The New Mexico Council of Trout Unlimited has joined with several other sportsmen’s groups to form the San Juan Quality Waters Coalition.  The purpose of this group is to address the issues that have resulted in a general decline in the trout fisheries on the San Juan since the Bureau of Reclaimation changed the flow regime out of Navajo Dam in 2002.

Though the stated purpose of the flow change was to improve habitat for the Colorado Pikeminnow, it was fairly obvious to anyone who read through the EIS, that the real, covert reason was to suck as much water out of the river without violating the Endangered Species Act restrictions as they pertain to the pikeminnow.

On February 25th, the coalition sent this letter to the San Juan Recovery Imlementation – Coordination Committee asking them to address the numerous problems on the San Juan river that have impacted the fishery.  The San Juan remains New Mexico’s premier destination trout fishery, and the actions of the BoR have had serious negative impacts on the economy surrounding the fishery.