A brown trout caught during an electroshocking fish survey on the Big Cimarron River in Colorado. Trout Unlimited photo. By Cary Denison The Big Cimarron River shouldn’t go dry. This may seem like an obvious declaration about any trout stream. But the truth is, here in Colorado’s Gunnison Basin, and many other places in the…
A lot of college internships have been cancelled this year because of the global pandemic. Bryce Larson, a senior at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, found herself in that boat but determined to explore her options. Her tenacity paid off by landing a Trout Unlimited summer internship working on a risk assessment for native Bonneville…
Colorado’s namesake river is in trouble. With the ongoing megadrought, climate change and many straws dipping in to satisfy a thirsty, growing population, agriculture and many other uses, fishing and the river’s ecological health are in jeopardy. Luckily, Trout Unlimited and our partners near the headwaters of the Colorado River are working together to help…
By pack mule and on foot, the Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife members went in to save the previously thought-to-be extinct lineage. Less than 100 individual trout were removed and taken to the Durango fish hatchery for safekeeping and possible brood stock development.
1/04/2005 For immediate release For more information: Drew Peternell 303-440-2937 CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSED GUNNISON RIVER HYDOELECTRIC PROJECT LOSES ITS WATER RIGHTS TU: AB Lateral Project would have damaged two watersheds in western Colorado Boulder, CO A proposed hydroelectric power project which could have taken more than 1,000 cfs of water from the Gunnison River has relinquished…
How a partnership with iconic Colorado companies benefits TU’s Embrace A Stream program
Tracking how and when fish move to different habitats, and the different biological strategies they use, lets us learn about their basic ecology and understand how to sustain and restore what they need to thrive. It also helps verify the success of our restoration work when we confirm that fish are accessing and using restored…
As infrastructure to support natural gas extraction expanded across the Appalachians over the past decade, the Delaware River Basin remained untouched as the group responsible for the coordinated management of the watershed considered the practice. Now, after years of uncertainty, a vote by the Delaware River Basin Commission has formalized a ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing — often called “fracking” — in the basin. In a special business meeting on Feb. 25, 2021, commissioners…
Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers identified potential Native Fish Conservation Areas (NFCAs) in the Upper Snake River Basin above Hells Canyon Dam. NFCAs are watersheds where management emphasizes proactive conservation and restoration for long-term persistence of native fish assemblages while allowing for compatible uses. This report describes the methods and results of…
“Removing the Lower Snake River dams is a move to make sure that steelhead and salmon can reach their native waters and continue to inspire generations to come. They are simply too important not to remove a giant thorn in their side.”
TU’s Tim Frahm swinging on the Klamath River near Weitchpec. The legendary Klamath River is the third most productive watershed for salmon and steelhead on the West Coast, after only the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers systems. The Klamath is also Ground Zero for one of the most challenging water conflicts in U.S. history. Trout Unlimited’s…
Contact: David Moryc, American Rivers, (202) 347-7550 Ken Neubecker, (970) 376-1918, Colorado Trout Unlimited, Randy Scholfield, Colorado Trout Unlimited, (303) 440-2937 x108 Upper Colorado River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers Water diversions threaten prized trout fisheries and sustainable water supply Washington New water diversion projects could sap the life from the Upper Colorado, threatening prized…
10/24/2007 Trout Unlimited protests oil and gas leases in Grand, Jackson, Moffat counties, and SW Colorado Oct. 24, 2007 Contact: Scott Linn, president, CO River Headwaters chapter, (970) 531-8250 Kathy Lynch, TU Western Energy Counsel, (307) 734-1807 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Trout Unlimited protests oil and gas leases in Grand, Jackson, Moffat counties, and SW Colorado…
On the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado, advances are afoot for a special trout and its habitat thanks to the many people working to protect them
Trout and salmon living in coldwater habitats are naturally vulnerable to a warming climate and related impacts such as increased wildfires and floods. Trout Unlimited scientists have studied how climate changes may influence native salmonid distributions, which trout and salmon populations are most vulnerable, and how we can help them adapt to a warmer and…
A Bear River cutthroat landed at Bear Lake in Utah. Courtesy Paul Thompson/Utah DWR. By Brett Prettyman As a kid my boundaries were marked by street names. Pinehill Drive. Arrowhead Lane. Vine Street. State Street. The borders eventually expanded to counties, forests, states and countries. While driving over a mountain pass recently I realized at…
Widely popular CORE Act would open miles of public fishing access and protect big game habitat Washington, DC (February 2, 2021)—Several of the nation’s leading sporting conservation groups are proclaiming their support for the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act introduced in both chambers of Congress today by Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper…
The Western Water and Habitat Program is Trout Unlimited’s largest conservation effort. The program, which evolved from water policy and habitat restoration roots over the past 20 years, now offers some of the largest geographic conservation coverage by a non-profit organization in the West. It combines law, policy, and on-the-ground restoration projects with benefits to…
“For us, this was a no brainer. For my entire lifetime, we’ve been trying to have both dams and fish. We’ve spent billions of dollars trying to do that. It hasn’t worked and it won’t work. These fish need free-flowing rivers to survive. Hatcheries are no substitute. We need to remove the lower four.”
Editor’s note: Water in the West is at a defining moment with severe drought and climate change upending decades of management practices and creating the need to find common ground so all users can benefit. Read or listen to learn more about how conflict can lead to collaboration in the second installment of our Western Water 101…
