Colorado waters under the gun

DENVER - Some Colorado lakes, streams and wetlands are especially vulnerable to pollution, unrestricted drainage or destruction, according to a report compiled jointly by the National Wildlife Federation, Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited.

Included in the report are five Colorado waterways that have lost protection from these threats as a result of Supreme Court decisions affecting the Clean Water Act.

Report author Dennis Buechler is Director Emeritus of the Colorado Wildlife Federation. He says the areas include some rare high-altitude wetlands near Fairplay called fins, which provide important habitat for birds, bears and deer, while also keeping waters clean downstream for trout.

"The flows that come off of this fin end up in the middle fork of the South Platte River, which everybody knows is a highly-prized trout fishery."

Also included in the report are Hidden Lake, an 88-acre lake in Westminster, and playa wetlands in Washington County. Beuchler points out that some believe Colorado has already lost more than half of its original wetlands. He believes the best thing for Colorado's waters would be to restore the Clean Water Act to the way it was before the Supreme Court got involved.

"The developers, the highway departments and everybody was working just fine with the Act. There was no need for the Supreme Court to get in the middle of this thing and muck it up."

He says the loss of protections are the result of two Supreme Court cases, including complex rulings that only "navigable waters" are eligible for protection, which has led to confusion over what is defined as "navigable." The Clean Water Restoration Act, which would restore protections to the areas mentioned in the report, has been stalled in Congress for many months.

The report, "Courting Disaster: How the Supreme Court has Broken the Clean Water Act and Why Congress Must Fix It," is online at www.nwf.org.