Roan agreement protects fish and fishing

By Chris Hunt

Fly fishing the Western backcountry has its perils, not the least of which are potential run-ins with furry critters with teeth and fangs. These encounters happen infrequently, thankfully, but most of us who’ve spent a significant amount of time off the trail have some lively tales to tell of bears, moose … even mountain lions.

And maybe no place in the West offers the backcountry fly fisher the promise of willing wild trout and the chance to see—up close and otherwise—the iconic carnivores that spur the imagination and boost the adrenaline like western Colorado’s Roan Plateau.

Home to genetically pure native Colorado River cutthroat trout that have evolved for eons above a complex of waterfalls in tiny willow-shrouded streams, the Roan is a hopeful reminder that intact habitat translates directly into the fishing that inspires campfire tales told to grandkids many, many years from now. And that intact habitat also means that black bears, mule deer, elk and cougars all share the landscape and all reap the benefits when a place is left generally as it should be. Wild. Open. Clean.

Today, the Roan Plateau—and its fish and game—got a reprieve. Today, Trout Unlimited and our conservation partners can revel in the Roan’s immediate security, with the understanding that we get the rare chance to reset the natural gas leasing and drilling process that has kept the Roan’s future in doubt for years. Thanks to an agreement among sportsmen, conservationists, the federal Bureau of Land Management and the oil and gas leaseholders on the Roan, we get the opportunity to craft a plan that works for the Roan’s native trout, for its rich wildlife resources and for the energy interests that help drive the nation’s economy.

The agreement cancels the ill-conceived leases originally sold in 2008 atop the plateau, including those leases in the Trapper and Northwater creek drainages, where the Roan’s native cutthroats swim. It also makes it possible to negotiate the protection of important migratory corridors for deer, elk and pronghorn at the bottom of the Roan, enabling these prized game herds the opportunity to reach and use the prime summer habitat atop the plateau and the vital winter range at its base. 

What’s more, the settlement paves the way for a $500,000 donation to the conservation partners from the Bill Barrett Corp., the largest lease-holder on the Roan, for conservation work. This is money that can be used to enhance fish and game habitat, reintroduce native cutthroats into other Roan streams, like Parachute Creek, or to do simple restoration work, like the work that's been done for years by TU chapters in Colorado.

For American anglers and hunters who all own a slice of this public-lands paradise, this agreement could be what protects our sporting opportunity on the Roan, and the long-term economy of this corner of western Colorado—perhaps the nation’s premier mule deer and elk hunting destination.

It makes it possible to continue making the thigh-burning trek into the Roan’s steep canyons in search of wild trout. It makes it possible—from a safe distance, hopefully—to watch a massive black bear thunder through the firs, or watch in wonder as a yearling lion trots confidently down a Jeep trail deep in the heart of some of Colorado’s wildest country.

As sportsmen, we have an opportunity to ensure our valuable energy resources are developed properly, and that the effort to recover natural gas doesn’t trash our opportunity to fish and hunt on land that belongs to all of us.

In short, thanks to this agreement, we now have the opportunity to do things correctly and collaboratively. It helps to know what you’re fighting for—and the Roan’s wild wonders have been worth the effort.

And they always will be.