Take a tour of the completed ($5.6 million) Floor Improvement Project – Phase 2: Tailings Enclosure, River Channel Relocation and Riparian Improvements. The tour guide will be Lance MacDonald, Telluride’s project director on all VF improvement projects. Meet at the parking area on the west side of the Conoco station, 100 Society Dr, at 4:00pm.…

Telluride Valley Floor Revegetation and Habitat Enhancement The EPA has completed the tailings removal project in August 2022 – an estimated 60,000 cubic yards of fluvial tailings from Forest Service land in the Valley Floor. Due to higher costs incurred during the removal phase, the revegetation measures were not implemented. Trout Unlimited has proposed a…

River and riparian area restoration work was completed in March on approximately 2/3 mile of the Uncompahgre River north of Main Street in Montrose on the Colorado Outdoors/Mayfly properties. An official dedication/ribbon-cutting was held on Earth Day April 22nd , to commemorate this first phase of this project by the City of Montrose, Mayfly and GGA…

Story and photos by Joel Evans, GGA Over the last several years, Gunnison Gorge Anglers has backed Mayfly Outdoors and Colorado Parks & Wildlife in restoring the Uncompahgre River through downtown Montrose for improved fishing and public access on a river with longtime potential but historically limited fishing opportunity.  Despite deprecated habitat and wildly fluctuating…

Over the last 6 years, Gunnison Gorge Anglers has generated the original seed money at its Troutapalooza fundraiser for the rehabilitation of the river channel on Telluride’s sacred Valley Floor. Named “Best Trout Unlimited Conservation Project” for all of Colorado, our seed money has garnered additional grants totaling millions of dollars to execute this landmark…

Trout Unlimited has expanded their water conservation efforts by getting actively involved in some of the abandoned mines and tailings runoff in the San juan Basin area. Quite a daunting task with over 30,000 abandoned sites in the western U.S.! TU has added a permanent staffer in Montrose to be actively involved in restoration projects affecting…

Between 2009 and 2013, Gunnison Gorge Anglers collaborated with stakeholders to redesign the diversion structure located 4 miles below the North Fork confluence with the main branch of the Gunnison River. The existing structure was operated by the Relief Ditch Irrigation Company in service of a senior water right, a benefit of which is keeping…

Telluride Valley Floor Revegetation and Habitat Enhancement The EPA has completed the tailings removal project in August 2022 – an estimated 60,000 cubic yards of fluvial tailings from Forest Service land in the Valley Floor. Due to higher costs incurred during the removal phase, the revegetation measures were not implemented. Trout Unlimited has proposed a…