The true gold of Colorado lies not beneath the earth, but on top, in its reservoirs, lakes, rivers and creeks. Water, that precious commodity, has changed the economic dynamics of Colorado over the past few decades and will influence our growth and quality of life for the future.
When I was growing up in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado, water always seemed plentiful. Irrigation ditches were often full, carrying water to fields of watermelons, cantaloupes, sugar beets, winter wheat, corn, milo and alfalfa. But the availability of water is no longer taken for granted, and it remains a commodity worthy of lengthy court battles spawning an all-too-common term — water rights.
Battles over water between states such as Colorado and Kansas have gone on for years, but in the latter part of the last century battles between municipalities, farmers and population centers and even concerns between residents of the West Slope and East arose. With our state’s population growth, particularly in urban areas, coupled with 12 years of drought conditions in the southeast, the situation has become critical.
The last two — now going into three — years have seen precipitation levels in the southeast at historic lows. This has brought with it scenes reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days, which directly hit several counties in the southeast.
So how does all this affect fish and wildlife? I am not a lawyer and can only carry on a limited discussion regarding the legal issues, but being a conservationist I can relay the impact and change in our state’s wildlife and fishing resources, particularly in the southeast.
My first experience in seeing the impact of water for wildlife was in 1962, when, as a boy, I watched the complete draining of the prominent southeast Colorado water impoundment, John Martin Reservoir. What a dismal sight to see tens of thousands of fish, half dead and half alive, being dumped into the spillway of the dam and watch as folks sorted out the more desirable fish with unlimited creel limits.
My dad and I spent time going through dying fish in small pockets of water along the Amity Canal to either save the good fish for the freezer or move them to one of the two Verhoeff Lakes located within a mile of the dam and owned by the family of my friend Lance Verhoeff.
Those lakes held an abundance of fish and annually hosted up to 30,000 wintering geese and a higher number of ducks. These lakes were so supportive of waterfowl that they were used in the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s frequent aerial waterfowl counts in the fall and often served as a banding site for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, these lakes were a premier nesting area for the endangered least tern and piping plover, neither of which has successfully nested in the former lakes area since they were ordered drained in 2002. When Lance fought the draining based on its refuge for hundreds of species of birds and wildlife, he learned the legal truth: Fish and wildlife have no rights, nor do they impact water-rights issues.
Over the ensuing decades Coloradans and nonresidents hunted and fished popular southeast areas such as Turks Pond, Two Buttes, Queens State Wildlife Area, Nee Noshe Reservoir, Timber Lake, Purgatory Wildlife Area, Verhoeff Lakes and, to the north, Bonny Reservoir. During this time, fall aerial waterfowl counts by the Colorado Division of Wildlife would routinely show astonishing numbers of birds, such as 150,000 geese, in the southeast area. Each of these bodies of water held sufficient water to provide our state and visiting sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts with excellent hunting, fishing and camping recreation.
Now only a few of those remain, the others drained at the direction of the state to stop the holding of water and/or to honor higher priority water rights, including with neighboring states.
Two years ago we witnessed the destruction (actually draining) of Bonny Reservoir, and with it all the fish and wildlife it supported — victims of water issues with neighboring states. And as recently as this spring, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced unlimited creel limits at Lake Henry and Antero Reservoir because of draining caused by drought conditions.
We have learned the impact of Mother Nature and that we must endure whatever she ushers in each year. However, the man-made challenges to water can be balanced and need to pay attention to all users, including wildlife.
We know we must provide sufficient water for our cities and for those who till the land, but we must figure out a way to leave and maintain enough for our fish and wildlife and be good shepherds to those fantastic natural resources.
We cannot tolerate a Silent Spring void of the sound of fish rising in rushing waters, wings beating overhead or geese honking on their return journey north. We hold their fate in our hands, and we must enact water policies that will allow future generations to participate in our great outdoors.
Kirk Davidson is a fourth-generation native of southeast Colorado. He can be reached at 303-927-1949 or firstname.lastname@example.org.