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Restoration work to improve fish habitat on upper Arkansas River

Posted on by david
fishiding artificial fish habitat

LEADVILLE — Fish habitat enhancement work is set to begin later this year on public parts of the upper Arkansas River below the Highway 24 bridge as biologists and engineers with Colorado Parks and Wildlife prepare to restore a section of river that was once mostly lifeless because of decades of mining activity.

The river restoration work is a key part of the federal and state effort to restore the California Gulch Superfund Site, an 18-square-mile area where historic mining activities occurred. Mines in the area created the discharge of heavy metals and acid into California Gulch at the headwaters of the Arkansas River, making the river in that area unable to sustain healthy fish populations. The river currently supports a trout population because of earlier mine cleanup efforts.

Improvements will be centered on an 11-mile stretch of the river from California Gulch downstream to Twobit Gulch. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.

Grant is being prepared to improve fish habitat.

Posted on by david

City has more plans to rock river

More improvements of the fish habitat in the Arkansas River could be on the horizon.

    Pueblo and Trout Unlimited are preparing an application to Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a Fishing is Fun grant to do further work on the Arkansas River through Pueblo.
    “What’s driving it is the higher quality fishing on that reach of river,” said Scott Hobson, assistant city manager for community investment. “We are seeing more fly fishermen in the winter months when streams in other parts of the state are inaccessible.”
    The city wants to add boulder clusters in the Arkansas River from the Juniper Bridge just below Pueblo Dam to Dutch Clark stadium. Agreements reached among water users in 2004 provided greater assurance of flows in winter months by curtailing exchanges when river levels are low.
    A new project, which could cost up to $300,000, would make improvements to the banks, add J-hook jetties and revegetate some areas. Improvements on the previous work and other features would be added.
See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.
     The features allow fish to survive and feed during a variety of conditions along the river.
     “The state grant would be $200,000, but we’re still deciding on whether to break up the project in a couple of parts,” Hobson said.
    The rest of the money would come from fines collected by the state and a small amount from Trout Unlimited.
   The grant is expected to be submitted in March.
    The first part of the restoration of the river was done in 2005-06 as part of the Arkansas River Legacy Project, a long-term effort to improve the river.

By CHRIS WOODKA

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