FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Erin Mooney, (703) 284-9408, TU National Press Secretary
Colorado TU Receives $5,000 Grant to Restore Roan Plateau
Denver, Colo.-- Trout Unlimited (TU), the nation’s oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization, today awarded a $5,000 Embrace-A-Stream grant to Colorado Trout Unlimited, its state council in Colorado. The council and its chapters are partnering with the Center for Native Ecosystems and two church congregations in Denver to do stream restoration work on the Roan Plateau, a unique and threatened habitat for native trout and big game in northwest Colorado.
CTU and its chapters have been engaged for more than 15 years with conservation of native cutthroat trout on the Roan Plateau, both through on-the-ground projects and as advocates for its protection with regard to natural gas development. The Embrace-A-Stream grant will help CTU build on these past efforts with a new initiative focused on improving habitat for native cutthroat trout in the Trapper Creek and Northwater Creek drainages, both of which support conservation populations of at-risk Colorado River Cutthroat trout. CTU will construct habitat improvements to provide greater pool habitat in reaches where pools are very limited along Trapper Creek; complete fencing to improve riparian protection in the Northwater Creek drainage; and plant native willows to help re-establish healthier riparian plant communities in targeted reaches of both streams.
The CTU council also received a $1,500 EAS grant to implement a Virtual Chapter Project, which will strategically employ user-friendly web, presentation and conference technology to reach, teach and motivate a broader audience of potential conservation activists, with a specific focus on new TU members.
Embrace-A-Stream is the flagship grant program for funding TU grassroots conservation efforts. Funding is provided primarily through the support of TU members, with additional support in 2010 provided by Costa del Mar and the FishAmerica Foundation. An Embrace-A-Stream Committee comprised of TU volunteer representatives and scientific advisors evaluates all proposed projects and makes the awards.
In 2010, the Embrace-A-Stream program will provide over $125,000 to 24 projects in 15 states. Projects will address stream habitat restoration, improving fish passage and protecting water quality. Many of the projects will benefit eastern brook trout from Maine to Georgia, and will help protect cutthroat trout in the West as well as coho and Chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Since the program’s inception in 1976, Embrace-A-Stream has funded more than 950 individual projects totaling approximately $4 million. As a result of this funding from Embrace-A-Stream, the projects have leveraged more than $12.7 million in additional funding.
“Through the hard work of TU members across the country, we are able to put our organization’s mission into action,” said Bryan Moore, Vice President for Volunteer Operations and Watershed Programs. “TU's grassroots members work tirelessly to protect and restore the nation's coldwater resources so that they will exist for generations to come.”
Trout Unlimited is North America’s leading coldwater fisheries conservation organization, with more than 140,000 members dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.