To implement a plan that would enhance sport fishing while protecting native species, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has stocked sterile walleye in two southwest Colorado reservoirs.
The plants in Puett and Narraguinnep reservoirs near Cortez will be repeated every five years as part of an agreement to facilitate a recovery program for threatened fish. Previously, fertile fish had been planted; sterile fish grow faster and reach larger size.
In an extension of the effort, DOW is rewriting management plans for several northwest Colorado lakes with the hope of stocking sterile walleye in 2009.
More water for ducks.
Ducks Unlimited has joined the Bureau of Land Management in restoring a wetland in the flood plain of the Conejos River near its confluence with the Rio Grande in the southern San Luis Valley.
The project created four new water dikes while improving irrigation channels and installing 15 water control structures. The 300-acre unit potentially benefits 70 bird species, including ducks, geese and sandhill cranes.
Guide school.
Classes begin May 12 for the professional fly-fishing guide program offered by the Colorado Mountain College-Timberline Campus in Leadville.
The six-week course offers a certificate program in fly-fishing, aquatic entomology, outdoor leadership skills, first-aid/CPR and small business management — training useful in starting a guide business.
For information, 719-486-4292 or .
Spring poachers guilty.
Two Colorado Springs men, Edward Maestas and Manuel Garcia, each paid fines of $2,947 after pleading guilty to illegally killing an elk at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Teller County. They also were assessed 30 penalty points against their licenses.
The case was solved when tourists snapped a photo of the men loading the elk on a truck. Citizens identified the men when the photo appeared in newspapers.
