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Headwaters Chapter to host Fly Fishing Film Festival

Save the date! On June 1, we’ll be teaming up with our friends at Big Trout Brewing in downtown Winter Park to host the Fly Fishing Film Tour. Ticket sales will benefit our chapter. There will be a silent auction, door prizes, and tasty beer too!

Headwaters Chapter and Colorado Parks & Wildlife to present on Windy Gap Bypass Project

Join the Colorado River Headwaters chapter of Trout Unlimited, along with Colorado Parks & Wildlife, for a presentation on the history and progress of the Windy Gap Bypass Project. We will be presenting 2pm on Saturday, March 16, at the Fraser Valley Library. See you there!

Water Flows in the Windy Gap Connectivity Channel

On October 25th 2023 the Colorado River started flowing in a new stream reach around the Windy Gap Reservoir. In 1984 the Windy Gap Reservoir dam was placed in the middle of the Colorado River just below Granby and the confluence of the Colorado and Fraser Rivers.

In 2002, Bud Isaacs, a property owner below the dam began to raise concern about the decline in the aquatic habit on his stream reach. Bud, along with Tony Kay, a former Colorado Trout Unlimited President, formed the Upper Colorado River Alliance (UCRA) to push forward the idea of building a connectivity channel around the dam that would carry the flows of the Colorado River around the obstacle that the dam had become. 

In 2006, Mely Whiting, a National Trout Unlimited attorney, started working with Grand County Government to help UCRA study the possibility of reconnecting the Colorado River. What was lacking was enough science to definitively state that the dam had negatively impacted the river.

Grand County, UCRA and TU started a dialogue with the Municipal Sub District of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District who built and operates the dam. While the channel proponents scrambled to gather the needed and costly science, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) employee Barry Nerhing began a CPW study on the impacted stream below the dam. Barry was able to find historical data and compare that to today’s aquatic habitat conditions. The conclusions of his study showed that 38% of the macroinvertebrate (bug) species had disappeared from below the dam. This included 100% of the giant stonefly that was a main food source that allowed the fish to grow to larger sizes. Also missing was 100% of the sculpin. Sculpin are a small prehistoric fish that is also an important source of food for trout. 

The source of this decline in habitat is credited to the dam which stopped gravels from migrating downstream to create healthy bug and fish spawning habitat. It did however, allow fine sediment to migrate downstream and fill in the voids between the rocks that the bugs lived in. This had the same effect that Mount Vesuvius had on Pompei when it erupted. Windy Gap is a shallow reservoir with a dark bottom which works like a solar collector to heat up the water in the reservoir which flows into the Colorado River. Warmer stream temperatures have helped lead to the decline of most of the aquatic species. The dam also holds vast amounts of sediment that is the perfect habitat for the tubifex worm that carries whirling disease. Whirling disease has whipped out 90% of the rainbow trout population in the Colorado River.

With science pointing the direction for the solution, the Municipal Subdistrict paid for the study to prove that a connectivity channel would work. Then Mely Whitting from TU began looking for the $30 million that it would take to move the river channel around the dam. In 2022 her hard work paid off, the channel engineering was completed and ground was broken on the project. 

Now that water is flowing through the connectivity channel we will see gravel once again migrate downstream during the high flows of spring. This reconnected river will also allow bugs and sculpin that exist upstream to get downstream and reestablish species that have disappeared. The new stream channel has been constructed to keep the velocity of the river up to help prevent higher stream temperatures from occurring. Dams are also fish barriers and the new channel will allow fish to travel upstream as far as the upper Fraser River during their spawning cycle. Finally, this new channel will prove to be poor habitat for the tubifex worm.

Protections written into Senate Document 80 will guarantee the water will flow through this new section of the Colorado River for perpetuity. The water is flowing now but the project isn’t completed. Construction and revegetation will be completed in 2025 and after the 2 years needed to establish the riparian plantings, this stream reach will be opened to the public. This is the largest river connection project in the history of Colorado and it is in our backyard. Congratulations Grand County for being a headwaters community that is improving river health and sending our downstream neighbors a better Colorado River.    

(Thanks to TU Headwaters Chapter President Kirk Klancke for the photo and write-up)

YAHOO!! Ballot Issue1A Passed: Open Lands, Rivers and Trails Will Benefit

Learn about problems and solutions to the challenges to our environment, and the Ballot issue 1A’s plan to help.

September 30 River Cleanup
Thanks to our volunteers who took a day to help the earth. Your mother is Proud!

We met at the Headwaters Museum in Winter Park at 10 AM to collect litter, plastic bags, bed springs and whatever else we find in the Fraser. Below is aa photo of some of our volunteers and the “treasures” they pulled from the Fraser.

Willow Planting

Our TU Chapter loves to harvest and plant willows as part of our conservation and stream restoration work. We had carefully planned on a May harvest date, but mother nature vetoed that plan. Our target harvest area was under water thanks to our tremendous runoff due to our wonderful snow winter.

July 22 was our harvesting date, with August 5 devoted to planting. Between harvesting and planting, we nurtured the willow cuttings to encourage them to sprout so they were ready to plant.

We’re thankful for the generous water and flushing flows in our rivers, even if they forced us to delay our plans from our original spring date.

Many thanks to all our volunteers who helped with willow harvesting and planting!

Forest Service Funds Local TU Fire Restoration Projects

Our TU chapter has already been actively restoring habitat damaged by fires here in Grand County. The new $10 million in Forest Service funding is targeted to the East Troublesome and Cameron Peak fire recovery areas. USFS financial support of TU’s recovery projects will help us in our recovery projects. Read about it in an excellent Colorado Sun article from September 28 at this link.

Local Oil Spill Risk Reduced

A very serious threat to the health of the Colorado would result from a proposal to bring multiple daily trainloads of waxy crude oil from Utah along the Colorado. TU has been working with our county commissioners, state and federal elected officials and other environmental organizations and other county governments to minimize the risk of that proposed project. We’re happy to announce that we’ve had some success!

The US Court of Appeals found that both the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the Biological Opinion which had given the project a green light were deficient and have been set aside. This is a clear win for the Colorado River and larger environment! While this judicial decision does not permanently kill the proposal, it will make it’s passage a much heavier lift. YAHOO!

For an August 25 follow-up to this story, follow this link to an excellent article in the free Colorado Sun online newspaper.

The photo below of a coal train in Glenwood Canyon is representative of what will inevitably happen if the proposed number of waxy crude oil trains transit through Colorado including Byers Canyon.

Coal Train Derailment in Glenwood Canyon, 2004. Photo copyright EP Kosmicki

2023 Banquet

Once again, we were delighted to host our only fundraiser, our Banquet, at the wonderful Headwaters Center in Winter Park on July 17. Please patronize our sponsors shown here and thank them for supporting Trout Unlimited!

High Water Temps Threaten Fish

As of this entry in mid-October, we’re past the time when temperatures in our local streams get high enough to threaten fish. Please remember all year long to practice good catch and release techniques.

Please be kind to our favorite swimming friends so we can enjoy catching them again!

Local Fishing Map, Fishing License Info

Our new local fishing map will give you lots of details about where you can and cannot fish locally here at the headwaters of the Colorado in Grand County. We’re sure you’ll find new spots to try!

Our Grand County fishing map will lead you to great fishing and new fishing holes all over Grand County here at the source of the Colorado River.

Please note that due to high fishing pressure on the Fraser Flats area between Fraser and Tabernash, even when stream temperatures are low, we ask that on Tuesdays and Thursdays you not fish this one stretch of river.

Click the button below for our fishing map and official fishing license information.

Water Science in the Classroom

Our TU chapter made it possible for 42 West Grand Middle School science students to go to a 3 day water management seminar at the Keystone Science School this winter. On May 4, the students gave a wonderful presentation to our Board on what they learned and presented us with this great signed picture from the seminar.

TU Behind The Curtain

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was told to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. At TU, we’re proud to share some of the things we do behind the curtain which are less visible than events like our river cleanup, willow planting, Science in the Classroom (above) and annual Banquet. All our efforts work to protect and enhance our local rivers, broader environment and fishing.

TU has a somewhat different approach than some other environmental groups. We aren’t pleased that so much of the water which originates here at the source of the Colorado gets diverted out of our drainage basin, but we find ways to make the best of that situation. We recognize that there are numerous laws and agreements in place protecting those diverters rights that are not likely to change in our favor any time soon.

That means we deal with reality and practice the “art of the possible” to get things done. At TU, we’re not content to wait multiple years for litigation to be decided. We don’t depend on funding from lawsuits that are designed to put revenue in our coffers rather than actually help our rivers. What can we actually accomplish that will improve our rivers now? Here are some of the things we’re able to do behind the scenes thanks to your support:

• We participate in a weekly Learning By Doing (LBD) meeting and are an original member of LBD.

• Our voice is heard at Denver Water from our board member, Charles Garcia, as a member of Denver Water’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC).

• Meeting with local county commissioners and, when appropriate, attending commissioner’s meetings.

• Our TU chapter finances much of the stream monitoring in Grand County.

• Membership in CTU’s Bull Moose committee. Here’s the mission statement for the Bull Moose Committee: Strengthening water quality and quantity protections, enhancing mining and extraction regulations, improving access to public lands and fishing opportunities, and supporting wild and native trout conservation through public advocacy at all levels of legislative and administrative policy.

• Working cooperatively with diverters including Denver Water and Northern Water to keep enough water in our rivers at critical times throughout the year.

• Working with Jon Ewert and others at Colorado Parks and Wildlife to post advisories encouraging “no fishing” days in certain areas.

• We see education as superior to litigation in making an impact now. We use this website, Facebook, Instagram and other social media as well as working in local classrooms and with groups on our rivers to help raise awareness and understanding.

What’s the impact of our work? Better fishing and a healthier environment!

Accomplishments May 1, 2022 - April 30, 2023

Our TU chapter works hard to help our rivers and broader environment. Willow planting along selected riverbanks has been an important part of our efforts for several years. Our hard working volunteers and board members’ involvement in multiple aspects of Learning By Doing as well as with diverters and government agencies have made an important contribution to improving our riparian environment. For a summary of what we’ve accomplished in the last year, look under the ABOUT tab or simply click here.

For previous years’ accomplishments, look under the ABOUT tab.

Two New Podcast Series About Water in the West

Colorado is fortunate to have two superb Public Radio stations, both of which are paying attention to water issues in the west.
Check out the new weekly series about water from NPR’s Denver affiliate, Colorado Public Radio, KCFR. Listen to episodes of Parched hosted by Michael Elizabeth Sakas and subscribe if you like what you hear and see.
Also new is a podcast series from KUNC, NPR for Northern Colorado, based in Greeley and Fort Collins which focus on the Colorado. It’s called Thirst Gap and is hosted by their long-time water reporter, Luke Runyon.

Support The Colorado Stream Restoration Bill

TU needs your help supporting a bill helping restoration of Colorado’s streams which is making its way through the state legislature. We’re delighted that our Colorado state senator for district 8, Dylan Roberts, is the prime sponsor of this important bill. TU’s Bull Moose Committee has made it easy to learn more and express your support for this bill at this link.

American Rivers’ Most Endangered River 2023:
Colorado River in the Grand Canyon

We’re not surprised that the 277 mile reach of the Colorado running through the Grand Canyon was just named the most endangered river in the US. Over-allocation and climate change have devastated the flow of the Colorado, bringing Lakes Powell and Mead to levels not seen since they were first being filled in the 1960’s and 1930’s respectively.

Fraser River Cleanup Day 2022

Thanks to everyone who came out October 1 for another Fraser River Cleanup Day sponsored by TU. River cleanup and willow planting are two of our favorite local “in the river and on the ground” projects each year. At TU, we believe in tangible projects that contribute to stream health. This year we cleaned the Fraser from County Road 8 to Rendezvous. We cleaned a lot of litter out along the Fraser River Trail, then hauled it out in our chapter president Kirk’s sweet old truck.

The cleanup was attended by an equal number of TU members and valley residents with one valley visitor joining in. We covered 1 1/2 miles of the Fraser River and filled 1/2 of a pickup bed with items found in the river. The conservation conversation flowed with beers and TU members carrying on chatting with valley residents. It was a beautiful morning which was enjoyed by everyone.

Water News Highlights

Blue Valley Land Exchange

TU Chapter president, Kirk Klancke wrote an insightful op-ed which was published in the Wednesday, February 8, 2023 Sky Hi News and Summit Daily News. He presented a careful, fact based commentary explaining why TU supports the exchange and feels the opposition to it is misguided.

TU’s  approach to this and so many other issues remains to pursue the art of the possible. We work hard to accomplish things that actually can be achieved to benefit our rivers and broader environment. To read Kirk’s op-ed, click here.

Windy Gap Connectivity Channel Fall Update

Since the groundbreaking in late August, progress is being made! The first picture shows equipment working on the new parking access area. The second is the clearing for the upstream section of the new stream channel. The 3rd shows an updated plan listing all of the current funders of the project. A new berm will be built reducing the size of the reservoir by 1/3 and creating the area for the new channel. This new berm will be completed this year and tied into the existing dam next spring.

The sediment from this 1/3 of the reservoir is piled and dried to kill the tubeflex worm that carries the whirling disease. Hot spots for the worm in the remaining dewatered reservoir are being dug up and dried also. This was not part of the original contract but it is being done at the request of Northern Water. Construction completion is set for the spring of 2024.

Windy Gap Bypass Groundbreaking August 23

We are so happy that after years of hard work, the Windy Gap Bypass is finally becoming a reality! This wonderful project will reconnect the upper Colorado river for fish and aquatic life, help restore natural sediment transport and reinvigorate the entire riparian environment for miles downstream from Granby.

Trout Unlimited was the lead organization in championing this project and shepherding it to a successful start. No one was more important in obtaining the $33 million in funding than Trout Unlimited attorney, Mely Whiting. Colorado US Senator Michael Bennet played a critical role in securing federal funding for Windy Gap Bypass. We’re proud to have Mely Whiting (below, right) and Michael Bennet (below left) fighting so hard to improve our local environment!

TU has witnessed the value of cooperation between environmental organizations like ours and water diverters to bring real results that endless litigation simply has not delivered. Litigation only serves to delay real progress and turn the organizations whose cooperation we depend on into adversaries rather than allies.

For some additional information on this great project, click here to go to the article on the Colorado Trout Unlimited website.

Attention Veterans: Free Year of TU Membership!

TU is extending a complimentary, one-year trial TU membership to all veterans. If that's you, thank you for your service. We hope you'll join our community of anglers and conservationists for another year. Please be sure to indicate you want to be in the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter (#547).

Accomplishments For The Past Year

Our TU chapter works hard to help our rivers and broader environment. Willow planting along selected riverbanks has been an important part of our efforts for several years. Our hard working volunteers have made an important contribution to improving our riparian environment. For a summary of what we’ve accomplished in the last year, look under the ABOUT tab or simply click here.

Learning By Doing Report

For the 2022 annual LBD Report, click the button below. Topics covered include Windy Gap updates, stream management plans, sediment transport, water temperature issues, bug counts and more.
Older LBD info is available here.

TU Helps 4H Members Learn to Fish

On June 8 boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 11 met TU members at the Breeze Reach on the Colorado River to learn about flyfishing. They asked questions about what kind of food fish like to eat - they were really glad to hear they like to eat mosquitos! They learned about insects and flies and learned to cast. Then they put their new skills to use at the pond and the river. While we didn't net any fish we caught a whole lot of fun! Check out more great photos here.

Thanks to TU board member Mark Eddy for his help at the event and the wonderful photos, video and text!

Stream Temperature Chart

Our TU Chapter did a wonderful, important job by posting updates to stream temperatures on this website and in the SkyHi News during the hottest part of the summer. Now that we’re into winter, temperatures have cooled enough that the updates are no longer necessary. Stream temps are now safe for fishing, but please let us keep you informed about conditions in the summer of 2023.

Be kind to our favorite fish! You are also encouraged to not fish the “Fraser Flats” area between Fraser and Tabernash on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This area sees very heavy fishing pressure and it’s good to give the fish a couple of days a week off.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about our stream temperature reporting over the past summer.
Did you find it useful? Was the chart in SkyHi News useful? Other comments?
Click the button below to send your feedback.

New Blog!

Check out the salmon fly hatch and much more on our brand-new blog hosted by TU Headwaters Chapter board member, social media manager and co-webmaster Brad Johnson.

2022 Willow Harvesting for Riverbank Restoration

TU members volunteered to help Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a day of harvesting willow saplings for future river bank restoration efforts along the Colorado River corridor. This project was held on April 30 at the Joe Gerrans State Wildlife Area just off County Road 50 near lower end of Byers Canyon.

The willow shoots were nurtured for a few weeks to allow them to sprout, then planted along riverbanks chosen by CPW.

Our TU chapter works closely with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and consults with other agencies regularly to make sure we do the very best things for our rivers. Willow planting has become a regular event for us in coordination and consultation with CPW and local landowners.

CTU Aids Fire Recovery

Colorado Trout Unlimited is working on wildfire recovery fundraising. The East Troublesome and Williams Fork fire zones here in Grand County are specific targets for these recovery funds. Our TU Chapter is planning one or more recovery projects in the burn areas. Find out more including how you can contribute by clicking the button below.

Fishing

Check out all the pages under the FISHING tab on our website! While exploring under the FISHING tab, you can also get familiar with our hatch and flow details and other great stuff.

TU Responds to Fire’s Damage to Watersheds

During fall of both 2021 and 2022, we expected to begin an on the ground shift in our work projects to areas damaged by the historic wildfires of 2020. In December, 2020 we began talks with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to learn what we can do that will have the greatest impact in hastening fire recovery. Willow planting in burned areas along streams was the top suggestion. Because the damage was so widespread and conditions have been so dry, CPW asked us to delay our project until 2023.

See the willow harvesting and planting article near the top of this page.

Water Talks And More at The Headwaters Center

In addition to their wonderful Headwaters River Journey Museum, the Headwaters Center in Winter Park is fast becoming a wonderful source for engaging, informative talks about water. Keep checking back for links to live Zoom talks as well as links to previously recorded talks, too. Click here for the Headwaters Center calendar.

Fisheries Management of the Upper Colorado River In Grand County

Watch the recording of the March 16, 2021 talk by local fisheries biologist Jon Ewert. You’ll hear the latest on Grand County’s rivers and fish from the man who’s job it is to know them best! Go to the button below for the link to this and other talks.

Drought Preparedness Plan

Many Front Range communities declared a drought for 2021 in the fall of 2020 because of the dangerously dry soil conditions. The 2021-22 winter’s lackluster snowpack made things even worse. Grand County has stepped up to address this problem by creating a Drought Preparedness Plan. TU is one of the participants in crafting the plan. The final plan has been released and is available by clicking here.

Headwaters T-Shirts & Swag For Sale

Our new long sleeve SPF 50 shirts are now available! Click here for details and to order. Shirts need to be ordered through this website and can either be picked up at Winter Park Optical or we can mail them to you.

Learning By Doing

Grand County Learning By Doing monitors our rivers and helps guide decisions that impact our water. TU is a member and active participant in LBD. For more information, including TU’s important role in LBD, click here.

Other Water News Sources

Additional news sources, including audio, video and even kid-friendly water-related material.

For more detail about how we use the money we raise to protect and enhance our rivers,
click here for our accomplishments.

Send a message to our webmasters, Brad Johnson and Jerry Nissen at webmaster@coheadwaters.org

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram!