NMTU Blog

THE BLOG HAS MOVED

William Schudlich — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:48:19 +0000

I’ve redesigned the website to incorporate everything into one site. I think you’ll like it.

VISIT THE NEW NMTU WEBSITE AND BLOG HERE!

This blog will no longer be updated.

Kevin Reilly Receives 2009 Distinguished Service Award from TU

William Schudlich — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:28:30 +0000

TU Chief Operation Officer Chris Wood presenting Kevin Reilly with the 2009 Distinguished Service Award

Trout Unlimited has recognized New Mexico National Leadership Council representative Kevin Reilly with the 2009 Distinguished Service Award for his conservation efforts in New Mexico and nationally.

For years, Kevin has been a vital cog in the coldwater fisheries conservation in New Mexico and the west. He has been integral in developing TU’s Conservation Sucess Index, and in making it accessible to chapters for use in their conservation projects.

Fishing in Michigan

William Schudlich — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:28:22 +0000

Floating the Mainstream Au Sable River.

Kevin Reilly and I are in Michigan for the TU 50th Anniversary meeting. We’re fishing in Grayling for a few day before the meeting starts in Traverse City. The fishing is great, the catching…not so much.

We’ll have a report from the meeting after we return.

Comanche Creek Work Weekend (Aug 21-23)

William Schudlich — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:55:17 +0000

Building an Exclosure on Comanche Creek

Over the past 7 years various organizations andagencies have come together to help restore Rio Grande cutthroat trout (RGCT) habitat along Comanche Creek. Here is a chance for you to contribute to this important effort.

If you can’t come Friday, still come on Saturday. Rio Gande cutts are in the stream once again for fishing. Free camping is available.

Details and registration with Quivira Coalition here:
http://quiviracoalition.org/Workshops___Events/index.html

Rio Grande Cutts Stocked in Comanche Creek

William Schudlich — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:08:07 +0000

The first segment of the large Rio Costilla project was completed today as the NM Department of Game and Fish, the federal agencies, and volunteers from TU stocked out the first batch of Rio Grande Cutthroat. Kevin Reilly participated in the stocking, and hopefully he’ll have some pictures next week.

TU has contributed over $100,000 and countless hours to this project.

Here is the press release from NMDGF:

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Media contact: Dan Williams, (505) 476-8004
Public contact: (505) 476-8000
dan.williams@state.nm.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, JULY 2, 2009:

COMANCHE CREEK RESTOCKED WITH RIO GRANDE CUTTHROAT TROUT

COSTILLA — More than 5,000 native Rio Grande cutthroat trout are swimming in Comanche Creek and its tributaries, contributing to a healthy population of New Mexico’s state fish and beckoning anglers to enjoy some of northern New Mexico finest fishing opportunities and scenery.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish stocked the cutthroats into the river July 2 as part of an ongoing effort to restore pure-strain native trout to more than 150 miles of streams and 25 small lakes in the Rio Costilla watershed. The Comanche Creek portion of the project included about 20 miles of small streams in the Valle Vidal Unit of the Carson National Forest. The project included construction of barriers to prevent non-native fish from traveling upstream, and removal of all non-native fish above the barriers.
“Stocking the native cutthroats back into the streams was the last phase in restoring the pure-strain natives to the Comanche Creek watershed,” fisheries biologist and project coordinator Kirk Patten said. “This project will protect New Mexico’s state fish and help keep the species off state and federal endangered lists. It also will give anglers an opportunity to catch a species of trout found only in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.”
Fishing season on Comanche Creek and the rest of the Valle Vidal is July 1 through Dec. 1. Regulations for Comanche Creek are catch-and-release only, with tackle restricted to artificial flies and lures with single, barbless hooks. The fish stocked throughout the watershed July 2 included 600 12-inchers and 4,500 4-inchers.
“While we encourage anglers to take advantage of this fishing opportunity, we also urge them to handle the native trout with care,” Patten said. “We want to give the fish every opportunity to thrive and spawn.”
For more information about Rio Grande cutthroat trout restoration and angling, please visit www.wildlife.state.nm.us.

NM Senators Ask Park Service to Study Valles Caldera

William Schudlich — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:25:25 +0000

In a press release last week, sentors Bingman and Udall have asked the National Park Service to study the possiblility of making the Valles Caldera National Preserve part of the NPS. This, combined with the ongoing GAO audit of the preserve should provide the impetus to get some serious changes made in the operation of the preserve.

Gila Trout Catch a Flight to Mora.

William Schudlich — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:10:33 +0000

It’s still a tenuous existence for Gila trout. Even thought they were downlisted from “endangered” to “threatened” a couple years ago, there are still so few populations that fish need to be helicoptered out to avoided the ash flows resulting from wildfire.

A couple years ago, fish from the Whiskey Creek lineage were quickly transported to another creek under threat of wildfire. Hopefully, a sustainable replicate population of the Whiskey Creek fish can be established, or that population may be lost.

Year Round Water for the Santa Fe River

William Schudlich — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 06:59:28 +0000

At today’s Santa Fe River Festival, Mayor David Coss and County Commissioner Harry Montoya jointly announced that the parties have come to an agreement that when the Buckman Diversion comes on line in 2011, the county will donate water to the Santa Fe River.

The diversion is expected to provide the county with 2,000 acre feet per year. With expected demand, the couty believes that it can donate 1,000 excess acre feet per year to the river on a temporary basis. Maybe for as long as 10 to 20 years.

While not a permanent solution, at least this is a start to building returning a real recreational fishery to the river. 1,000 acre feet should provide a base flow to the river in times when the city and teh water utility have let the river run dry.

Stone Bouillabaisse

William Schudlich — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:51:47 +0000

Granite Cutthroats

The granite sculpture of 27 Rio Grande cutthroat trout is being installed between the new convention center and city hall. This is a nice tribute to our state fish, but as I wrote a year ago, it is unfortunate that we don’t have any real cutts swimming in the Santa Fe River, a mere couple blocks away.

For a city that considers itself “enlightened,” it is an enormous embarrassment that the city’s river runs dry for a good portion of the year.

The city committed something like 700 acre feet to the river this year after a good snow pack last winter, but the politicians fall short of understanding that the river needs to flow all year round to be a living river that holds living fish. Instead of a sustainable flow, we get a cosmetic flow put on during the summer to impress the tourists.

The mere fact that a city was able to totally shut off a river when they built the dam is unbelievable. They’d never be able to get away with that today. And the city likes to impose conservation measures to make us think we are all saving a valuable resource, but when we peons save water, it just goes into more development.

It’s time.

It’s time the city deal with this problem and commit the water savings from the citizens, not to new development, but to a sustainable year-round flow in our river.

More data needed on San Juan

Greg McReynolds — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:54:53 +0000

Lots of information is flying around about the San Juan below Navajo Dam these days. Unfortunately, almost none of it is grounded in hard scientific data.
Before anyone takes action on the San Juan, a science-based study needs to take place to determine what is changing about the river and what steps might be prudent to correct those problems.
I think pretty much everyone who has watched the San Juan over the last decade would agree that the river is changing. Is that change the result of oil and gas development and is it likely to degrade the fishery? Maybe, maybe not.
I fished the Juan for a couple of hours just last week. I caught some nice fish, but many of the areas I used to fish are now buried under a foot of sand. My experience tells me that fishing is still pretty good, but also that the river is changing. What that experience cannot tell me is what the fishery will look like in five years if it continues along its current trend.
The simple fact is, we need a science-based study to determine what’s going on.
The debate on the San Juan has unfortunately turned into a debate of personalities, which is not helpful. The truth is, most everyone is on the same page about the issues surrounding the river – and that is that there is only circumstantial data either way.
The white paper put together by the New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish is a good start, but it does not really address the heart of the issue, sediment.
Their data, specifically their data on oil and gas impacts on sediment, was flawed. If you read the original study NMGF based their white paper on, you will note that results were flawed because a heavy rain event blew out the sediment screens on roads and well pads. Therefore, the study said that oil and gas was responsible for at least 13 percent of sediment, and likely much more.
Since the sediment study was done, the storm water restrictions of the clean water act were removed in 2005, so it is likely that the sediment from oil and gas has increased further, not even counting the increase of wells and roads on the mesa surrounding the river.
Still, we don’t know where that sediment is entering the river, how it is affecting aquatic invertebrates or how it’s likely to affect the fishery long term.
Because of these gaps in the data, we need to continue working together as sportsmen to ensure that adequate work is done to protect the $38 million fishery below Navajo Dam.
For the time being, our position here in New Mexico is that sufficient research into the causes of increased sediment in the San Juan River below Navajo Dam have not yet been determined, but we, like most other users of the area have seen marked changes in the physiology of the river. We believe that it is important that NMGF, BOR, BLM and USFWS partner in a study to investigate the changes occurring and determine the causes and possible solutions before more sportsmen dollars are spent on restoration efforts.