Author Archives: Becky Long

Defending our rivers (and the sculpin too)

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Colorado’s state fish is the Greenback Cutthroat Trout and it is stunning. Emerald green flashes on it’s back while a crimson rose spreads along it’s belly. Once pushed to extinction, we fought to protect this species and bring it back. It’s a beautiful fish, but it’s not my favorite. Not even close. If I could submit any fish native to Colorado for this high honor it would be the mottled sculpin. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, speckled to blend in among the rocks, and with spines along it’s back- it looks almost prehistoric. I’ll be the first to admit that the sculpin is not likely to win any beauty pageants.

Mottled Sculpin

Greenback Cutthroats get the glory here in Colorado. Posters and plaques, a listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, the list goes on. Meanwhile the sculpin does the incredibly hard work of being lower on the food chain than a trout. Without the sculpin; trout go hungry too, and in the last two decades these small fish have suffered a tremendous decline in the Upper Colorado River. In some areas, they have vanished completely. It’s not just the sculpin either, a recent state study found that in the last two decades there has been a 38% decline in aquatic insects. It’s no wonder the sculpin has vanished since they rely on insects like stone flies and may flies for their own survival.

Sculpins and the insects they eat are suffering because for decades we have diverted water from the Upper Colorado to use on the Front Range of Colorado. Soon, we may divert more water as two water projects are being contemplated in the headwaters of the Colorado. Our namesake river is in trouble, if these new projects come online they’d reduce the flow of the river by nearly 80% of the native flows. 

Elise speaks out for the Colorado

When the insects and sculpin go, trout go too. A loss of our fisheries in Colorado really means a loss of tourism and jobs. Recreation and tourism are a billion dollar a year industry in Colorado many of our local communities rely on those dollars. So when a sculpin goes belly up, we risk our economies going belly up too.

It’s a grim picture and it’s why CEC and our partners are working to Defend the Colorado. Our river needs our help. This week we joined other river advocates to rally on the steps of the State Capitol.

CEC, our members and our partners have spent countless hours attending public meetings on these water projects, writing official comments and letters to our leaders and meeting with decision makers; all with the hopes of keeping our river healthy. We have made progress, just a week ago the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called for further review of one of these projects.

Several folks spoke out this Wednesday, including Field and Stream Editor, Kirk Deeter. Kirk travels around the world to write about amazing rivers, but he lives here in Colorado because we have amazing rivers and mountains right in our backyard. In his comments, Kirk compared the Colorado River to another Colorado icon: Pikes Peak.

Imagine we woke up tomorrow and learned that Pike’s Peak were 90% comprised of high grade coal. We could build a power plant and burn that coal, providing free power to the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs for 20 years. All we’d have to do is shave off two-thirds of Pike’s Peak. Who’s going to step up and say, ‘Let’s start with a little bit off the top!’ Nobody.

Kirk’s visual is spot on. The Colorado River is an icon, we need to protect it just as we would Pike’s Peak, or the Gold dome of our Capitol. It’s not too late, we can still make sure our iconic river remains. Our river needs heroes. On Wednesday, we asked Governor Hickenlooper to be one of those heroes. It’s time for our state leadership to take their own studies to heart and make sure that we protect our river.

Dozens of activists rally to Defend the Colorado

We need you to be a hero for the Colorado river too, take a moment to sign this petition to save our river. Who knows, maybe one day the sculpin will get the glory it deserves.

We’re still here!

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As some of our regular readers have noticed, our blog has been awfully quiet lately. In addition to fixing a web hosting issue late last year that was preventing us from updating it, our dear web-guru and blog mistress Anne Pogoriler (AKA Pogo) has left CEC to pursue some exciting new opportunities.

We are all thrilled and excited for Pogo’s new ventures but it means that we have not had anyone to nag encourage and harass remind staff to blog about all of the cool things we’re working on. In Pogo’s absence several of us here are helping to run the social media sphere of CEC so please bear with us as we get back on track with regular postings.

Renewed efforts to nag encourage and harass remind staff about updating our blog have gone out and we should have some new, fresh, awesome content for you all to enjoy. In the meantime, please let us know if there are issues you are interested in, programs you would like to learn more about, or anything else we might be able to cover with  ye old blog.  Thanks for your patience!

Politics, bias and intimidation…

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UPDATED UPDATE: We now have over 19,000 signatures! One week left to sign!

UPDATE: Petition signatures SKYROCKETED to over 12,ooo overnight! Please keep spreading the word!

Over the past few weeks, you’ve all heard a lot from CEC and our partners about the Flaming Gorge Pipeline proposals. You can find links and more information on the proposed projects here or here. The basic overview is that a private investment group as well as a few municipal water providers have expressed an interest in the concept of pumping  over 80 billion gallons of water per year from Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Green River in Wyoming to the Front Range of Colorado (a 560 mile trip!).

The Green River through Echo Park

This type of project would come with some major costs. A fairly wonky state study estimates that a project of this scale could cost up to $9 Billion. Yeah, that’s BILLION, just for the construction of the project. It’s unlikely that any water providers in Colorado can afford to finance a project of this size without state or federal support, and I’m not sure if you’ve all noticed, but we currently have major budget crises happening at the state and federal levels.

Beyond the price tag on a project like this, pumping over 80 billion gallons a year across two states would have some major environmental consequences, too. The Green River is the key to a decade old program aimed at recovering four endangered species fish. These fish aren’t the most glamorous looking bunch but they’re native to the Colorado River and it’s tributarie,s and without this program they’d be goners. While the dissolution of a key program is a major impact, it doesn’t even scratch the surface when it comes to the consequences of a project like this. Check out this site for a longer break down of additional concerns.

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My office beats your office

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A great view of the Yampa from Little yampa Canyon- photo courtesy of Soren Jespersen

For the last five years I have worked on water issues for CEC. This work typically takes the form of long meetings, trips around the state for more meetings, days at the legislature and conference calls (a lot of conference calls). In short: it isn’t super glamorous and only underscores my yearning to be out on our rivers and streams. While all of us here at CEC try to make time to get out and really experience Colorado by hiking, fishing, camping and biking there is really no better way to experience our rivers than by floating down them. Two weeks ago, for the third year we teamed up with our partners at The Wilderness Society and with Friends of the Yampa (FotY) to float Little Yampa and Juniper Canyons. After doing this trip last year it took me all of about thirty seconds to commit to going along again this year. It was a great couple of days of “work” to say the least.

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Colorado Wins!

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Dear Colleagues and Volunteers,

The Colorado Environmental Coalition would like to thank you for all of your support and effort to defeat the “Bad Three” ballot initiatives in every county across Colorado! This was a major victory for the entire community and would not have been achieved without the help and hard work of each and every one of you!

One of the greatest concentrations was public outreach to inform and educate the voters on the implications of the ballot measures. Efforts to do so included distributing member emails recommending a “NO” vote on ballot issues as well as Get Out the Vote Messages, the distribution of Civic Engagement Ballot Guides, a statewide ballot tour, earned media, LTE’s, and training seminars for coalition partners about the impacts of the ballot issues, budget reform, and the legal terms of non-profit organizations working on ballot issues. All of this helped ensure that these measures failed by huge margins, sending a clear message to extremists and out of state interests: Colorado is worth more!

It is no doubt that widespread networking would not have been achieved without the collaborative efforts of our coalition partners and volunteers. Thank you for attending trainings, tours, sending email alerts, phoning, walking in your communities, donating time and money and so much more that you did to help defeat these measures.

Thank you again for your hard work, innovation, and commitment to protecting and strengthening the state of Colorado, we look forward to keeping this momentum moving forward in 2011!

Sincerely,

Colorado Environmental Coalition Staff

Victory on the Yampa!

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The Yampa River, one of the last remaining free flowing rivers in the west

The Yampa River, one of the last remaining free- flowing rivers in the west. (Luke Schafer)

Earlier this week we got some great news: Shell Oil released a statement saying that it will be abandoning its quest for a major water right on the Yampa river.

One of the last free flowing rivers in the west, the Yampa is  not only a tie to Colorado’s past but one of our best hopes to preserving our future. The Yampa is home to diverse wildlife, a vibrant recreation industry, provides a safe haven to four species of endangered fish and helps buffer our entire state from shortages when our downstream neighbors like California and Nevada call for water they’re entitled to under historic river compacts.

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We're all in the same boat

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Recent population growth projections from the State Demographers office indicate that Colorado might see a doubling of our population by 2050. Combined with pressures from climate change (which likely mean reduced precipitation in this region), new precipitation patterns, and earlier runoff due to warmer spring months, Colorado faces a stark and drier future.

Water in Colorado has many uses.

Water in Colorado has many uses.

This week many of the State’s water leaders are meeting in Steamboat Springs as part of regular meetings of both the Interbasin Compact Committee (IBCC) and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB).On Monday the discussion centered around meeting Colorado’s water needs for the future. Choices about our water usage will become increasingly more important, and we can’t afford to make bad decisions. Continue reading →

Help speak up for Colorado's Water!

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As I wrote a few months ago the US Army Corps (Corps), has announced the Public Scoping comment period for the Regional Watershed Supply Project. This project would divert 250,000 acre-feet/year from the Green River in Wyoming and bring it to the Front Range of Colorado. While the diversion point is in Wyoming, the water is considered Colorado’s under the historic Colorado River Water Compact of 1922. Diverting this large amount of water will no doubt have a significant impact on downstream users, recreation flows, the Colorado River Endangered Species Recovery program and a host of plants and animals who rely on these river flows.

Thanks to more than 700 (!) comments from people like you, the Army Corps agreed to extend the comment period and to host three additional meetings! Two of these meetings will be held on the western slope of Colorado! This is truly great news, in addition to providing more time to study the initial information and determine what the impacts of something like this might be, we also get the opportunity to make sure that ALL of Colroado has an opportunity to voice their opinions on this project.

Please join us at one of the meetings!

July 10th Craig, CO (Center of Craig – 601 Yampa Ave)

July 11th Grand Junction (Mesa County Fair Grounds-2785 US Hwy 50)

If you can’t make one of the meetings you can submit a comment letter here- comments are now due by July 27th!

Turn out to protect Colorado's Rivers!

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doloresrafters_mpearsonThere is currently a proposal to pump 250,000 Acre Feet (one acre foot to flood a football field with water one foot deep), from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming, to the Front Range of Colorado. The project has been proposed by a private entity, the Million Resource Conservation Group, and is proposed for use by agricultural and municipal interests on the Front Range.

» Take action on this issue today!

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Time to cook the Bird!

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from http://www.flickr.com/luismimunoznajar

from http://www.flickr.com/luismimunoznajar

This past fall I worked with a number of conservation groups to support efforts to provide better funding for the Water Quality Control Division. Because of changing regulations, increased growth, and huge increases in oil and gas developments in a short period of time the Division simply cannot keep up with the issues it is tasked with addressing. A number of ideas to help address the staffing needs at the Division were floated and ultimately discarded, and other sources typically available including using general funds (funds available to the General Assembly for their allocation to state programs) are also out of the question this year as there just isn’t enough in the General Fund to cover all costs of state programs (the state faces cutting $2 Billion in 2009-2010 fiscal years).

This year the needs of the Division — along with the needs of many other programs state-wide — are on hold. This means slower response time in dealing with potential water contamination events and a lack of enforcement and monitoring on oil and gas operations near our drinking water. So what does water quality funding have to do with cooking a bird?

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