It was a horrible sight that made fisherman Jim Koenig feel sick: hundreds of lifeless fish bodies -- including dead trout, kokanee salmon and carp -- on the shores of Colorado's McPhee Reservoir. Adding insult to injury, this fish die-off was most likely preventable and the wildlife agencies entrusted to protect the fish and the environment are playing hot potato when it comes to taking responsibility and, most importantly, taking action.
A bad engineering job is keeping fresh water from the Dolores River from entering the reservoir's lakes and ponds. The intake pipe sits above the flow of the river -- rendering it useless in flushing in fresh water. As Jim White, a fish biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, explains to The Journal, “I’m certain they died from lack of dissolved oxygen in the water. The ponds do not have regular flushing, and the fish become trapped in there.”
The problem has an easy solution: fix the intake pipe. Buy no agency has official jurisdiction over the pipe -- and no agency wants that responsibility. It's a bad game of hot potato between The San Juan National Forest, The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, The Dolores Water Conservancy District and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. But hundreds of dead fish in a die-off is no joke. Fisherman Koenig is also frustrated by the lack of support. He's tried to resolve the issue with local and federal authorities for two years.
Sign and share this petition urging federal wildlife officials 1) to resolve the jurisdiction issue and 2) to implement the necessary short- and long-term solutions to prevent more senseless and totally preventable fish die-offs.
Photo Credit: Ben Brophy
