High Country Angler
www.HCAmagazine.com
Fall 2010
In 2005 the Denver Chapter of Trout Unlimitted (DTU) embarked on a journey to complete a river restoration project within our home waters. Meandering through the Denver-metro area, the urban section of the South Plaatte River was an unlikely candidate for any other chapter – not considered a coldwater environment and distressed from decades of developoment and habitat degredation. But what the urban South Platte River lacks as a fishery it makes up for through its proximity to Denver’s urban core, providing young people and the greater Denver-metro community and opportunity to experience a real river ecosystem in their oun backyard.
As designed by longtime TU partner Ecological Resource Consultants, the demonstration project’s main features consist of band stabilization to reduce sediment, the enhancement of an existing connection to an adjoining lake that serves as a place of refuge during exztremely high and low flows, and riffle and pool sequences located in front of a new handicapped-accessible fishing pier adjacent to the existing Carson Nature Center.