Private Water Fly Fishing » Conservation

San Juan River, New Mexico – Improvements for Fly Fishing

Dale Heinemann — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:20:49 +0000

Upgrades aimed at improving fishing on the San Juan

Here’s a story by Jessica Dyer of the Albuquerque Journal on work being done on the popular San Juan River to improve the tailwater fishery for trout.

NAVAJO DAM, N.M. — A trio of wading fly fishermen worked the Texas Hole in search of rainbows and browns last week as the sound of trickling water mixed with motorized purring.

Front-loading tractors hummed and beeped in the background, digging a large hole on the southern edge of the San Juan River.

Upgrades are under way at the world-renowned San Juan tailwater fishery, improvements to the trout habitat that officials hope will keep the anglers coming — and keep them happy.

Catch-and-release trout fishing on the 4-mile stretch of river downstream of the dam lures anglers from across the globe and pumps an estimated $20 million to $30 million into the local economy each year, according to a 2008 report by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

Out-of-state visitors include Chris Arnold of Durango, who reported last week that his success on the San Juan has been waning.

“Three years ago, it was super good, and it’s gotten more difficult over the last three years. When I started out, I was catching 40-50 fish a day sometimes,” he said as he walked away from Texas Hole on a crisp, post-rain afternoon. “. I caught less than 20 today — (about) 12-15. And I had to walk from here down a mile to do it.”

According to the Department of Game and Fish, which maintains the fishery and surveys anglers, the rate of satisfaction remains high.

But operating such a popular fishing destination comes with its share of scrutiny, and critics make their concerns known.

“There’s a group out there that feels the fishing has declined,” said Mike Sloane, the department’s chief of fisheries. “We’re not seeing it in our numbers, but we’re hearing it.”

In an effort to address known issues and to further enhance fishing opportunities, crews are tackling $300,000 worth of improvements. That includes creating a sediment retention pond at the mouth of the Rex Smith wash to slow the flow of sludge that rushes off a nearby mesa and directly into the river.

Marc Wethington, the NMDGF’s fisheries biologist for the San Juan, said sediment has been a recurring problem since 1999. That’s when a dirt berm was constructed next to the Texas Hole parking lot to protect the parking and bathroom facilities from flooding. But the unintentional result was that the berm helped funnel the muddy storm water directly into the river.

“That sediment . covers up the bottom; it smothers the aquatic life on the bottom,” Wethington said.

Crews will also work within “The Braids,” a section of river located approximately a mile below the dam. They will dig holes in the river’s sandstone floor to create pools for trout habitat and use dirt to consolidate some of the islands in an effort to create fewer, but deeper, channels.

“It’s about manipulating the flow to where it benefits the fishery and trout habitat,” Wethington said.

Sloane said the work will also head off problems that may arise if Navajo Dam gets tapped for more water development in the future. The changes under way now would make the fishery more viable in the event of declining flows, he added.

Estimated completion date for the project is Jan. 8.

“I think we’re going to have a good end product,” Wethington said. “I think the bulk of the anglers are going to be happy.”

According to his survey results, most of them already are. Wethington said 98-99 percent of the anglers he questioned last year “were either satisfied, very satisfied or greatly satisfied.”

Wethington said catch rates in the “Special Trout Waters” below Navajo Dam have stayed relatively steady since the mid-1980s, usually in the realm of 1.1 fish hooked per hour. Usage also remains high. Although the last decade saw some dips – Wethington said there were lulls after Sept. 11 and again as the recent recession took hold – the fishery supports approximately 200,000 angler hours annually.

Out-of-staters account for the bulk of the fishing.

Bill Gedeon of Aurora, Colo., visited last week with a large group of friends from Colorado. It’s an annual tradition that he’s been part of for about six years, though some members of the group have been coming far longer.

Gedeon said he’d had limited success in 2011, netting far fewer fish than he had in past years.

“We’re catching fish and we’re seeing fish — there’s a lot of fish — but it just doesn’t seem to be as much as it used to be,” said Gedeon, who still classifies himself as a bit of a beginner. “I heard stories about how this was supposed to be the absolute best fishing place in the country, but maybe I’m just expecting too much, you know?

“I don’t know – maybe some of the construction they’re planning will be an improvement.”

Duane Vandeventer of the Denver area has been fly fishing on the San Juan for more than a decade. He, too, noted last week that his catch rate had dipped to about one fish per day. But Vandeventer said his trip to New Mexico is as much about companionship as the fish and he wasn’t overly troubled by his meager haul.

“One of our friends caught 10 this morning, so part of it is probably the fisherman,” he said with a laugh.

Are you about to lose Fly Fishing in the West FOREVER!

Dale Heinemann — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:48:19 +0000

Fly-fishing industry threatened by Congress

BOB MARSHALL, The Times-Picayune

Published 05:10 a.m., Tuesday, August 23, 2011

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sitting in Hall B of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center last week surrounded by members of the $658 million fly-fishing industry he represents, Jim Klug considered the anti-environment campaign in Congress and had this advice for his fellow businessmen and sportsmen:

“They better wake up to what the House is trying to do before it’s too late,” said Klug, chairman of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. “Our industry depends on a clean environment, and if you take that away, you don’t just take away a hobby and pastime, you take away entire industries.

“No one who cares about fishing or these industries can sit on the sidelines any more. Frankly, a lot of us have just been stunned.”

They are stunned by the comprehensive nature of the House attack and by the politicians leading it.

They were surprised by the billions cut from conservation programs because it made no accounting sense; the investment is a win for taxpayers because the industries the programs support return billions more to the treasury.

More frightening was the long-term agenda for the environment spelled out by the GOP majority in the dozens of policy riders attached to some bills. These included ordering federal agencies not to enforce regulations protecting streamside wetlands, waterfowl-nesting habitat, carbon pollution, pesticide application, roadside runoff and mountaintop mining, among others. These will have no effect on the deficit, but are merely million-dollar giveaways to favored industries.

Then there were the loud attacks against global-warming science and environmental regulatory action by the GOP’s leading presidential candidates, attacks filled with outright falsehoods.

This came the same week a peer-reviewed study published by the National Academy of Sciences warned the current rate of warming could result in the loss of more than half of all trout habitat in Western states during the next 70 years.

Polls show most sportsmen identify themselves as conservatives and Republicans. So this anti-environmental march by their party has left many of them stunned and angry, including Klug.

“I’ve always been a Montana Republican, and I never thought I would see the Republican Party doing this kind of stuff,” he said.

“I guess I think of myself as a Teddy Roosevelt Republican, someone who is conservative fiscally, but who cares about protecting the environment, protecting fish and wildlife, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s smart business, too.”

Klug said the attacks that began soon after the new House took office last January were so massive and unexpected, it took a few months for even his industry to understand the seriousness of the threat. But by the end of the recent debt-ceiling debate, when massive cuts were being demanded in conservation while billions in tax credits for oil and gas were being protected, the industry and individual sportsmen were waking up.

“We have to get involved in two challenges, policy and political,” he said.

The policy challenge, he said, is educating congressmen on the financial impact of cutting conservation programs and hindering green regulations on hundreds of businesses across the nation. In addition to famous tackle manufacturers, the AFFTA estimates there are 650 specialty fly shops in the United States, plus thousands of guides and outfitters that will feel the impacts of a declining environment. And if their business drops, so will thousands of other businesses that ride their economic coattails, including hotels, restaurants and travel.

The political challenge, Klug said, is getting those businesses as well as the nation’s 60 million anglers involved.

“During elections, it’s almost a prerequisite where I live for a candidate to have his or her picture taken fishing in a stream, holding up a trout, acting like they love fishing and hunting,” he said. “But we’ve seen now once they get into office, they vote against our interests in a big way.

“Well, we have to let them know we’re watching — we’re watching every day — and there will be consequences if they vote against our interests. They have to know a clean environment is not just the right thing to do, it’s the things we need to stay in business.”

It’s a powerful message, but there are troubling signs the political establishment doesn’t much care.

While sportsmen’s groups have joined mainline green organizations in lobbying Congress the past few months, the anti-environment riders and program cutbacks continued to flow in the House, some traditional sportsmen’s allies in the Senate have been breaking ranks, and the Obama administration has failed to keep some of the big green promises it made.

Klug admitted it all makes him nervous. He has a feeling the next months and years the industry that provides his living, and the sporting tradition he loves, will be in nothing less than a life-or-death struggle.

“Look, our sport and our industry depend on clean water and a clean environment,” he said. “If some of these things get through, frankly, we won’t be around much longer.

“That’s really the bottom line. That’s what’s at stake here.”

Water to be Next Big Issue in Upcoming Presidential Election

Dale Heinemann — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:11:49 +0000

We in the West and particularly those of us in New Mexico are accutely aware of the limited water resources available to sustain our present life style and that of a growing ecomomy. I saw this article earlier today and wanted to share it’s thoughts on water and politics with your:

Presidential race place to make water a priority

By WILLIAM MCKENZIE – The Dallas Morning News

The West is where most Americans increasingly choose to live. About one out of every three of us lives in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington or Alaska. And many of those still-fast-growing states face serious water challenges.

“Water made the West. And its historic evaporation will unmake it – unless this generation is as creative as its forebears in finding sustainable ways to live within the 20-inch isohyet,” historian David M. Kennedy wrote in Stanford University’s alumni magazine back in 2008.

As Kennedy explained, a 20-inch isohyet is the boundary of an area that gets less than 20 inches of rain each year. That’s also the term meteorologists use to describe an arid region.

Kennedy’s point remains relevant, even more so.

Recurring droughts challenge the West. Droughts not only test the ability of arid metropolitan areas like San Antonio and Phoenix to deliver water to residents and businesses. They also threaten land management and agricultural production across the rural West.

Large swaths of the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and southern Colorado are parched. Stock tanks have dried up, leaving cattle with no place to drink. In some places, the land is too dry for even weeds to grow.

Those parts that are not as parched grow crops that look like stubbles of golden-brown winter wheat. No wonder serious fires have roared across acres of Arizona and New Mexico. And smaller fires threaten acreage on farms and ranches.

That stark reality affects the rest of America because so much of our food comes from western states. If these conditions persist, water shortages will show up in our food bills.

The challenge of finding good water supplies is also a global reality. In places like northern Mexico or sub-Saharan Africa, water shortages or undrinkable water is a fact of life.

All the more reason for 2012 candidates, including President Barack Obama, to make water the next great ecological issue. With westerners like former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Texas Gov. Rick Perry either in the Republican race or likely to join it, you would think this would be a topic some candidates would feel in their bones.

In Perry’s case, he has never supported the kind of money needed to fund Texas’ 50-year water plan. But he has stuck his neck out to designate land for more reservoirs, which are politically unpopular but necessary water sources for Texas’ future.

What Perry, Huntsman and the rest of the GOP field should like is that water issues are largely state and local matters. Managing aquifers and rivers so humans and nature have enough to live on, devising the best conservation strategies and constructing water projects are the types of demands that require strong local and state voices. That’s true even in those places where the federal government plays a significant role because of public lands or water compacts among states.

Washington needs to play a new role, though. Congress should require states to create their own long-term water plans. Some have them, but not all do. And some of those created may be tucked away on dusty shelves and no longer realistic.

Federal officials should not dictate the plans. States should make the calls, because they know local issues best. But they must have plans to get any federal dollars for water proposals. Even 10th Amendment Republicans should be able to live with this kind of creative federalism.

First, though, water issues need a higher profile. The coming presidential race is the place to elevate them.

ABOUT THE WRITER

William McKenzie is an editorial columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Readers may write to him at the Dallas Morning News, Communications Center, Dallas, Texas 75265; e-mail: wmckenzie@dallasnews.com

Fly Fishing Private Water Northern New Mexico January 2011

Dale Heinemann — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:18:42 +0000

See all Flyfishing Properties forsale in Northern New Mexico here: http://www.santafereal-estate.com/NMFlyFishingProperties.html

New Mexico Water Resources to have new Administrator

Dale Heinemann — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:40:30 +0000

Incoming state engineer will face a changing role

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican
Posted: Monday, January 03, 2011
State Engineer John D’Antonio once likened his job of administering New Mexico’s water resources to navigating a field of land mines.

“You want to make enough progress that you keep momentum going forward without going so far that you step on a land mine, like a lawsuit, that stops everything,” D’Antonio said a couple of years ago.

D’Antonio has hit more than one legal land mine during his tenure refereeing over New Mexico’s water, a natural resource critical to the state’s economic and ecological well-being.

Newly inaugurated Gov. Susana Martinez has yet to name a new state engineer.

Martinez’s search committee is chaired by Albuquerque developer and contractor Jack Westman. Search committee members include former environment secretary Peter Maggiore of Los Alamos; Albuquerque lawyer Colin Hunter; Taos County rancher Erminio Martinez; John Jones, chief operating officer for Entranosa Water and Wastewater Association in Albuquerque; and Corrales lawyer Deborah Peacock.

Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said the primary duty of the state engineer is administering water rights, complying with federal river interstate compacts “and continuing to push forward on adjudications.”

Adjudication is the legal process by which a court declares water rights. New Mexico prioritizes water rights on who used water first, also known as “first in time, first in right.” Less than a third of the water rights in the state have been adjudicated. The most senior water rights, in general, belong to tribes and farmers, while towns and utilities have the most junior rights.

“I do think the state engineer’s job is changing because state is changing,” said Wirth, an advisory member on the Senate Water and Natural Resources Committee for the last seven years. “Our population is growing, and we’re experiencing more extreme climate change, so that makes this job that much tougher because we’re dealing with a finite resource.”

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that municipalities are new players at the table,” Wirth said. “They have junior water rights. So under a system of priority administration, when there’s not enough water, junior water rights get shut off first.”

Some people think D’Antonio has overstepped his legal bounds as state engineer. His office is facing two challenges in the state Supreme Court — one over his attempt to regulate water distribution in dry years, and the other over permits issued for private domestic wells.

D’Antonio once said that without better rules for administering water in the state during drought, there’s little but “chaos.”

Wirth said the state engineer has historically been an active player in New Mexico’s economic development. “What’s challenging is it was often done with water rights that weren’t fully adjudicated,” he said. “It is a balance between economic development and water resources.”

Intel in Rio Rancho, for example, wouldn’t exist without water, and the company tried recently to cut a new deal with the state to meet its obligations for water rights.

Cities such as Albuquerque and Santa Fe cannot grow without water.

They compete with tribes and farmers for senior water rights in the state.

New Mexico has to meet those needs and still deliver water promised to Texas from the Pecos River and Rio Grande under interstate stream compacts.

Paula Garcia, executive director of the New Mexico Acequia Association, which advocates for many of the senior water-rights holders in the state, said it was “imperative that the next state engineer be sympathetic to irrigation in New Mexico.”

“One could say that water policy is socio-economic policy,” Garcia wrote via e-mail. “The role of state engineer is not merely to quantify and allocate water from a purely technical point of view. He is also the chief regulator that determines the extent that water is a marketable commodity.”

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.

Great Article on the Economic Benefits of Private Western Trout Hatcheries

Dale Heinemann — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:35:15 +0000

See the Video below the article of our recent stocking of the Rio Ojo Caliente from one of the Colorado Hatcheries!

Private Fish Hatcheries Promote Thousands of Jobs and Billions in Income in the West

FORT COLLINS – A recently completed study by researchers at Colorado State University showed that angler spending supported by the Aquacultural Suppliers of Recreational Fish (ASRF) in the Western region of the United States contribute about $1.9 billion in output and more than 26,000 jobs to the economy of the states in the region. The Western region includes Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Results showed that every dollar of recreational fish sales can be traced to $36 of economic activity, and every $1 million spent on ASRF products is associated with nearly 500 jobs in the Western region. Locally, this implies that production from Colorado recreational fish producers results in an estimated total economic contribution of more than a quarter-billion dollars and about 3,500 jobs.

The research team collected data from 173 private businesses that raise fish for recreational stocking, as well as a sample of their first point-of-sale customers (fishing clubs, dude ranches, etc.) and anglers. Spending information from these three groups was used with a regional economic model that allowed researchers to trace the economic activity associated with the proportion of recreational angling directly supported by the ASRF industry. The study showed the biggest impacts come from supporting recreational angling in freshwater streams, rivers and lakes across the West.

“The difficult part of the analysis was estimating forward linkages from the suppliers of recreational fish to the anglers,” said Craig Bond, resource economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State and principal investigator on the project. “We asked the first point-of-sale customers to estimate the share of their revenue directly related to private fish stocking and used this data in conjunction with the angler survey to estimate spending impacts.”

ASRF producers account for $53 million in direct sales in the Western region. However, when accounting for the forward linkages of the industry – expenditures resulting from the use of ASRF products – the numbers grow dramatically. For example, anglers in Colorado spend, on average, $135 to $138 per angler day, a figure that rises to $179 per angler day in California. Combined with an estimated 7 million ASRF-supported angler days in the Western United States per year using the survey data, this results in about $1 billion in annual expenditures from anglers directly attributable to aquacultural stocking activity done by private businesses. Accounting for “ripple effects,” or the downstream effects of angler expenditures on other industries such as hotels, gasoline stations and grocery stores as well as those industries’ suppliers, the total effect is just under $2 billion in total economic activity.

“Many people are likely aware of the production of fish for food,” Bond said, “but less well known is the contribution made by private aquacultural producers in the West to the recreational fishing opportunities so prized by residents and visitors to the region. Those producers have a significant economic presence in the Western region.”

For more information about the study, visit http://dare.colostate.edu/tools/aquaculture.aspx.

The Economic Contributions of the Aquacultural Suppliers of Recreational Fish (ASRF) study was sponsored by the Western Regional Aquaculture Center (WRAC), whose mission is to support aquaculture research, development, demonstration and education to enhance viable and profitable U.S. aquaculture production for the benefit of consumers, producers, service industries and the American economy.

Fall Fly Fishing at Val Kilmer’s Ranch in Northern New Mexico

Dale Heinemann — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:04:16 +0000

This trip was purchased at the Santa Fe Farmers Market Fall Fiesta in the silent auction. New Mexico Outdoors sponsored the trip with the cooperation of Pam Sawyer of the Kilmer Ranch.

Stocking Private Water in Rio Ojo Caliente, Northern New Mexico

Dale Heinemann — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:35:36 +0000

Val Kilmer’s Pecos River Ranch – Update – The best stretch of fishing river available in New Mexico today!

Dale Heinemann — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:16:32 +0000

The Pecos River Ranch is located 30 miles from Santa Fe and is 5,328 fee simple acres with approximately 6 miles of the Pecos River. The land consists of contiguous acreage with wooded foothills, open meadows and river bottom land. Elevation ranges from 5,500 to 8,000 feet. There is an additional 640 ac State Lease and 832 ac of the deeded acreage is impacted by an existing Conservation Easement.

Newly Added info RE: Commercial Use

“PRR is zoned for a lodging business where guests may stay in 1 of 3 guest houses with option of contracted meals and access to all the amenities of the Ranch. PRR operates guided fly-fishing trips on the Pecos, as well as horse retirement and bording program. PRR runs a location business where the land may be used for special events and movie locations. PRR netted $100,000 in ’09 from business operations.”

Current Price: $23,000,000.00 ($4,317ac)

Call or e-mail for details and/or private preview

End of July Rio de Los Pinos Brown Trout, Northern New Mexico

Dale Heinemann — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:12:44 +0000