signed…
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Against all odds, these native trout survive
In the Rio San Antonio, TU is working to restore a vital and vulnerable watershed. A river in northern New Mexico that harbors three native fish species — Rio Grande chub, Rio Grande sucker, and Rio Grande cutthroat trout — is named for the largest free-standing mountain in the country. The spectacular landscape notwithstanding, it’s…
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Conservation in Cow Country
In New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains, TU and ranchers are working together to keep streams healthy and improve range productivity. On our way to inspect his grazing allotment, Manuel Lucero and I pull over next to a tree where some campers have left their trash in a neat and organized pile of boxes and tied up…
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Puzzle season for TU Winter Flow Program
TU’s Winter Flow Program was established on the Conejos River in 2014, and since has grown to include five reservoirs and a diversity of water partners.
In Colorado, deals negotiated by TU and our partners send 600 million much-needed gallons of winter water into the Upper Rio Grande and Conejos In my family, the holiday season usually involves a healthy dose of puzzle time. Mom breaks out the ancient folding card table and sets it up close to the fireplace and…
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Let’s keep water where it is in Colorado’s San Luis Valley
You would think after several decades and several failed attempts that water speculators would get the hint: people in Colorado’s San Luis Valley want to keep their water where it is. Yet, it seems every few years there is a renewed attempt to divert water from the valley’s fertile alfalfa and potato fields and sell it…
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Aboriginal Rio Grande cutthroat trout survive in the Upper Rio Grande Basin
by Mark Konishi Growing up in the San Luis Valley, I would hear rumors of cutthroat trout with vivid colors caught in secret waters. Cutthroat trout with orange slab-sides as brilliant as any goldfish. Many of these stories often came from my classmate Jim, relayed down through his extended family. It was difficult to pinpoint…
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Enduring with ‘grace under pressure’ in Rio Grande cutthroat trout country
It looked like the brookies were almost certain to extirpate native cutts and that work to improve Jim Creek was a lost cause
by Kevin Terry Growing up in rural northern New Mexico gave me the opportunity to interact with Rio Grande cutthroat trout in their beautiful and rugged native habitat. I also loved engaging with so many different people with different cultural backgrounds. I was blessed with great mentors with a diversity of perspectives. Some were teachers, some family and friends, others just people in my community with whom I…
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