Driving the West’s highways, you can’t help but
notice the blue “Adopt a Highway” signs announcing who’s agreed to
pick up trash beside the road. Now, the Colorado Water Conservation
Board has started a similar program to help monitor stream flows.
The agency is responsible for maintaining adequate water levels in
1,300 of the most fish-friendly streams in the state, but staff
can’t keep an eye on every stream. So in 1996, they contacted
Colorado Trout Unlimited to help put together a volunteer
stream-monitoring effort. Thanks to a grant from Great Colorado
Outdoors and matching funds from Trout Unlimited and the Silver
Trout Foundation, the pilot program “Adopt an Instream Flow” is
under way. Volunteers act as the “eyes and ears’ of the agency –
checking gauges and alerting agency staff when flows are low.
Program director Jeff Baessler says he’s looking for energetic
groups to volunteer for this new initiative.
If
your group is interested in adopting a stream, contact Jeff
Baessler at 303/866-3441 or
jeffery.baessler@state.co.us.
* Stanley
Yung
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Adopt a stream.
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