What We Do

In spring 2020, we had planned to again harvest and plant willows to help restore the Fraser between Tabernash and Fraser but the pandemic got in the way. We’re planning May 8, 2021 for willow harvesting and May 22 and 23, 2021 for planting. Click here for details and to volunteer. We’re also working with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and other agencies to plan a fall planting event in fire-damaged areas.

Everyone on our board is a dedicated, talented volunteer who works hard to ensure the money you invest in us and your participation in our projects makes a real difference in our rivers and wider environment. 

River Cleanup 2020

On a spectacularly beautiful Saturday, September 12, we hosted a river cleanup project on the Fraser River between County Road 8 and Rendezvous.  River Clean Up volunteers showed up at the pavilion at the Lions Ponds near Safeway at 9AM. After a few minutes of socially-distant instructions to our masked volunteers, we broke into small groups and attacked the cleanup.

Our volunteers scoured both banks of the Fraser. We looked in the willows. We waded in the river. We circled the Lions Ponds and found…much less than we expected! It’s been about three years since we last cleaned this particular stretch of river and we were delighted that we found less litter than anticipated.

We did discover some plywood, a plastic chair (with all four legs), wire, pipe, cigarette butts, fishing line, and lots of bobbers. We also found lots of doggy-doo (some of which was in bags). It’s bad enough that people don’t clean up after their dogs, but what’s up with bagging it and leaving it along the trail, people? Are you expecting the poop fairy to come by and pick it up???

Coors and Miller Lite cans seemed to be more popular this year, knocking Bud Light out of it favorite spot from our last cleanup.

TU provided lunch from Subway for all our volunteers (thanks to Dave for the great deal!) after the clean up was finished.

HUGE thanks to all our wonderful volunteers for helping us in our ongoing battle to Save The Fraser!

Accomplishments 2019 Through June 2020

COLORADO RIVER HEADWATERS CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED

Chapter Activities 2019-2020

Thanks to all of our donors, dedicated volunteers and a hard working Board of Directors, we are able to continue our forward progress to improve the health of Grand County’s rivers and streams. These are the projects that our funding is devoted to:

Projects:

• Our first project in 2019 was to harvest and plant 1,500 willow stakes in a riparian zone that was devastated by poor ranching practices. This was the second phase of planting in this area and the purpose was to replace the 30% of willows that did not survive the first planting. The present property owner has his cattle fenced off from the river and the willows that we planted will grow up to provide shade for the river, a canopy for other wetlands plants provide cover for trout habitat and hold the eroding stream banks together.

• Our 2020 willow planting project was postponed because of the Covid 19 virus. With so many volunteers working in close proximity, we felt that this important project will need to wait for better times. 

• River cleanup on the Fraser River did happen on September 12, 2020. Covid-safe precautions were in place as we cleaned the Fraser from Safeway to Rendezvous. As in the past, we picked up litter, fishing line, plastic bags and even several plastic chairs we found in the river.

• Our stream channeling work continues with the Headwaters Chapter of TU writing and submitting to Learning By Doing 3 proposals for stream channeling projects to be done here in Grand County.

• In 2019 we received a $14K grant from ROSH and used it to conduct a stream study with 30% design completed for a stream channeling project on another section of the Fraser River. This study was completed in 2020 and we are working to move this project forward in partnership with the BLM and private landowners.  

• We are also working closely with LBD on a cutthroat trout habitat project that is starting this year. This project will take place on Cabin Creek and will increase cutthroat trout habitat by creating fish passage past the Denver Water diversion structure and through a new AOP culvert under road 128. 

• Trout Unlimited is also spearheading the Windy Gap Connectivity Channel Project which will start to heal the miles of degraded river below the Windy Gap Reservoir. The engineering for this project has already started with project completion slated for 2023.

• To help distribute fishing pressure impacting overfished reaches and keep people fishing on private water, we created a public fishing map and distributed map access information to all shops selling fishing licenses and to the chambers in Grand County. This map is hosted on our website at www.coheadwaters.org.

Education Outreach

• We feel that educating our future generations is some of the most important work that we can do to help our rivers.

• In 2019 we held a concert at the Headwaters Center with local Caitlyn Taussig opening the show and the nationally known Rifters following her. Each ticket purchased included a ticket to the Headwaters River River Journey, the most impressive tool that we have for moving our river education forward.

• In 2020 we made a $5K donation to the river museum to go towards all children’s admission to the museum

• In 2019 we funded Grand County Water Information Network’s school programs of Watershed Week and Bug Week. These programs are directed at Middle School and High School science classes and our $2.5K grant covered the costs associated with that year’s program. We also provide volunteers each year for their field trips that help get the students hands on learning in our local rivers. 

• Colorado Trout Unlimited has a youth conservation and fly fishing camp and we sponsored a student in 2019 and donated additional funds to this important education outreach program.

• We continue to put money into our website which is our chapters most important education outreach tool. Jerry has donated a lot of hours and accomplished amazing changes to update this site.

• Our chapter of TU partners with the Middle School fly fishing club to bring youth closer to our rivers. Their director sits on our Board which gives us a closer working relationship. 

• Our chapter also writes news articles, speaks publicly and gives river tours as part of our education outreach.

Advocacy

• Each year we spend funds to help support the National Trout Unlimited attorney who spends most of her time representing river issues in Grand County. NTU is always looking for private donors to keep mely here in Grand County and spearheading projects like the Windy Gap Connectivity Channel.

• 2 of our Board members sit on the Colorado Bull Moose Committee which are advocates for State and National legislation involving river health

• Our chapter has a strong voice in Learning By Doing which is an organization of 7 partners from both sides of the Divide that focus on stream health here in Grand County.

• Each summer our chapter participates in weekly calls with Northern Water and Denver Water to discuss their diversion operations and how they can be adjusted to be more environmentally beneficial to our rivers.

Stream Monitoring

• Because science is the key to improving the health of our rivers, our chapter spends thousands of dollars each year to pay for scientists to monitor the existing conditions of our local streams. We help fund stream temperature studies, macroinvertebrate counts and sediment transport studies. We also volunteer to help CPW with fish counts and we participate in surveying our willow planting results. All this work is done annually. 

• Because stream temperature is one of our highest concerns with local stream health, we pay for the USGS real time stream temperature gauge on the Fraser River near Tabernash. This gauge is connected to an exhibit in the Headwaters River Journey river museum and available on the USGS website.

MAY 4, 2019 HARVESTING WILLOWS

May 19, 2019 Planting Willows