River Currents

RIVER CURRENTS Summer 2016 20 Years Strong Rick Lofaro, Executive Director to establish a non-profit organization to promote water conservation practices and the protection of the Roaring Fork River, and RFC was born. Like any new organization, the first steps RFC took were close to home, working with the Roaring Fork Club to create healthier riparian habitat and helping the Town of Basalt develop a plan for the 3 miles of Roaring Fork River that flow through town. However, soon after the creation of the organization, founding board members noted that protecting the Roaring Fork River meant protecting all the water that flows into it, which includes I have been fishing for as long as I can remember. In my the entire Roaring Fork Watershed. Soon RFC was taking early childhood years, my family owned a small 1-acre its mission and its message of watershed protection to lot outside of Bailey, Colorado, where we had access to a the far reaches of the watershed. The organization they small private lake. While I’m sure the lake had a formal established was the first group focused solely on river and name, my family simply called it “Lake Lofaro.” We spent water issues in the Roaring Fork Watershed. every weekend we could at Lake Lofaro, fishing, playing, and learning about nature. Those outings instilled a love Over the past 20 years, RFC has grown to be one of for the outdoors that burns as strong as ever inside of me. the most respected watershed action and education organizations in Colorado. Much of that success has Fast forward to the years I spent as a fishing guide on come from the people who have worked alongside RFC the Swan River in Montana, where I honed my skills as an oarsman, an angler, and most importantly a river enthusiast. I became impassioned with all things river, and took as much delight in sighting an osprey or a towering western white pine as I did landing and releasing a handsome rainbow trout. With each passing week, an outing on the river was less about catching fish, and more about reveling in the magic and wonder of that magnificent river. While I was pursuing my love affair with the Swan River, things were happening back home on the Roaring Fork, and I returned to the Roaring Fork Valley in the fall of 1997 to become a part of it. Roaring Fork Conservancy (RFC) sprang to life in the midst of a to help make it what it is today. We celebrate our 20th watershed movement in Colorado during the late 1990s. anniversary this year as a strong, solvent and effective Throughout the state, interested communities and watershed organization and we look forward to the next grass roots efforts yielded fledgling watershed groups 20 years strong. organized around various local water issues. In 1996, the Roaring Fork Club and the Town of Basalt had the vision established on how to enhance the ecological integrity of the river ACTION WATERSHED Stream Management Planning: A New Era in River Studies while at the same time honoring agricultural productivity and By Heather Lewin, Watershed Action Director preserving existing water uses. This innovative document is one of the first of its kind in the State of Colorado, and has the potential Roaring Fork Conservancy’s (RFC) first scientific water uses; 4) incorporate environmental and to be used as a model for other stream reaches in the Roaring Fork publication was the Roaring Fork Watershed Year 2000 recreational values and goals identified both locally Valley, as well as in other watersheds throughout the state. State of the River Report. This study was typical of river and in a basin roundtable’s BIP; and 5) identify studies at the time, providing a comprehensive overview and prioritize alternative management actions to The ASMP is in its infancy, with plans to begin engaging of RFC’s water quality monitoring program: including achieve measurable progress toward maintaining stakeholders and performing instream evaluations in the Upper BUSINESS MEMBER what parameters were monitored, where and why. The or improving flow regimes and other physical Roaring Fork Valley this summer. The goal is to enhance the health report took a series of data and made it interesting and conditions. PREMIER BUSINESS MEMBERS of the Roaring Fork River from its headwaters through just below Alpine Angling & Roaring Fork Anglers accessible with photos and graphs. Studies like this one, the confluence with Maroon Creek. With a dewatered stream reach Aspen Flyfishing Guide Service Inc. and many subsequent RFC is currently involved in two Aspen Grove Property Services running through Aspen, a Section 303(d) listing based on aquatic studies, show diligent local SMPs: the Crystal River Blazing Adventures/Incline Ski Shop life, and a wide variety of stakeholders, the ASMP will be an exciting Charles Cunniffe Architects work in collecting Management Plan (CRMP) and and very challenging process. RFC is acting in an advisory role to Crystal Fly Shop & Independent Flyfishing and sharing baseline the Aspen Stream Management Guides WATERSHED ACTION WATERSHED the City of Aspen as well as a stakeholder in the ASMP process. information, but Plan (ASMP). Cunningham Mortgage Company Harry Teague Architects the modern river The future of river studies must begin with stakeholder collaboration. K&W Concrete steward will quickly RFC partnered with Public Karp Neu Hanlon, P.C. It is no longer enough to simply collect and share data. At a time point out that there Counsel of the Rockies and Lotic Patrick, Miller, & Noto P.C. when water demand in Colorado and throughout the west exceeds Proudline Guided Fly-Fishing is something missing. Hydrological, LLC to produce supply, concerted action is required to ensure the ecological Starkworks Inc. While the collection, the recently released CRMP. WHB Construction health of our rivers and streams. However, the work done in the display and sharing Focused on the Crystal River past was not time wasted. Past studies and data provide valuable BUSINESS MEMBERS of data is important, baseline information and a foundation on which to build future Alfred Gardner it leaves out two key Allen H. Adger, P.C. Stream Management Plans. RFC’s longevity and reputation for elements inherent Courtesy of Thompson Divide Coalition Blue Creek Business Solutions comprehensive scientific and defensible river studies, as well as the Bristlecone Mountain Sports in today’s river relationships it has built with local communities and local, state Gran Farnum Printing studies: stakeholder Growing Years Preschool and federal entities better positions RFC to engage stakeholders and engagement and an action plan. Enter the Stream Jamie Tredeaux solicit their input. RFC is well poised to undertake future Stream Roaring Fork Beer Company Management Plan. Management Plans, and to be a steward of healthy rivers and riverine TJ Concrete Construction, Inc. communities into the future. Stream Management Planning blends high level HAPPY BIRTHDAY! river science with stakeholder engagement to create a site specific record of conditions and a plan for management that takes into account the values and needs of the local community. The 2015 Crystal River Valley Colorado Water Plan, as well as the Colorado Basin Mount Sopris Spring by Steve Wiggins Visitor’s Guide Implementation Plan (BIP) place a high priority on Stream Management Plans (SMP), which the Colorado The Crystal River Valley Visitor’s Water Conservation Board describes as follows: and its stakeholders, the CRMP effort used historic data Guide is now available throughout combined with state-of-the art modeling in a process the Roaring Fork Valley. Published Well-developed stream management plans should that began by answering stakeholder questions, and in cooperation with Ruedi Water be grounded in the complex interplay of biology, continued with input from Crystal River Valley irrigators and Power Authority, Roaring hydrology, channel morphology, and alternative and water rights holders, the Town of Carbondale, the Fork Conservancy and Colorado We’re celebrating with a special water use and management strategies. They U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Water District, these guides provide 20th anniversary membership should also consider the flow and other structural Colorado Water Trust and many others. The end result information on points of interest e e e or management conditions needed to support documents not only the state of the Crystal River, but throughout the valley, historical both recreational uses and ecosystem function. also provides an evaluation of existing water uses, an information and a map of the Crystal $20 special membership pricing plus receive a free RFC Sun Gaiter A stream management plan should: 1) involve Ecological Functional Assessment that incorporates River Valley. stakeholders to ensure their acceptance of the past and current conditions, an assessment of a variety For more information, plan; 2) assess existing biological, hydrological, of management strategies, and the identification It can also be downloaded at and geomorphological conditions at a reach scale; of management priorities for the river. Because call us at 970-927-1290 or www.roaringfork.org/news. visit ROARINGFORK.ORG 3) identify flows and other physical conditions stakeholders have been involved from the conception and click on BECOME A needed to support environmental and recreational of the project, an ongoing dialogue has already been MEMBER today! 2 RIVER CURRENTS ~ Summer 2016 Summer 2016 ~ RIVER CURRENTS 3 NEWS AND UPDATES River Stewards: Then and Now Staff & Board Flows Cornelia & Meredith Long Honored by Nick Kilbourn, River Stewards Chair & Rick Lofaro, Executive Director as 2016 River Conservators Jeff Conklin Late in the winter of 2007, RFC board members Jim Light and Larry Yaw had an idea to start a younger Jeff joined RFC’s Board of Roaring Fork Conservancy will leadership group for the organization.

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