'Ground-breaking' passage to help fish get up Fountain Creek
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- Created on Thursday, 03 February 2011 23:25
- Written by R. Scott Rappold
(Photo by Christian Murdock)
By R. SCOTT RAPPOLD, THE GAZETTE
The flathead chub and Arkansas darter both are minnow-like, a few inches long, and probably not the inspiration for many fish tales.
But tiny Fountain Creek is what it is, and these are what live in it. There is concern for their numbers in Colorado, and Colorado Springs Utilities and other agencies are expending great effort to protect them.
“People normally care about big fish, sport fish. But these guys are a really important part of the ecosystem and they are an important part of the bird life cycle,” said Carol Baker, watershed manager for Utilities. Blue herons and other birds in the area feed on the fish.
Utilities officials on Thursday unveiled for the media what they called a “ground-breaking” approach to helping the fish navigate over an eight-foot diversion dam south of Colorado Springs: a zig-zagging series of rocky chutes that will help them move upstream to spawn.
According to Utilities, it will be the first such fish passage in the nation for plains species, in a place where people are often surprised to learn fish live at all.
“Fountain Creek has a very diverse native fish community,” said Paul Foutz, aquatic biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
The dam is the obstacle fish face moving up the creek from the Arkansas River, as far north as Colorado Springs. Experts have observed fish trying to jump the dam, which provides water for the nearby Ray Nixon Power Plant. They haven’t had much success, and as a result there are spotty, isolated populations of the fish, Foutz said.
“It’s been identified for quite a long time and has been a concern to the Division of Wildlife,” he said.
The Arkansas darter is listed by the DOW as threatened and is a candidate for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. The DOW considers the flathead chub a species of “special concern” in the state.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Fountain Creek Vision Task Force, which Utilities helped to form to address issues on Fountain Creek as it was seeking approval for its Southern Delivery System water pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir, have both recommended a fish passage.
The passage is not a Southern Delivery System permit requirement, though Baker said it could save Utilities money, by keeping the fish numbers high enough so the federal government does not list them as endangered.
“Once they become endangered it becomes very expensive because we have to ensure their numbers,” she said.
The passage mimics a creek bed, with a rocky bottom and larger rocks that create pools for the fish to rest in as they fight the current. Utilities has spent $30,000 on the design and will share with other agencies the $300,000 cost of construction.
Utilities hopes to build it in 2012.
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