Tag Archives: Water

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.

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.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

Help Protect Colorado's Water!

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In September of 2006 a single rancher dried up the Upper Colorado River, he was irrigating his land using water that his family has used for years and was well within the boundaries of the law. When he realized what he had done he immediately worked with local ranchers and environmental groups to protect the river.  This is only one case where we have realized how vulnerable the Upper Colorado River is. In addition to existing water projects which rely on the River, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District is currently working to acquire federal permits for an additional water project. The Windy Gap Firming Project would divert additional water from the Upper Colorado. 

The existing Windy Gap Reservoir

Earlier this fall the Bureau of Reclamation and US Army Cops of Engineers released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project, the deadline to comment on this report is December 29th. The report has fallen far short of the analysis we had hoped the federal agencies would would produce. We need your help! Take 2 minutes and encourage the Bureau to make this project better! Early on CEC and other organizations submitted comments on this project and encouraged the Bureau to work to improve this project. So far we’ve seen little movement to improve the project, we need your help to urge the Bureau to make crucial changes. Please help protect the Colorado River!

To learn more click here.

Who opened the flood gates?

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Water running high

Water running high

The end of the year is drawing to a close, and 2008 has been a busy one for water issues. We started this year passing landmark Instream Flow Legislation which will provide more tools to protect our streams and rivers from water shortages. We also saw one of the wettest years in recent memory–while it was really only an average year for this region, it was great to see so many of our rivers and streams running full, and it did wonders to remind us why we do the work we do.

We have also seen several large projects move forward in their environmental planning process. For several years now we have been following multiple projects including: The Southern Delivery System, The Northern Integrated Supply Project, The Windy Gap Firming Project and The Moffat Tunnel Expansion Project. These projects would all expand water deliveries on the Front Range, some of them utilizing western slope water resources. All of them have individual impacts on our environment, some may have the potential to be made “smart” as we set forth in our 2005 report Facing Our Future. Continue reading →

Ebbs and Flows

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For more than 18-months now I’ve been working with a number of our colleagues in the conservation arena to bring forward several pieces of legislation aimed at energizing the Instream Flow Program in Colorado. This week was a big week for what we’ve called our “Healthy Rivers” campaign, some really great news and some not so great news.

First the not so great news, yesterday had a heartbreaking and surprising loss on House Bill 1369, which would have created a financial incentives for permanent instream flow donations. I know it sounds a bit dramatic to call it “heartbreaking” but it truly was, hours upon hours of work from CEC and our Coalition partners and countless time logged at the Capitol by a team of really amazing people got the bill much farther than many thought it would have. Unfortunately it was not enough, and this was a tough loss for us this year.

By contrast we started the week on a really great foot, Monday, Governor Ritter signed House Bill 1280, which will protect water right holders. It was a great day and a chance to show the broad coalition of support that we’ve helped build around this bill. Up until the moment that the ink hit the paper, I had a hard time getting excited. There have been so many times in the past year and a half when we were told this bill could not pass, that we could not get this done; that I struggled to get excited for the big event. Now it’s signed, and while the impacts of this law will likely take years to truly have a benefit to the state just knowing that all of our work. Water policy in Colorado is a lot of things, controversial tops the list, and instream flow issues garner extra scrutiny. Watching this bill become a law, made the work, the long hours, the stress, endless meetings and the fight worth it, it really was gratifying. We still have two more bills which will help the instream flow program to get across the finish line, and the boost of the Governor’s action helps to keep us energized in the last few weeks of the session. If you have a minute, send a thank-you to the Governor for helping make this bill happen.

Ebbs and Flows

Posted on by

For more than 18-months now I’ve been working with a number of our colleagues in the conservation arena to bring forward several pieces of legislation aimed at energizing the Instream Flow Program in Colorado. This week was a big week for what we’ve called our “Healthy Rivers” campaign, some really great news and some not so great news.

First the not so great news, yesterday had a heartbreaking and surprising loss on House Bill 1369, which would have created a financial incentives for permanent instream flow donations. I know it sounds a bit dramatic to call it “heartbreaking” but it truly was, hours upon hours of work from CEC and our Coalition partners and countless time logged at the Capitol by a team of really amazing people got the bill much farther than many thought it would have. Unfortunately it was not enough, and this was a tough loss for us this year.

By contrast we started the week on a really great foot, Monday, Governor Ritter signed House Bill 1280, which will protect water right holders. It was a great day and a chance to show the broad coalition of support that we’ve helped build around this bill. Up until the moment that the ink hit the paper, I had a hard time getting excited. There have been so many times in the past year and a half when we were told this bill could not pass, that we could not get this done; that I struggled to get excited for the big event. Now it’s signed, and while the impacts of this law will likely take years to truly have a benefit to the state just knowing that all of our work. Water policy in Colorado is a lot of things, controversial tops the list, and instream flow issues garner extra scrutiny. Watching this bill become a law, made the work, the long hours, the stress, endless meetings and the fight worth it, it really was gratifying. We still have two more bills which will help the instream flow program to get across the finish line, and the boost of the Governor’s action helps to keep us energized in the last few weeks of the session. If you have a minute, send a thank-you to the Governor for helping make this bill happen.