‘New frontier’ of water choices awaits state

By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

“The era of water development in Colorado is over, and the state’s new task will be to manage the water resources it has…… “

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/08/25/news/local/doc48b23fb8db5c2809428422.txt

It’s not too late to save valued parts of Grand County

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Sky-Hi Daily News

There are organizations at work to preserve our natural and cultural resources.

Among them are the Middle Park Land Trust, Trout Unlimited, the Grand County Historical Association, Friends of the Fraser River, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Colorado Riparian Association and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
Depending on your interests, there are ways to get involved.

Grand County still has a window to control the look and feel of its own future. As we can see from our neighboring mountain communities, that window of opportunity doesn’t stay open forever.

http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20080821/EDITORIALS/272343/1070/AE&parentprofile=-1

Grand County loses land, water as traditions fade

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Tonya Bina
Sky-Hi Daily News

Development on the Front Range causes 100 percent loss to the rivers in Grand County.

It’s a known fact that much of the water taken is used to keep residential landscapes alive.

“Truthfully, 50 percent of the water that they use in those municipalities is growing Kentucky bluegrass. That’s not necessary,” said Kirk Klancke, Grand County’s foremost river-water advocate.

“So they take it from us and kill this natural environment to create an artificial one, to grow an imported grass from a humid environment in a high plains desert. It’s completely illogical.”

http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20080821/NEWS/272332/1079&ParentProfile=1067

Fish feeling aftermath of metals spike

No brook trout found in latest round of sampling by state biologists in Snake River

By Bob Berwyn

summit daily news

SUMMIT COUNTY — Last summer’s spike in zinc and other metals in the Snake River has persisted, spelling more trouble for trout in the polluted stream.

Colorado Division of Wildlife biologists were disappointed by the absence of brook trout when they surveyed a section of the Snake near Keystone last week.

“It’s definitely a step backwards,” said fisheries expert Jon Ewert, who had hoped that the brookies would re-establish themselves after last summer’s gully-washing storm that sent a surge of poisonous metals down the drainage.

Since then, concentrations of zinc seeping from the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine high along Peru Creek have remained near double what they were before the storm, at about 1,200 parts per billion, far above levels deemed toxic for trout.

Zinc kills trout even at concentrations that aren’t harmful to humans. Levels in the Snake River have long exceeded state and federal limits.

Some scientists studying potential cleanup options for the Snake River believe that the rainstorm last year may have fundamentally changed the drainage from the mine, leading to the chronically higher levels.
Other experts think that the reported increase in zinc concentrations may be related to the way the monitoring data is being analyzed and interpreted by the labs, said Lane Wyatt, a Summit County water-quality expert.

“The zinc levels were a huge surprise,” said Trout Unlimited’s Elizabeth Russell, one of the leaders of a task force looking at how to improve water quality in the Snake River. “We didn’t think they’d stay that high over the winter.”

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20080815/NEWS/104721337/1078&ParentProfile=1055

GOV. RITTER STATEMENT ON [8/14] ROAN AUCTION

Cherry Creek News – Written by Dreyer, Evan

“For more than a year, the oil and gas industry and some politicians have claimed that a Roan Plateau lease sale would generate proceeds of up to $2 billion. Today, we learned just how wrong and over- exaggerated those claims were….:

http://www.thecherrycreeknews.com/content/view/3284/2/

Restrictions for motorized vehicles at reservoirs not enough, some say

August 14, 2008By Katie Burford | [Durango] Herald Staff Writer

“The decision closes some user-created routes and old logging roads popular with ATVs. But Dave Petersen, state field director for Trout Unlimited’s public lands initiative, said the priorities of sportsmen, called “quiet users” by the Forest Service, were largely ignored…. “

http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/08/news080814_4.htm

‘Blitz’ looks at RMNP water

Scientists seek snapshot

BY TREVOR HUGHES • TrevorHughes@coloradoan.com • August 13, 2008

Volunteers, scientists and park workers fanned out Tuesday across Rocky Mountain National Park with sample bottles as part of a 24-hour “Water Blitz” intended to provide a snapshot of conditions in lakes, streams and rivers….

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080813/NEWS01/808130329/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02

Anglers, hunters disappointed in latest ruling

Trout Unlimited Release August 13 2008

Roadless matter has become more about politics, less about the issue

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo.—Judge Clarence Brimmer’s Aug. 12 decision to once again suspend the protection of the country’s roadless lands is yet another volley in an unfortunate game of legal ping pong involving the management of the last, best places to hunt and fish in the West, said Dave Glenn, backcountry director for Trout Unlimited’s Public Lands Initiative.

 

“It’s time for lawyers and judges to quit stomping on the very plain desires of western hunters and anglers, as well as the elected leaders of a majority of Western states, to protect the places vital to our sporting heritage,” Glenn said of Brimmer’s decision. The ruling once again suspends the 2001 Roadless Rule and leaves the best fish and game habitat remaining on public land in the West unprotected from any number of threats. “This issue is simple for sportsmen and women—roadless lands offer the best of what’s left when it comes to fish and game habitat in the country, and that translates into the best hunting and fishing.”

 

This is the second time Brimmer has declared the 2001 Roadless Rule defunct—his previous ruling was thrown out in the fall of the 2006 by Judge Elizabeth LaPorte, who reinstated the 2001 Rule after declaring the 2005 Roadless Rule put in place by President Bush violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

 

“The arguments surrounding this issue have drifted far away from the very roots of the matter,” said Glenn, who, in addition to his work with TU, is an accomplished backcountry hunter and fisherman from Lander, Wyo. “It used to be, when you thought of the roadless lands here in the West, you thought of wild country and unspoiled places. Now, you think about judges and lawyers and rules, and that’s a real shame. The bottom line, though, is these places remain intact—they haven’t been trashed yet. Without protection—protection the governors in most of the Western states have asked for—we could lose these places, which are collectively one the greatest treasures the American people can claim.”

 

In all, there are some 58 million acres of inventoried roadless land in the nation, the bulk of which lies in the West. Governors and other elected leaders in the states of California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana and Arizona all declared their desire to protect their state’s roadless lands just as the 2001 Rule would do. The governors of Idaho and Colorado pushed forward under the Administrative Procedures Act to draft state-specific roadless land protection rules.

 

“This is what happens when politicians and judges pretend to be experts in fish and wildlife,” said Trout Unlimited’s Dave Petersen, who served on a committee that helped draft the foundation of Colorado’s pending roadless management plan. “Hunters and anglers across Colorado and the West want people to listen to what the real experts on fish and wildlife habitat have recommended, and that’s to leave roadless lands intact.”

Contact: 

Dave Glenn, (307) 349-1158

Dave Petersen, (970) 375-9010

 

 

 

Bush to relax protected species rules

Plan takes scientists out of decision making on species status

The Bush administration on Monday said it plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26143098/

Washington takes aim at Colorado’s backcountry

By Jason Sorter

“We need the governor’s help to fix or throw out Washington’s proposed Colorado roadless rule and ensure that our backcountry areas are conserved with the strength that he publicly requested….”

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_10159674