Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Leadville Hatchery fish for Twin Lakes and Turquoise Plans to stock Twin Lakes from the Leadville Hatchery are underway now that the hatchery has been declared free of whirling disease, according to the Mountain Mail. From the article, "Anglers can expect a trout fishing revival in Twin and Turquoise lakes this summer as the Leadville National Fish Hatchery resumes stocking after a 12-year hiatus. The hatchery, one of the oldest in the West, was declared free of whirling disease in January after a costly and time-consuming battle to rid its facilities of parasites causing the disease. Now that its water and fish have a clean bill of health, the hatchery will begin in May delivering 10- to 13-inch rainbow and cutthroat trout to reservoirs in Lake and Chaffee counties. Local fishermen are excited about the prospect... "Leadville fishery biologist Carlos Martinez expects the improved fishing will boost the valley's economy. 'When people realize Twin Lake is being stocked every couple weeks when it wasn't stocked before, the economic impact will be in the millions of dollars per year,' Martinez said. The local economy has been without that influx since the Leadville hatchery was forced to stop stocking local reservoirs in 1995 when it was diagnosed with a whirling disease problem. Trout contract whirling disease through a parasite produced by worms. Infected fish become deformed and lose equilibrium, making it difficult for them to evade predators and catch food. The disease affects young trout more than adults and can decimate populations... "The hatchery continued to send fish to lower reservoirs in the valley such as Pueblo, John Martin and Fort Carson, where infected fish are less of a threat to nearby streams. But, after receiving $2 million in federal funding in 2003, the hatchery began the process of freeing itself from the disease. It designed an extensive filtration and ultraviolet zapping system to clean its water before it entered the fish-rearing system. It also decommissioned its earth-bottom rearing ponds." Category: Colorado Water 6:17:26 AM     Springs' Utilities opposed to development om Hoosier Pass? Colorado Springs Utilities is fighting development on Hoosier Pass, according to the summit Daily News (free registration required). From the article, "...developer Tay Loftin's hopes for building on his property in the Quandary Village subdivision, along County Road 805 near Monte Cristo Creek, have soured recently, as the city-owned Colorado Springs Utilities has tried to block him from accessing his lots and has sent letters threatening legal action if he pursues a development application with Summit County... "At issue are potential impacts to Colorado Springs Untilities' water pipeline and collection system, established more than 10 years before the land in the area was platted for development. The Front Range city gets as much as 10 percent of its total municipal water supply from the Blue River watershed by piping it under the Continental Divide. 'Impacts to the pipe or the system could have a significant effect on our customers,' said systems operations manager Scott Campbell. Development and traffic along County Road 805 could 'put our infrastructure and our ability to operate our systems at risk,' Campbell said. 'We don't think it's responsible to ... issue permits until these issues have been resolved,' he added. They have asked Summit County to refrain from issuing building permits in the area, implying that Colorado Springs would go to court to block development until outstanding issues are resolved. At the heart of the matter are several conflicting surveys that make it hard to determine the precise location of lot lines and the path of a non-exclusive utility easement in the subdivision. A number of old survey monuments in the area have been destroyed, and even the most recent mapping effort, using Highway 9 as a reference point, may be flawed." Category: Colorado Water 6:05:44 AM     State of the Rockies From the Summit Daily News (free registration required), "Chris Jackson, manager for the 2007 Colorado College State of the Rockies Project, will lead a discussion of key findings from the report with an emphasis on the impact of climate change and deteriorating forest health to the communities of Colorado's central and northern mountains, including Summit County, starting at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Best Western Lake Dillon Lodge in Frisco." Category: Colorado Water 5:49:16 AM     Global warming: The Earth is a beautifully complex system Here's another article about the IPCC report released Monday, from the Anchorage Daily News. From the article, "In the U.S., Alaska, the Southwest, California and the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are the most seriously threatened, the authors of the new report said at a Washington news conference on Monday... "The North American section, Chapter 14, describes what's happening now and what the authors think will occur as the world heats up. Here are some of the developments it forecasts as 'likely' or 'very likely': "-- By 2039, average temperatures across North America will rise by 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. By 2100, the warming will be 3.6 to 5.4 degrees in the West, South and East, but more than 9 degrees in the far North. "-- Less rain will fall in the Southwest, but more will fall in the rest of the continent. The chances of extreme precipitation and flooding will increase. "-- Trends in hurricane frequency and intensity are uncertain, but there will be more intense mid-latitude storms and extreme wave heights. "-- Shrinking western mountain snowpacks will melt earlier, causing spring floods and drier summers. The Columbia and Colorado rivers will be especially vulnerable. Southwestern states will battle for water. "-- Water levels in the Great Lakes will drop, affecting ship navigation and fishing and exposing buried pollutants. "-- Warmer lake and river water will threaten fish and spread pollution. Surface temperatures in Midwestern lakes could reach 86 degrees. "-- Growing seasons will lengthen for most of the 21st century. Forests will increase by 10 percent to 20 percent. As much as one-third of plant and animal species may be doomed to extinction. "--Sea levels will rise 9 to 18 inches by 2100 along U.S. coasts, higher in Canada and Alaska. Up to 21 percent of coastal wetlands in the mid-Atlantic region will be lost. Higher seas and accompanying storm surges will harm transportation along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. "-- Severe heat waves and more pollution will threaten human health. Chicago can expect 25 percent more heat waves annually. Los Angeles will experience four to eight times as many heat-wave days. Severe hay fever, asthma and other lung disease will mount." Meanwhile, according to Science Daily, "U.S. scientists are preparing a North Pole study, readying instruments that will make year-round observations of the water beneath the Arctic ice cap. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers will investigate changes in the waters of the upper layers of the Arctic Ocean that insulate surface ice from warmer, deeper waters. The expedition is part of a multiyear, multi-institutional program to establish a real-time, autonomous Arctic Observing Network. Two autonomous ice-based observatories will be anchored to the ice and will drift with the natural movement of the ice while observing water properties in the top 2,625 feet of the Arctic Ocean. The buoys are designed to last three years -- about the same lifespan as the ice floes that support them." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 5:42:15 AM

© Copyright 2007 John Orr. Last update: 5/1/07; 9:45:35 AM.