An Early Christmas Present from TU.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison!  Its steep, narrowly spaced canyon walls are as literally entrenched into the high plains of western Colorado as it is figuratively carved into the tribal memory of American anglers.  Its name evokes
images of giant 'bows feasting on a prodigious salmon fly hatch right in front of an angler whose focus is momentarily jolted from his taught line by the sight of a mountain sheep perched on a jagged canyon outcropping not 100 feet
away. The physical difficulty of access to the water and the river's status as the signature feature of a national park once dared us to dream that this magical wilderness and its fishery were relatively secure for our children's children. Whirling disease gnawed at the edges of that myth, reminding us that tiny aquatic invaders can do as much damage to the angler's favorite form of bliss as can a crowd. But it was the 2003 federal government abandonment of its right to keep water flowing through this landscape that really shattered that dream. Suddenly, the aspirations of Denver area development interests superseded maintenance of natural conditions in this public trust legacy. Holding a senior water right that they agreed not to invoke, the feds of the Department of the Interior, led by Gale Norton, penned a closed door agreement with the Secretary's homies that would allow farmers, ranchers, cities and utilities with less senior water rights to further reduce the Gunnison's flow -- particularly its peak flows -- past the point where, the scientific community averred, the fish and other wildlife would be decimated. 

Trout Unlimited led six other environmental groups in a suit to quash this agreement (Environmental Defense, High Country Citizens' Alliance, National Parks Conservation Association, Western Colorado Congress, Western Resource
Advocates, and Western Slope Environmental Resource Council). In mid-September, US District Judge Clarence Brimmer found in favor of the plaintiffs, deeming that relinquishing the canyon's older water rights was "nonsensical."  Brimmer wrote, "The court accordingly finds that it was arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion to enter into the agreements and relinquish a 1933 priority."

Like so many such battles, this one will probably not reach a final conclusion in my lifetime. (By month's end, Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard had already sent a letter to US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne urging the latter to help "resolve" the Gunnison water rights issue before the court was petitioned to take on the task. And, again, "resolution" evidently may mean agreement with a minimum of public input and even less attention to the well being of River's fish. "I still believe an out-of-court agreement negotiated between the experts at the Department of the Interior and the state of Colorado is the proper solution,” Allard wrote.) Still, Judge Bimmer's decision was a victory. Drew Peternell, Director of the Trout Unlimited Colorado Water Project and the lawyer who represented conservation interests in this case, suggested that ruling was ". . . a valuable precedent as TU's Western Water Project works to protect flows in rivers and streams across the region." This is what national TU -- and especially its Western Water Project -- is really all about: putting qualified professionals to work identifying and fighting the big battles that set precedents and protect trout on a landscape scale. Congrats and thanks to TU, to its Western Water Project, and especially to the Colorado component of that program!