Trout Unlimited receives $50,000 for abandoned mine restoration project in Colorado

Contact:
Erin Mooney, Trout Unlimited, (215) 557-2845, emooney@tu.org [1]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Trout Unlimited receives $50,000 for abandoned mine restoration project in Colorado

Commission for Environmental Cooperation grant will help fund Kerber Creek project

Boulder, Colo. — Trout Unlimited's Kerber Creek restoration project received a $50,000 grant from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation to help fund the next phase of restoration work on Kerber Creek, near the town of Salida in southwest Colorado.

Trout Unlimited has worked for six years to restore Kerber Creek from the impacts associated with the effects of mining. In the last three years, Trout Unlimited has spent $1.3 million to improve the stream.

"This grant will allow us to take the next critical step in a project that holds vital importance to the area," said Elizabeth Russell, Trout Unlimited's mine restoration project manager.

The Kerber Creek Restoration Project is a joint partnership between Trout Unlimited, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Bonanza Stakeholders Group (BSG), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), local landowners and other partners.

Historic mine tailings from mining that occurred decades ago have washed down through Kerber Creek and are contributing metals and acid drainage into the waterway. The project will work to treat the mine tailings and will install fish habitat and stream bank stabilization structures.

Trout Unlimited and its partners are working to increase understanding of the environmental issues associated with legacy mining and public awareness of restoration projects.

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Trout Unlimited [2] is a non-profit organization with more than 147,000 members dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. Follow TU on Facebook on Twitter via @TroutUnlimited.