After a poor snow year, rivers in the West are running low, while hot weather is pushing water temperatures up. That’s bad news for fish and river recreators.
Anglers have encountered fishing restrictions and closures this summer on long stretches of rivers in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.
The Upper Arkansas River in central Colorado, home to a major whitewater rafting industry and a robust wild brown trout fishery, has seen historically low flows and rising water temperatures.
Wildlife officials and water managers there wanted to prevent conditions from getting worse. When river levels drop, water can warm more quickly and hold less oxygen, increasing stress on fish.
In a last-minute deal, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which supplies water to customers near Pueblo, agreed earlier this month to release up to 815 million gallons from Twin Lakes Reservoir into the river.
“In a challenging drought year such as this, keeping water in the river and working collaboratively is a top priority,” said Leann Noga, the district’s executive director.
The extra water will help moderate late-summer water temperatures and releases will continue into the early fall, when brown trout spawn.
“We are experiencing unprecedented low flows and high-water temperatures on the Upper Arkansas River this year and it’s crucial to find ways to help protect the river for its fishery and recreational value,” said Alex Townsend, an aquatic biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the Upper Arkansas River Basin.
The additional water will also give a needed boost to outfitters toward the end of a difficult season. Commercial rafting and guiding contribute roughly $50 to $60 million to the local economy, according to an economic analysis by the Arkansas River Outfitters Association.
For Byron Brown, who owns Browns Canyon Rafting in Buena Vista, it’s been a summer of adapting. His company has run trips on different sections of the river and used smaller boats, like inflatable kayaks, that can more easily navigate obstacles while maintaining the thrill of lower water. But the drought has meant fewer customers, and business is down roughly 50% from last year, he said.
The water releases are already making a difference, Brown said, and will hopefully allow him to operate through Labor Day.
“If we didn't have this extra water, there's a good chance that we may have had to close a little early,” he said. “Before this water was released, we were still running trips; guests were still having a great time out there, but we would definitely get stuck a little more. With all the companies out there, it would kind of clog up a couple different spots.”
Dave McGrath, who owns KODI Rafting in Idaho Springs, Colorado, and runs trips on multiple rivers throughout the state, agreed that the elevated streamflows are making a difference, allowing guides to better navigate the technical conditions created by low water.
“It basically comes down to just making the trip way more enjoyable for the guides and for the customers that are still coming,” he said.
Past collaboration sets the stage
The last-minute effort was likely made possible in part because of a long track record of cooperation on the Arkansas River. A voluntary flow-management program has been in place since 1991, coordinating reservoir releases to maintain flows for rafting and fish. But this year, amid the extreme drought, there wasn’t enough water for the program to operate normally.
So partners found another way to get water into the river. As part of the agreement, the Colorado Water Trust, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Water Conservation Board contributed more than $200,000 to offset revenue that the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District would have received by holding onto the water later in the year.
Blake Mamich, programs director at the Colorado Water Trust, helped put the agreement together. He said it came together in a few weeks, unusually fast for a water transaction.
“Hopefully, it's sort of proof of concept for going forward,” he said, “particularly when we talk about saving some water for the environment in these tough years, what can actually be done and how we can keep the backs of the fish wet, even in these really tough dry years.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
