WILDLIFE ~ WILDLANDS ~ WILD CONNECTIONS

Is there anything more refreshing than sitting by the river after a long hike? We humans are drawn to water. Not only is itessential to life, but our origins in the sea impart spiritual values beautifully described by Henry Beston, Rachel Carson,

Sylvia Earle and many others.

We are also drawn to animals. Pat Shipman in The Animal Connection convincingly describes her theory that our connection to other species - as old as 2.6 million years ago - is what makes us human. Witness the love we bestow on our pets, or watch the kids enthralled by the iguanas at the pet store. According to Statista, 21 million people in the United States engage in wildlife viewing every year.

However, this relationship with wild animals gets a bit murky. The baby lynx with piercing brown eyes hoping he can get out of that tree, or the majestic herd of elk trotting across a fall meadow need space. The lynx, elk, bears, pronghorn, bighorn sheep need unimpaired habitat in order to move across the land and live out their lives. And the space for our wildlife is increasingly in short supply, posing a challenge for those concerned about our wild legacy.

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December 2017

The South Platte River at Wildcat Canyon is part of the vast system of waterways that are home for many aquatic species and connect wildlands across the landscape.

Photo Curt Nimz

Across the Land and Riversby Jean Smith

We are drawn to water and wildlife. Photos - S. Platte River, Curt Nimz; lynx, CPW; elk, John Sztukowski

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2168 Pheasant Place Colorado Springs CO 80909

info@wildconnections.orgwww.wildconnections.org

Mission: Wild Connections, a science-based conservation

organization, works to identify, protect and restore lands of

the Upper Arkansas and South Platte watersheds to ensure the survival of native species

and ecological richness.

Board of Directors 2017

Jim Lockhart,President

Colorado Springs, Legal writer

John StansfieldVice-president

Monument, Storyteller/writer

Alison GallenskySecretary

Westminster, GIS expert

Deb OvernTreasurer

Denver, Attorney

Misi BallardGreenwood Village, Conservation activist

Claude NeumannDenver, Engineer

Kristin Skoog,Colorado Springs,

Systems software engineer

Ex officio

John SztukowskiSalida, Staff

Wildlands Conservation Director

Jean SmithColorado Springs,

Nonprofit administration

For many years Wild Connections has identified and protected roadless areas and land connections between those wild areas. Core roadless areas and lightly developed land bridges provide structural integrity for our part of the extended wildlands network across the Southern Rockies and along the Spine of the Continent.

But soil and trees aren’t the whole story. There is another connection: the fabric of streams and rivers that lay between the mountains and through the meadows - a continuous system of waterways that support the surrounding land and especially the river’s own plants and animals.

We know that a river is just one part of the larger global water cycle. In Colorado the snow that drifts down on the high peaks often originates as moisture gathered up by the winds over the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, When it melts, the journey back to the ocean begins. A never-ending cycle, variable and often unpredictable, it is essential for all life.

If healthy land and waterways are the basis of life, then it follows - at least to me - that we have a responsibility, a moral imperative to see that they stay healthy. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Dr. Robin Kimmerer speaks of Americans as a nation of immigrants who have left their homeland but have not found their place yet in this land, always searching for their place. She says,

Maybe the task... is to strive to become naturalized to place, to throw off the mind-set of the immigrant. Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit... To become naturalized is to live as if your children’s future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”

So read on to explore the many facets of these waterways and lands of our region, and ponder our responsibility to the earth.

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http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2011-news/Shipman7-2011

https://www.statista.com/topics/1161/hunting-and-wildlife-viewing/

Across the land and rivers cont. from p. 1

Some snow remains on Mt. Elbert in late June. Photo Rob Koran

Wildways connect land and rivers across the continent.

https://wildlandsnetwork.org/

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Colorado’s BLM Wilderness Trek

As a large number of Colorado National Forestand National Park areas received Wilderness

designation from Congress in the 1970s ,1980s, and 1990s, conservationists, both employees of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and private citizens, began to inventory the Bureau’s lands for areas of wilderness suitability.

Ultimately, the citizens identified and documented 1.65 million acres of wilderness quality lands in 62 areas scattered from the Arkansas Valley to northwest and southwest Colorado. “All 62 areas are begging to be protected from the bite of the bulldozer and drill rig,” citizen’s inventory coordinator Kurt Kunkle said at the time. (BLM administers 8.4 million acres in Colorado.)

Giving their proposal the lengthy name, Colorado Canyon Country Wilderness Proposal (CCCWP), the conservationists presented their findings to Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Denver. She latched onto the issue with gusto, introducing the Colorado Wilderness Act (CWA) in Congress in 1999, despite opposition from some Congressional colleagues in state and out. DeGette believes that designated Wilderness is essential to Colorado’s ecological and economic future, as well as an icon of Colorado’s unique character.

Showing amazing persistence, DeGette has consistently reintroduced the CWA with several different arrays (30 or more wilderness candidates) in every Congressional session up to 2016. Colorado’s wilderness advocacy community, represented by the Colorado Wilderness Network (CWN), continued to support the bill, despite the lengthy legislative stalemate.

A New Kid on the BlockIn forty years, Congress has designated only four BLM Wilderness Areas in Colorado. However, in 2012, BLM adopted a new layer of analysis in their land use planning efforts. The Lands with Wilderness Characteristics Inventory (LWCI) incorporates the wilderness attributes found in the Wilderness Act—sufficient size, naturalness, and opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation—into the agency’s land use decision making.

In order to implement LWCI, BLM initiated a “wall-to-wall” survey of their lands. At the same time, they invited citizens to conduct their own inventories and share the results with the agency. In 2013, Wild Connections (WC) took up the invitation, beginning the inventory of more than 290,000 acres in the lands of the Royal Gorge Field Office (RGFO. Other groups throughout Colorado undertook inventories of their own.

Completing the detailed field work and reports in 2015 guided by Wildlands Conservation Coordinator John Sztukowski, WC shared our recommendation of more than

Wilderness Re-visionEnriching a Long-Held but Unrealized Treasure by John Stansfield

200,000 acres of LWCI in 24 areas with BLM. At that time, the BLM inventory registered less than 80,000 acres of LWCI. After additional field inventory and review of WC’s findings, the RGFO increased their LWCI figure to 190,722 acres, a remarkable adjustment.

Being Proactive in the Face of Destructive Decisions In recent months, CWN deliberated on the fate of the CCCWP. Wilderness quality has been damaged in several wilderness candidates due to oil and gas development and illegal motorized activity. Political actions are downgrading many aspects of the nation’s environment.

Do we just throw up our hands and quit? No, we decided. Before us lies a tremendous opportunity to use the current statewide LWCI findings of BLM and conservationists to strengthen our proposals. Merging the existing CCCWP areas and LWCI acreage will present a clearer picture of the wild treasure that is our legacy. The revised proposal will provide a real, if informal, rationale for protecting all wilderness quality BLM lands

Congresswoman DeGette is excited about a revised BLM citizen’s wilderness proposal. She says that it could represent a new vision for environmental protection in Colorado. Colorado Wilderness Network, including Wild Connections, shares her enthusiasm and hopes she will reintroduce a wilder Colorado Wilderness Act soon.

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Rep. Diana DeGette speaking to wilderness advocates at the October gathering in Paonia. Photo Chris Applegate

Cooper Mountain LWC viewpoint. Photo Kate Spinelli

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Cutthroat trout, first described in 1541, are widespreadin inland watersheds of western North America, with

at least 14 known subspecies. In the Southern Rockies of Colorado, the prevailing view prior to 2007 was that four subspecies existed.

- Colorado cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus) inhabited streams on the west slope in the Colorado, White/Yampa, San Juan and Gunnison watersheds.- Rio Grande cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkia virginalis) occupied the Rio Grande watershed. - Yellowfin cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii macdonoldi) inhabited the Twin Lakes region of the Arkansas watershed.- Greenback cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii stomias) lived in both the Arkansas and South Platte watersheds.

Mixing it upHumans have had a huge impact on cutthroat populations in this region. Populations began to decline in the mid-1800s due to over-harvesting and pollution from mining and agriculture. Simultaneously, stocking efforts by both private and public entities started.

The first documented movement of cutthroats within Colorado was in 1873. At the same time, non-native fish such as brook trout and rainbow trout were also being introduced, especially in streams where native cutthroats lived. These non-native fish led to further declines of native cutthroat, because brook trout are better competitors for food, and rainbow trout readily hybridize with cutthroat. In addition, many fish (both native and non-native) were stocked in waters which were historically fishless, such as alpine streams above waterfalls or other natural barriers.

One result of this human impact was that, by 1919, greenback cutthroat were only found in a handful of small populations in the upper Arkansas watershed, and by 1937 they were declared extinct.

However, in the 1950s a greenback population was rediscovered in the South Platte watershed, and eventually more populations were discovered in other high elevation streams in the South Platte and Arkansas watersheds. These populations were brought into the hatchery system for propagation.

The subspecies was listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1967, and downlisted to threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1978. A recovery program ran for many years, propagating and releasing greenbacks in streams that had been cleared of non-native trout, with the goal of establishing 20 self-sustaining populations on the landscape. In 2006 the subspecies was potentially recovered enough to be delisted.

Everything changed in 2007 Cutthroat conservation changed dramatically in 2007, when University of Colorado Boulder scientists (and others) published a study on the genetics of cutthroat trout populations in the Southern Rockies with some surprising results. They found that many of the greenback trout populations which had been restored on the landscape were not, in fact, greenbacks but more closely related to Colorado Cutthroats from the west slope. They also found that some of the populations on the west slope had genetics of greenbacks from the east slope.

Another study by the same lead authors, published in 2012, looked even further into cutthroat genetics by comparing museum samples to contemporary populations. They found that there were originally six lineages of cutthroat native to the Southern Rockies, two of which (yellowtail and San Juan) are now extinct (Figure 2).

The mystery of the hotel ownerThey also found that greenback cutthroats, thought to be extinct, then rediscovered,

Historic view of cutthroat trout distributions in the Southern Rockies (from Metcalf et al, 2007). Blue

watersheds were thought to be occupied by Colorado cutthroat, green watersheds by greenback cutthroat, orange watersheds by Rio Grande cutthroat, and the

yellow region by yellowtail cutthroat.

Metcalf et al 2012, hypothesized distribution of 6 lineages of

cutthroat trout. The San Juan (red) and yellowtail (yellow circles)

lineages are now extinct.

Cutthroat Trout in the Southern RockiesPast, present, and future by Aaron Hall, Defenders of Wildlife

Greenback cutthroat trout, Photo FWS

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actually only existed as a single population in the Arkansas watershed, outside of their historic native range in the South Platte watershed. This is the Bear Creek population near Pike’s Peak, west of Colorado Springs. It is believed to have been stocked in the 1870s by a hotel operator, who moved the fish from the nearby South Platte watershed where they are native.

750 million were put everywhereThe conclusions from both of these landmark studies point to humans as the reason that cutthroat trout genetics are so confusing in the Southern Rockies, and large scale stocking as a major source of mixing cutthroat populations. The sheer number of fish stocked in Colorado was huge. Between 1885 and 1953, 750 million fish were stocked (mostly cutthroat, brook, and rainbow trout). For cutthroat, most broodstock was sourced locally, initially from the Gunnison watershed, and then a second source from the Trappers Lake area. These west slope cutthroats were stocked all over the state, on both sides of the continental divide. Cutthroats from the east slope were not, however, used in large scale stocking efforts, though some were stocked west of the divide. All of this moving of fish, within watersheds, across watersheds, across the continental divide, and into previously unoccupied habitat, created a unique pattern of distribution of cutthroats that doesn’t necessarily match up with their historic distributions..

With the recent discovery of the “true” greenbacks in Bear Creek, restoration efforts have continued. Individuals from this population were brought into the hatchery system. Since the number of individuals that founded the Bear Creek population was likely small, there is not a lot of genetic diversity. So producing healthy offspring in the hatchery is more difficult than with other lineages of cutthroat. There are lots of deformities and low survival,

Reintroduction in Herman Gulch. Photo Aaron Hall

and it is also not known how well these individuals will do when released into other streams.

Bringing cutthroats backIn 2014 Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) released the first population of these “new” cutthroats into Zimmerman Lake, west of Fort Collins, and they have continued to stock that lake. They hope that the natural conditions will “weed out” the unhealthy fish, and leave the strongest left to spawn. Indeed, the first fish introduced are now mature and have started to reproduce naturally in the stream

feeding the lake. CPW is now also using the Zimmerman Lake population for broodstock to maximize the diversity of greenbacks in the hatchery system.

Further reintroductions are occurring. CPW has had multiple releases into Herman Gulch, just west of Denver in their native South Platte watershed. Work has started at Rock Creek in Lost Creek Wilderness. So the story continues in all it’s complexity.

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Getting these trout back home is a lot of work. The Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), along with the Cutthroat Chapter of Trout Unlimited, have put several years and several thousands of dollars into a reintroduction in Rock Creek in Lost Creek Wilderness.

Installing barriers to prevent non-natives from coming upstream, using a piscicide to kill all the fish above the barrier, monitoring

for whirling disease and water quality, preventing erosion and pollution from nearby trails, and improving streambank vegetation are some of the tools.

In October volunteers from TU and CPW staff helped remove non-native fish to get ready for future stocking of Greenbacks. Black Canyon Creek, a Rock Creek tributary, is also being prepared for future work. Wild Connections is poised to help next year with relocating the wilderness trailhead to further protect the area.Volunteers cleaning the stream above the dam.

Photo Bob Ballard

Dam prevents non-natives from going upstream into the introduction site; piscicide has killed these non-native fish

above the dam. Photos Trout Unlimited and Bob Ballard

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Not far from the congestion and noise ofDenver and Colorado Springs, you can find

yourself in a wild, deep river canyon worthy of consideration for “Wild and Scenic” designation. The South Platte River, with its headwaters in the Mosquito Range, flows through Antero, Spinney and Eleven Mile Reservoirs in the expanse of South Park and heads north, past Lake George and on to Cheesman Reservoir. Downstream it flows through Strontia Springs and out of the foothills to Chatfield Reservoir.

Between Lake George and Cheesman Reservoirs, the river cuts a 1,200 foot deep gorge in the granite formations east of Lost Creek Wilderness, known as Wildcat Canyon. This 7.3 mile stretch of the South Platte River was largely spared in the devastating 2002 Hayman Fire, as the flames jumped from the river’s western hillsides to the east, over Wildcat, and onto the Rampart Range.

Getting into this countryside is not easy, but it is well worth the effort. After hiking across gentle hillsides that are showing signs of recovery from the Hayman fire, you drop several hundred feet into a different landscape. Corral Creek tumbles gently down from Lost Creek Wilderness, and Tarryall Creek flows in from the northeast edge of

South Park. Healthy stands of willow, aspen and towering ponderosa pine, set deep within the canyon walls, provide habitat for nesting birds, including peregrine falcon, bald eagles, osprey, wild turkey and American dippers. Area wildlife finds important refuge and forage here, including elk, deer, big horn sheep, black bear and the wild cat - mountain lion. Brown and rainbow trout make this pristine stretch of river an angler’s dream. And, of course, the South Platte River is Denver’s primary source of drinking water and eastern plains agricultural water, making its strong protection a high priority for area stakeholders.

Prior to the Hayman Fire, motorized recreation was allowed on designated routes in the area surrounding Wildcat Canyon. Due to the devastating impacts of this massive fire, the 2004 Hayman Fire Travel Management Plan was developed to protect the water, wildlife and fisheries resources along the South Platte. While roads on the east and west sides of Wildcat Canyon were closed, approximately 79% of the burn area roads were left open to public use. In addition to the travel plan, the outstanding values of Wildcat are managed under the South Platte Protection Plan. Plan partners include many stakeholders, from Denver Water, the US Forest Service, and surrounding counties to private landowners, motorized, non-motorized, and water recreation users, fish, wildlife and ecosystem interests and grazing and timber representatives.

An early October 2017 hike led by Wild Connections into Wildcat Canyon highlighted the tremendous threats this riparian oasis and drinking water resource is facing

Wildcat Canyonby Misi Ballard

The South Platte River in Wildcat Canyon. Photo Curt Nimz

Hiking down from the Matukat Road in October. Photo Curt Nimz

The gigantic rock outcrops attest to Wildcat Canyon’s ancient origins. Photo Curt Nimz

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today. After enjoying a quiet lunch along the banks of the South Platte, the peace and tranquility of the day was shattered with the arrival of motorized vehicles of all types, from ATV’s to full-size passenger vehicles, driving down the legally closed roads on the eastern hillsides to the river. Many vehicles continued across the river to drive along the riverbanks and up the western hillsides, destroying the deep quiet and solitude of the canyon.

Evidence of heavy illegal motorized travel was also visible on the west side of the canyon as the group hiked down from their starting point at the gated closure of an old Forest Service road. The Wild Connections group hiked another 1.5 miles south to the confluence of the South Platte River and Tarryall Creek where we witnessed motorized vehicles crossing both waterways, racing through the sandy river bottoms with their tires eating away at the riverbanks. While talking with the only fishermen we encountered, we were dismayed to hear that traffic down the hillsides and across the rivers the previous day had been even heavier than what we experienced.

Wild Connections’ mission to preserve and protect roadless areas, connectivity and biodiversity directs us to defend Wildcat Canyon from the damaging effects of illegal off highway vehicle use. This critically important drinking and agricultural water source needs to be protected from erosion run-off, from river bottom disturbance and from the gas, oil, antifreeze and other toxic materials that pollute our drinking water as vehicles drive across the river and up and downstream. The uniqueness of Wildcat’s healthy wildlife habitat, situated in the middle of the devastation of the Hayman burn area, makes its protection a high priority.

Wild Connections will be working with the Forest Service, local government and partner organizations to secure appropriate measures to stop illegal OHV travel across the recovering hillsides and the waterways of Wildcat Canyon. But we also need your help. The Forest Service needs to hear that protecting drinking water and wildlife habitat and corridors are important to you. Your members of Congress need to know that you want sufficient funding for the Forest Service so our lands and waters are protected for today, and for the future. Let Wild Connections know that you care and that you want to help protect Wildcat from the severe damage that illegal motorized travel causes.

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This route is not open to motorized vehicles! Photo Misi Ballard

Another instance of illegal travel on a closed route. Photo Misi Ballard

Contact the Forest Service about Wildcat Canyon:South Platte Ranger District,19316 Goddard Ranch Court, Morrison, CO 80465 (303)275-5610South Platte Ranger District, 320 Hwy 285, Fairplay, CO 80440 (719)836-2031Pike-San Isabel National Forests Supervisor’s office, 2840 Kachina Drive, Pueblo, CO 81008 (719)553-1400

Wildcat Canyon before this motorized invasion

by Lee Patton1996 I’d abandoned my Subaru, its 4WD no match for rugged slopes dropping to the canyon edge, and rode my mountain bike into Wildcat Canyon’s only access “road,” an ancient jeep trail along Northrup Creek that dropped to the South Platte River. After a short, fun spree downhill, the incline soon became so steep I sidestepped downward, finding wilderness qualities on each side of this remote and undisturbed montane forest: healthy old growth, lightning-scared ponderosas alongside seedlings and fallen logs. Nor could I find signs of vehicle intrusion in the dry roadbed. I tenderfooted my way down to the river, finding no signs of human intrusion except for a faint fisherman trail that hugged the banks. On a perfect July afternoon, the river sparkled, so tantalizing in the heat that I dove into the water, then explored the banks in absolute solitude and tranquility, wowed by the massive boulders and narrow chasm of the canyon.

2003 One year after the 2002 Hayman fire, on another Wild Connections scouting task, I re-explored the canyon to gauge the damage down in the Wildcat gorge. After driving through endless miles of a post-apocalyptic landscape of ash, bare granulated granite and blackened stumps, with hardly a grass blade surviving, I gave up any hope that Wildcat’s wild beauty would survive.

I was wrong; the fire had jumped rim to rim. I hiked to the river on the just-closed Corral Creek access, picking my way over chunks of charcoal to find a green scrim of forest along the banks, the blackened wasteland high above. Only birdsong and plashing water sounded in complete silence. I hiked into the “inner chasm” a few miles north, awed by sheer cliffs and massive, rounded boulders everywhere. With the closed gate still keeping vehicles out, I seemed to be the only human deep in a tranquil yet wild paradise.

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A river trip from the high peaks to the plainsA river is an aquatic ecosystem unto itself. However, it also is an integral part of the broader landscape of roadless areas and wildernesses. Imagine starting at the mountain headwaters and

traveling down the three main origins of the South Platte River. Hopefully navigating downstream is not as confusing as the names of the various “forks.” As you move downstream you will pass by incredibly wild areas that contribute to the stream flow and are secure areas for wildlife. Marshy beginnings and small streams are fed by snowmelt from the nearby land; small tributaries feed in; beaver ponds may slow the flow, and gradually the stream becomes a river that challenges anglers, kayakers, water providers and conservationists.

These waterways sustain the land, wildlife and our communities, but they are threatened by pollution from roads and agriculture runoff, dams and diversions, non-native and invasive species, catastrophic wildfires, loss of streambank cover - the list goes on and on. Unending vigilance is needed to protect the waters and roadless lands for both are critical for the health of the whole system.

Reflections on the South Platte Riverby Alison Gallensky

Down the North Fork of the South PlatteThe North Fork of the South Platte River begins below Webster Pass, a 12,103-foot pass on the Continental Divide west of Mount Evans. The pass is a migration corridor for elk.

The headwaters are in Hall Valley and Jefferson roadless area with Burning Bear roadless area on the north. As it leaves the mountain valley, it runs along highway 285 for many miles, flowing between Elk Creek roadless area adjacent to Mount Evans Wilderness and Lost Creek Wilderness to the south. Wild Connections recommends that Jefferson, Burning Bear, and Elk Creek be protected as Wilderness

If you’re kayaking, continue through a long section with no adjacent roads. If you’re driving, stay on 285 to the Foxton turnoff west of Conifer and drop back down into the river corridor where the North Fork flows along the Raleigh Peak area. Although still recovering form a fire many years ago, it is recognized by Wild Connections as core area for wildlife. Roadside views of the river lead to the historic S. Platte Hotel site and the confluence with the South Platte River.

The South Fork of the South Platte headwaters are near Weston Pass in the Mosquito Range at 11,921 feet above sea level. It flows between Weston Peak and Big Union (adjacent to Buffalo Peaks Wilderness), areas Wild Connections recommends be protected as Wilderness. Elk migrate from summer to winter ranges here. Then it enters South Park, an intermountain grassland basin, where it joins the Middle Fork of the South Platte River.

South Platte River now continues through South Park below the Puma Hills that Wild Connections recommends is protected as Wilderness. It takes a turn to the northeast through Eleven mile Canyon then north through Wildcat Canyon. The Tarryall River adds water from a wide area on the north end of South Park here at Wildcat Canyon.

The Wildcat Canyon area to the west has been recognized by Wild Connections as an important core area for wildlife. As the river continues flowing north it passes the Sheeprock and Long Scraggy areas that Wild Connections recommends are protected as Wilderness. Passing by the small communities along the banks, it reaches the confluence with North Fork of the South Platte River at the historic South Platte Hotel.

On to Denver, the eastern plains and the MississippiNow that the South Platte has gathered water from this huge arc of mountains and parklands, it flows through the scenic Waterton Canyon, a favorite of hikers and bikers, where it leaves the National Forest. It is a major water source for Denver and communities to the northeast.

In Nebraska the South Platte joins the North Platte River ( the headwaters are near the Rabbit Ears Range in Northern Colorado) and continues to the Missouri River near Omaha and thus to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Platte River is a major tributary of the Mississippi-Missouri River system, the

second longest river drainage system in North America (second only to the Hudson Bay river drainage). The influence of these rivers in south central United States is vast and complex.

The Middle Fork of the South Platte rises in Platte Gulch in the northern end of the Mosquito Range, near

14,154-foot Mount Democrat. It flows below Beaver Ridge, an important area where elk have calves. Just over Beaver Ridge is the Silverheels area that Wild Connections recommends be protected as Wilderness. After entering South Park it joins the South Fork and is now called the South Platte River.

From the divide through South Park

NORTH FORK SOUTH PLATTE

SOUTH FORK

MIDDLE FORK

South Fork headwaters near Weston Pass. (Anglers Covey)

Middle Fork valley(Summit Post)

Beaver create ponds that slow water flow (CPW)

Wildfires, like this one at Raleigh Peak, lead to sediment deposits in

streams. (Arthur W Smith)

Wildcat Canyon (Curt Nimz)

Greenback cutthroat trout are native to the

Platte’s cold mountain streams(CPW)

Gibson Lake, one of the sources of the North Fork.

Elk migration across the high country (CPW).

Waterton canyon bighorns. (Steve Harbula)

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It’s an exciting time for our local public lands and riversin central Colorado and along the Front Range. Multiple

ongoing plans and plan revisions from local agencies will determine the future of our local public wildlands and waterways.

Let’s take a look at these different plans, their timelines, the agencies enacting them, and how they will affect the future of our public lands.

Bureau of Land Management Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan Revision (ECRMP)The ECRMP revision, managed by the Royal Gorge Field Office out of Cañon City, will determine how 668,000 acres of BLM public land will be managed for the foreseeable future.

This plan began in summer of 2015 with BLM held “Envisioning” meetings, and then officially kicked off with the Scoping period and first public comment period shortly after. Wild Connections was active in this plan revision well before the 2015 scoping period. Beginning in 2013, Wild Connections did extensive wilderness character inventories on large intact BLM wildlands, primarily in Bighorn Sheep Canyon in the Arkansas River Canyonlands, but also wilderness quality areas in South Park, Chaffee County, and Huerfano County.

The BLM was both responsive and receptive to Wild Connections’ submitted wilderness character inventories,

increasing their own inventory from 77,000 acres to nearly 200,000 acres, including the Bear Mountain Monument Creek area, which was just added in early 2017.

This summer, BLM released a summary report based on the preliminary alternatives public comments. Of note, BLM Lands with

Wilderness Characteristics received the second most substantive public comments, out of 119 total issue categories. Recreation received the most comments, of which many forms, such as hiking, hunting, and fishing, align with conservation land values.

From Public Lands to WildernessHow We’ve Been Getting There by John Sztukowski

The BLM is currently working on the draft analysis following meetings with other agencies and public entities. The draft ECRMP is currently scheduled for mid-spring 2018 with a 90-day public comment period. This is pretty much the last rallying point for the public to get involved to advocate for our local wildlife and wildlands. The final plan is tentatively scheduled to be complete in 2019.

It is also worth noting that there is a separate plan, the South Park Master Leasing Plan (MLP) that is nested within the overall Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan, which specifically addresses oil and gas development in the South Park National Heritage Area. This plan is moving along at the same pace as the ECRMP with coinciding public comment periods. BLM’s aforementioned public comment period detailed many substantive public comments directed at the South Park MLP.

Browns Canyon National Monument PlanIn February 2015, 21,586 acres of pristine canyons, the Arkansas River and backcountry forest were designated as the Browns Canyon National Monument in the Arkansas River valley between Buena Vista and Salida.

The BLM Royal Gorge Field Office is leading the Management Planning efforts for Browns Canyon; however this monument’s management is a multiple agency

approach, as it includes BLM and USFS public land, and the Arkansas River, which is managed by the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA), part of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).

Management planning began in fall 2016 with public input meetings and human ecology mapping. The agencies have spent most of 2017 developing the Monument Assessment

Bear Mountain was added to BLM’s wilderness characteristics inventory. Photo Wild Connections

Browns Canyon is for everyone . A good management plan will protect the scenery, wildlife, cultural sites and trails.

Photo Carol Stansfield

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Report and Analysis of Management Situation, which will be presented to the public upon the formal scoping period with public meetings, tentatively scheduled for January 2018.

In sum, the agencies have been doing a commendable job of gathering information and involving the public in this assessment phase in 2016-2017, preliminary to the Monument’s actual Resource Management Plan, which should debut early next year. The plan should include at least two more public comment periods, including a review of the preliminary alternatives and basis for analysis, which we should see later in 2018. This plan is currently scheduled to be completed in 2021.

Arkansas River Recreation Area Management Plan RevisionArkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, part of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, manages numerous recreation activities, as well as wildlife habitat, along a 152-mile river corridor of the upper Arkansas River, from Leadville to Pueblo Reservoir. This plan revision began with scoping in early 2016 with public meetings and a public comment period. This plan revision is also a joint effort by CPW, BLM, and USFS.

Key issues identified in the scoping period were primarily about boating capacities, management of fisheries and wildlife, public river access and facilities.

These issues were incorporated into the Draft Plan, which was released this fall along with an Environmental Assessment, accompanied by public meetings and a public comment period. This plan is expected to wrap up in early 2018.

USFS Pike-San Isabel Travel Management Plan revisionThe Pike and San Isabel National Forests have six ranger districts and about 2,000,000 acres of public land. A Travel Management Plan (TMP) revision was prompted by a lawsuit a few years ago from multiple conservation organizations, including The Wilderness Society and Rocky Mountain Wild, which challenged over 500 miles of illegal motorized roads and trails.

Scoping for this TMP began in fall 2016 with a 45-day public comment period. In anticipation of this plan, the conservation community, including Wild Connections, spent many hours on the ground inventorying routes in high priority roadless areas, and then compiled data and info that was submitted to the USFS.

The draft plan and environmental impact statement is currently scheduled for spring 2018, with the final expected in early 2019.

This travel planning process is very important for us because it essentially determines what USFS areas will remain “roadless” and intact contiguous landscapes. These lands can then be proposed as wilderness or special management areas when the much needed Pike and San Isabel Resource Management Plan revision begins, which will follow the completion of travel management planning.

AfterwordSpecial thanks to many of you that have helped us inventory and support these wild BLM lands through the years, and particularly earlier this spring when BLM held a 60 day public comment period for their “preliminary draft alternatives” phase of the plan, a new and innovative step implemented by BLM’s Royal Gorge Field Office.

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Rafting the Arkansas. Photo RaftBrownsCanyon.com

This route to North Twin Cone is one of the routes investigated by Wild Connections for the

PSI travel planning. Photo John Stansfield

Page 12

Our day started early and by late afternoon we hadaccomplished much despite the ferocious winds of

an August mid-day thunderstorm destroying our food canopies, though fortunately leaving the lunch buffet unscathed.

The Packer Gulch work site is along the west boundary of the Farnum Roadless Area further north from our 2015 project. Farnum is a sizable roadless area that extends southward from just south of the Tarryall Reservoir. Our job was to close three motorized routes that penetrated the roadless area from the adjacent road outside the west boundary.

Openings in the forest attracted motorized users to traverse over the grassy landscape in multiple places. Once vehicle users establish an off-road vehicle travel path, it usually becomes a thoroughfare with multiple routes perhaps even looping back to other entry points, as in this situation. The resulting braided network can significantly diminish habitat quality. The situation had degenerated to the point it required our return to Farnum in 2017. The wildlife habitat is of high importance, connecting wildlife travel corridor to and from the very large Lost Creek Wilderness area to the northeast.

It is the primary goal of our field restoration program at Wild Connections to close off access points in these damaged areas. In Farnum, one by one, we are managing to do that and to maintain intact wildlife habitat and travel corridors as well as protecting forest ecology. Our 2015 project further south closed two illegal entry points on the east and west sides cutting off an illegal motorized travel route that was bisecting Farnum. Together, these projects have moved us closer to complete protection of the long west side by reducing illegal entry. To date, both closure areas appear to be effective.

Wild Connections organized the volunteer work crew, purchased materials, and helped coordinate the project with Joe Carlson and two of his field crew staff from the South Park Ranger District. Our volunteer team included supportive local residents and willing conservationists from

A Rewarding Day of Restoration at Packer Gulchby Claude Neumann

several companion organizations.

The teams installed 60 concreted support posts along the forest boundary, and the Forest Service put in 600 feet of cable fencing after the concrete had cured. Along with fence installation, we restored portions of the rutted track by surface roughening, re-seeding with native grass, and covered as much as possible by natural materials to allow seed germination. This improves the chances of regrowth and repair. 0ver time, visible portions of the tracks that were scraped into the soil should disappear.

Wild Connections is now in our seventh year of our field program to close off and restore areas abused by motorized vehicle users who ignored signs, closures, and common sense. As we have gained expertise at restoration, we are encouraged by this approach. Project by project, area by area, we see habitat being returned to its critical function. The core principle of Wild Connections is to do what we can to maintain and enhance critical remaining habitat and the ecological health of the landscape. With unrelenting growth pressures in Colorado, it is our best hope for species survival.

At the end of the day, our volunteers typically feel energized and rewarded realizing the importance of their work. Our volunteers and our funders, large and small, are instrumental to success and are greatly appreciated.

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The Packer Gulch volunteers and S Park Ranger District Staff. Photo John Sztukowski

Setting posts for the fences. Photo Jim Lockhart

The competed fence lines restrict travel to the legal road. Photo USFS

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Wild Connections is now in its 22nd year. One ofour landmark achievements has been the Wild

Connections Conservation Plan (WCCP), a 300-plus page document published in 2006 aimed at providing a landscape-wide plan for protecting biological diversity and ecosystem health in the Pike and San Isabel National Forests.

Beginning in 1995, we mobilized more than 150 volunteers who field inventoried over 100 roadless areas within the two Forests. We then used those inventories, together with other available information on species and habitat, human uses of the land, and other relevant factors, to develop management recommendations for the two jointly administered National Forests.

The WCCP not only provides comprehensive and detailed recommendations for management of the two National Forests, but also provides useful information about federal lands in the two watersheds managed by the Bureau of Land Management, as well as lands managed by state and local land management agencies.

Using the Wild Connections Conservation Plan and its archive of data as a basis, we have commented on numerous proposed governmental activities affecting the two Forests, including the 2007 Pike-San Isabel Travel Management Plan leading to the creation of the current series of Motor Vehicle Use Maps, the Pikes Peak Ranger District’s 2009 South Rampart Range Travel Management Plan, the 2011 Colorado Roadless Rule proposal, and numerous more site-specific proposed agency actions. Our data have also enabled us to identify habitat restoration projects of particular importance in protecting and expanding areas of particular importance, such as core reserves and connecting landscape links. The Plan has also been frequently used by the agencies themselves as a source of information.

Since 2006, much of work has focused on Bureau of Land Management lands. The BLM is currently in the process of revising its Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan,

The Wild Connections Conservation Plan Past, Present, and Future by Jim Lockhart

which covers all of Colorado east of the Continental Divide. Here too, the mapping data and techniques we developed in creating the Wild Connections Conservation Plan has led to direct participation in the BLM planning process.

Our methodologies have changed over the years, from using map, compass, camera, and data sheets filled out by hand, through use of GPS devices to record data locations, to the use of I-pads, cell phones, and mapping software to take photographs and record data in electronic form in the field. What has not changed is our need for volunteers to carry on the mapping and data collection work.

More than a decade has passed since the WCCP was published, and a lot has changed in that time. As the population of the Front Range has grown, public use of the two National Forests has intensified. Threats to the integrity of the landscape and natural ecology due to human activities, legal or illegal, have multiplied. Funding for the agencies that manage our public lands has not kept pace with their needs, making them ever more reliant on citizen volunteers. Having accurate information about the land and its current condition is crucial to all of our other undertakings as an organization.

One of our primary focuses in 2018 and beyond will be to update the Plan and its underlying mapping and land use data. This will include both fieldwork and updating of our data and records, a big task for several years into the future.

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The WCCP is available as a PDF document at www.wildconnections.org/

conservation/wccpconservationplan.html

Page 14

Monitoring Restoration Projects

Green MountainAfter six years, the Green Mountain area, with a few exceptions, is green again. The gate was removed from the decommissioned road at Stony Pass and the old route through the aspen groves is filled with grasses. The meadow is no longer a muddy bog full of ATV ruts and dispersed campsites. The only mud now is where the elk are wallowing in a few of the deeper ruts that were left to provide a water source.

During the project work days logs an brush were placed on the road bed, and later the gate at Stony Pass was removed. There is no evidence of trespass. The route in this aspen grove

was ripped and criss-crossed with logs before seeding. A

few years later the growth is vigorous.

Regular monitoring trips show the degree to which a site is recovering its natural conditions. Conditions vary depending on the type of soil and vegetation cover, the slope and amount of rain among other factors. Most of our monitoring is qualitative in nature, and photos are a good tool.

Trout CreekThis project began in 2009, but the new vegetation still struggles in the mineralized granite soil and on hot sunny slopes. The old route is revegetating slowly and a wet year may bring it along more rapidly. The gravel pit, once an open scar in the view-shed of the neighboring community of private homes on the north edge of the project, is green with a mixture of native and non-native plants.

Typical decomposed granite trail bed on the upper slope above Trout Creek with some regrowth several years later.

The gravel pit was scraped and erosion mat protected the seeds. Non-native thistle persists, but there is good growth native grasses.

The former road stopped at the edge of this meadow, but vehicles continued onward. In 2011 the meadow was full of deep ruts, a track encircled the edge and there several dispersed camp sites. All the tracks were ripped and seeded. The meadow today is a lush green haven for deer, elk and other wildlife.

Page 15

Yes, I want to protect wild nature in central Colorado. Here is my gift, which also covers my 2018 membership.

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You can help!WILDLIFE ~ WILDLANDS ~ WILD CONNECTIONS

Support Wild Connections in action! Donations made through December 31 go to 2018 conservation programs

YOU can help protect and restore wild nature on public lands in the Arkansas and South Platte River watersheds. By connecting protected wildlands for migratory animals across the central Rockies, Wild Connections’ work benefits wildlife, people and communities. We need you to help preserve these natural wonders for our families and the future.

Online - go to the web sites below to make a gift through the Pikes Peak Region Give! campaign or schedule your donation for the state-wide Colorado Gives day on December 5th.

By mail: Send a check using the form below.

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2168 Pheasant PlColorado Springs CO 80909

In this issue...

Wildlife ~ Wildlands ~ Wild Connections

Across the Land and Rivers Page 1

Wilderness re-visionPage 3

Cutthroat Trout in the Southern Rockies Page 4

Wildcat CanyonPage 6

Reflections on the S. Platte RiverPage 8

From Public Lands to Wilderness Page 10

A Rewarding Day of Restoration at Packer GulchPage 12

The Wild Connections Conservation PlanPage 13

MonitoringPage 14

You can helpPage 15

WILDLIFE ~ WILDLANDS ~ WILD CONNECTIONS You can help protect wild nature by giving a year-end gift to Wild

Connections on Colorado Gives Day or through IndyGives!

www.coloradogives.org/WildConnections/overview

www.indygive.com/WILD