By Bryan Bird,
WildEarth Guardians,
Cross posted from the WildEarth Guardians website
Outstanding. More than 200 miles of it!
Last week WildEarth Guardians secured the very best protection possible under the Clean Water Act for more than 200 miles of headwater streams of the Colorado, White and Yampa Rivers.
The victory means that these newly designated “outstanding waters” will remain pristine—now and forever.
It also means that Colorado’s cutthroat trout will have a better chance to survive rapidly changing climate conditions because of the added degree of security. And it means that these waters can’t be polluted by activities like fracking, mining, logging and cattle grazing.
The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission approved the “outstanding waters” designation for critical cutthroat trout streams in roadless national forests on the White River National Forest. The downstream communities of Carbondale, Meeker and Craig will also benefit by having source water for drinking water supplies protected by the designation.
The commission supported our proposal for outstanding waters by a vote of 8 to 1, and so too did thousands of our members in Colorado and across the nation—we thank you too!
Outstanding. It’s what we won and it’s how we feel.
And we’re going to keep fighting to secure similar victories for wild forests, pristine waters and native trout all across the American West.
For the Wild,
Bryan Bird
Wild Places Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
To visit the WildEarth Guardians website, click here.
Top photo: “As a work of the United States Government, the image is in the public domain.” /The White River flows through Colorado and Utah.
Second photo: Courtesy of WildEarth Guardians / Bryan Bird
Art, animals, and the earth 