The Dolores River Anglers spring meeting is March 25th at 6:00 pm at the Cortez Elks Lodge.  Come join DRA in celebrating their new chapter status and all the hard work and fun that brought them this far and is sure to carry them on to do many great things for our home waters and the folks who fish them.  Check out our Facebook page for more info.

http://www.facebook.com/SportsmenfortheDolores/events

Come join us at the 2013 Mountain Film Shorts and Silent Auction Fundraiser to benefit Greater Dolores Action and the Dolores River Festival.  Great outdoor gear, great films, a great cause.

http://www.doloresriverfestival.com/filmsauction-event.html

http://www.mountainfilm.org

Growing up in the rural West is a sure-fire way to gain a strong appreciation for the value of water.

One of my earliest memories is of our local community getting together every spring to repair the rudimentary dam—resembling something built by beavers more than a work of modern engineering—that diverted water from the creek to the irrigation ditch that we all drew our water from.

My family lived next to that small creek, too warm for trout but with plenty of minnows, suckers, crawdads, and the occasional catfish to chase.  As children, we pursued our work and play mostly outside—the two pursuits were closely intertwined. We learned the worth of our labors and how to enjoy our days by always finding some part of the natural world to marvel at. Most importantly, we learned respect for that world and all of its inhabitants, which collectively provided us with our livelihood, kept us warm, and fed us. While I didn’t seriously fall in love with fishing and hunting until later in life, I’m certain a life spent immersed in the landscape led me to it.

Now as someone who has sat on both sides of the table when discussing appropriate uses of natural resources, I can assure you it’s never an easy conversation. However, at the end of the day I find that most people would like to help each other and their little patch of the world out if they have the opportunity.

We recently had such an opportunity when a multi-generational landowner on the Dolores River approached me about an eroding side channel on her land and how small fish were being trapped in the channel following high water.  For a very modest amount of money, we were able to complete a project that restored functional fish-rearing habitat and reduced sediment loads in the river, both of which will benefit anglers up and down the Dolores, as well as address the concerns and needs of the landowner.

While the big challenge is always how to balance the flow needs of rivers and people, successfully working together on small problems makes it easier to imagine tackling the larger ones.

While I still sometimes hear, “Why do work on private lands?” from anglers and “Why should I care about fish?” from water users, it seems like the more we try to be real neighbors, the easier it gets to search for solutions together and the less those kinds of questions define our discussions.

Matt grew up on a farm and ranch in southwest Colorado and now hunts, fishes, and forages with his family all over the San Juan Mountains.  He is TU’s Backcountry Coordinator in southwest Colorado and also oversees on-ranch restoration partnership work in the Dolores and Mancos river systems.

http://troutunlimitedblog.com/in-rural-colorado-valuing-water-and-neighbors/

It’s sometimes hard to find balance in our hectic lives and in the modern world that seems to move further away from nature all the time.  Here is a reflection on that I wrote this fall.  www.oursportingheritage.org/lost-and-found-2/

Hope you all had great hunts and fishing expeditions in 2012, looking forward to enjoying and protecting the places we love in 2013.

Searching for West from Helio Collective on Vimeo.

We just found out that the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission adopted the proposal put forward by TU to classify three tributary streams to the Dolores River as Outstanding Waters. This provides an extra measure of water quality protection to the conservation populations of native cutthroat trout that live in those streams. If you want to learn more about native trout conservation, check out the TU website or get yourself out to a TU chapter meeting or event. See you out there.

http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20120921/DS03/709219989/-1/DSlocalnews/Group-works-to-protect-cutthroat-trout-above-Dolores

I don’t normally think of  Outside as down to earth outdoor  journalism but anyone who has followed Meat Eater and seen the support that Steve Rinella gives to habitat conservation causes should check this out, as well as his Meat Eater blog here.  He brings it back to the basics of why we hunt and why we need to look out for habitat, food, and our hunting heritage.

From TU, some news from just over the hill.

Here at TU, we spend a lot of time talking about watersheds.

We conservation nerds can find the most befuddling things to occupy the hours of the day. But, much to the dismay of our poor, bored-to-tears spouses and significant others, this notion we love so much here – the idea of protecting quality, connected, large-scale chunks of habitat – is catching on.

And it’s a good thing, too.

Case in point: the community reaching out to preserve Hermosa Creek in Colorado.

Located just outside the town of Durango, Hermosa Creek is a completely intact watershed with exceptional recreation values. Think rugged 13,000 foot peaks, high alpine meadows, pine, fir and aspen forests, crystal clear water and you’ll start to get a sense of this place.

Home to a native Colorado River cutthroat trout reintroduction program and some of the finest elk habitat in Colorado, Hermosa Creek is a sportsmen’s paradise.  For OHV enthusiasts, mountain bikers, campers, hikers, photographers and backpackers, Hermosa Creek offers some of the best…and within just a few miles of a major community.

With this in mind, locals formed a working group, the River Protection Workgroup, which spent 22 months crafting a blueprint for future management of this little gem. This proposal was not built in a D.C. office, but instead as a function of local, stakeholder-driven collaborative.  Everyone had a seat at the table and the consensus recommendations reflect a broad group of interests.

With that blueprint in hand, Sen. Michael Bennet. introduced the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act of 2012. This legislation will maintain the quality of the habitat through a balance of protections and allowances to keep many things just as they are today. It’s the best of both worlds – sensitive habitat gets preserved and users still get to enjoy the landscape as they already do.

continue reading…..http://troutunlimitedblog.com/conservation-nerds-and-the-tale-of-hermosa-creek/

Join us at Joe Rowell Park Saturday June 23rd. at 4pm.to help clean up a section of the Dolores River. Afterword, we’ll meet for dinner and drinks at the Dolores River Brewery and see some great fly fishing films on the back patio at dusk.  Hope to see you there.

Facebook event posting link

Trout Unlimited has a long history working with farmers and ranchers on projects that are good for agriculture and good for fisheries. Check out these two great video examples of the kind of win-win collaboration that TU is know for.  With common sense solutions, we can preserve our agricultural and angling heritage for future generations.
- Matt