Sinking Hopes for Colorado Stones

Annual Salmonfly hatches are calendar-marked events for good reason. Punch-drunk fish smashing massive bugs? Sign us up. But in the Upper Colorado River ecosystem hatches continue to be diverted to the brink, according to a recent article in The Denver Post.

“To hear Fraser fishing guide Jeff Ehlert tell it, the key food source once prevalent throughout the entire upper river corridor won’t be found in his neighborhood this year. The disappearance of the giant bugs is disturbing on many levels.”

Concerns over the health of the entire Upper Colorado River drainage have been amplified by proposals from Denver Water and Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District to annually draw an additional 45,000 acre feet from the Fraser, Williams Fork and Blue rivers through the Moffat Collection System Project and Windy Gap Firming Project.

“If approved, the water that would otherwise make its way into the Upper Colorado will instead be diverted across the Divide primarily for residential use among multiple municipalities along the Front Range from Greeley to Denver.”

Water districts will submit both a Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan and an Enhancement Plan to the Colorado Wildlife Commission at an April 7 workshop in Meeker.

“The formal presentation of the plan starts a 60-day clock in which the Wildlife Commission will determine its official recommendation for or against the projects to the state.”

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