FORT COLLINS — Wildlife officials say trout are abandoning the Big Thompson and St. Vrain rivers by the thousands after the September 2013 floods because portions of their streams were destroyed by reconstruction of three Colorado highways. Officials said their top priority after the flood was restoring highways and access for residents.
Permitting processes to build roads that usually take years were condensed into weeks. Environmental concerns had to be bypassed in some stretches. To comply with agreements it made, the state Department of Transportation is required to make fish-rescue and river restoration part of its long-term plan to rebuild U.S. 34, where most environmental concerns were pushed aside to get the road built before Thanksgiving.
Anglers, meanwhile, have mourned the loss of two of the best fisheries in northern Colorado, the Big Thompson and the St. Vrain.
