Mr. Spohn’s wild ride at last has slowed to a modest gallop, an interlude in what arguably has been the most tumultuous four years any Colorado aquatic biologist ever experienced.
Drought. Fires. Dried-up reservoirs. Floods. Then, finally, a touch of pestilence, the crowning episode in a tour of affliction that might have caused a lesser man to consider changing careers even as he was just beginning.
When Jeff Spohn assumed the job as Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist for the upper South Platte River drainage in April 2003, he already had two large strikes against him – even more if you consider that he was 25 years old in his first tour of duty and the territory he inherited had just been expanded by half.
“From Day One, I knew it would be a rebuilding job,” Spohn said of a dilemma that promptly doubled and deepened. “There have been challenges, but I’ve learned a lot. Actually, it’s been a great experience.”
Ah, those challenges. When Spohn two weeks ago supervised the reopening of Antero Reservoir to overwhelming applause, it marked the first time in all those months he could draw a comfortable breath. Spohn has witnessed more disasters than a Colorado Rockies bullpen coach, starting with his first days on the job.
“I was in Bailey looking for a house when I saw a picture in the paper of dead fish in the river at Deckers,” he said of a June rainstorm that marked the first in a series of suffocating flash floods in the Hayman fire zone that continue now.
For the record, Spohn offers the following ranking and commentary of the trials he faced in his first 52 months.
1. The South Platte River around Deckers
“Obviously, this is the one that will last the longest time, a career venture,” Spohn said of the aftermath of the Hayman and Schoonover fires that scorched the drainage. “There’s so much sediment. It’ll be years before it all works through the system and the fishery recovers.”
Since autumn 2003, Spohn has conducted 24 fish surveys in the area, along with a series of studies to determine how different parts of the river react to various flow regimes to predict the suitability of the habitat for trout.
The larger, and continuing, problem rests with the flood-induced movement of heavy gravel that destroys the young of the year, stifling a natural reproduction already impacted by whirling disease. Spohn began stocking fingerling brown and rainbow trout in 2004, fish that have provided greatly improved fishing opportunity, particularly in the stretch above Deckers.
“The entire corridor was performing well until the flash flood last July,” he said of a storm that wiped out an entire highway and killed trout for miles. The biologist is holding his breath until the next one.
2. Elevenmile Reservoir
This largest impoundment in the South Platte system had been drained by half when Spohn arrived. Boat ramps weren’t operable, and many fish had been flushed downstream. He began a furious stocking program that involved both catchable-size trout and fingerlings in deep water at night to avoid northern pike predation.
Spohn’s work load increased mightily with the decision to use the reservoir for egg-taking for kokanee salmon, an exercise that produced 2.27 million eggs last fall.
The payoff for fishermen comes with many more kokanee in the lake to nourish the egg supply, but at a cost of another intense month of labor for Spohn and his crew. The Elevenmile load increases when one considers the recent infestation of New Zealand mud snails in the river below the dam, the pestilence part of the equation.
3. Antero Reservoir
This element has been much discussed during recent weeks with the celebrated reopening with exceptional fishing. But the flourish of large trout obscures the work behind the scenes involving serial fish plants – rainbows, brook, brown and splake – to achieve a working balance that causes fish to grow at a remarkable rate. Through it all, Spohn kept a measured watch against winter kill in a shallow impoundment susceptible to oxygen deprivation.
“The flip side is that the same conditions that created all this growth can cause problems next winter,” he said of a Damoclean sword that could cause him to start the process all over again.
4. The South Platte above Spinney Reservoir
“I’ll be forthright. The tremendous rebound of this stretch of river hangs its hat on the efforts of the researchers and rehabilitators,” Spohn said modestly.
But apart from these reconstruction projects to increase habitat for adult trout, Spohn initiated a program to stock tens of thousands of McConaughy-strain rainbows into the system in an effort to stimulate a spring run of large trout to spice a fishery largely lacking excitement.
5. Tarryall Reservoir
Drained in 2001 for dam repair and dry until 2004, this 175-acre impoundment posed a problem of complete restocking. Beginning in early 2005, Spohn began shuffling his supply of hatchery trout to provide various sizes of rainbow, along with sub-catchable browns and cutthroats.
The trout have been a huge success, but there’s trouble ahead with a growing and toothy population of pike.
“A huge part of my job is trying to manage predatory pike,” Spohn said of a problem that plagues Spinney and Elevenmile as well. “It’s one of those things you have to live with.”
In a region where calamity seems to lurk around every corner, Spohn’s ride seems likely to keep its challenge for years to come.
Staff writer Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
