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A Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic researcher holds a Bluehead Sucker, one of the three native fish species CPW is working to conserve in the Colorado River Basin.

MONTROSE, Colo. – Aquatic research scientists on Colorado’s Western Slope have embarked on multiple projects to protect three native fish species endemic to the Upper Colorado River Basin and its tributaries. A new documentary film titled ‘The Native 3’ helps tell that story.

The film, released Friday on CPW’s YouTube and Facebook pages, captures the work of researcher Zachary Hooley-Underwood as he works in critical spawning streams for roundtail chub, flannelmouth sucker and bluehead sucker with the goal of preventing further hybridization with non-native species such as the white sucker. The film was produced by Sean Ender of Peak to Creek films.

“We are really happy to give these three native fish species some exposure to Coloradans and the general population,” Hooley-Underwood said. “They are such a large component of our aquatic ecosystems in the West and perform a lot of essential functions, but not many people know they exist. When you have something unique like this in your ecosystem, you want it to stick around to preserve that natural heritage of the place you live in.”

Ender, owner of Peak to Creek films, said it was impressive to see the work from Hooley-Underwood and the research team and was blown away by the sheer volume of fish they had to process.

“You are never 100% sure what imagery you’ll be able to capture for wildlife projects, and filming fish underwater certainly presents some challenges,” Ender said.  “When the tributaries cleared up later in the season, we came back to film fish making their way back to the main stems. It took some figuring out, but once we started seeing fish swim past the camera, I was really excited because I knew we were going to be able to give viewers a glimpse into their world. I hope this film captures the passion of the biologists because they are absolutely dedicated to the conservation of these native fish and the spectacular migrations they undertake.”

The three species (Flannelmouth Sucker, Bluehead Sucker and Roundtail Chub), perform critical duties within a stream’s ecosystem. Because they are highly migratory members of a fairly small native fish community in the Colorado River, they are critical in the transportation of nutrients throughout the system.

In the spring, these fish travel far up intermittent and small perennial streams to spawn. Their larvae then drift back downstream. Some suckers have been tracked partaking in journeys of more than 500 miles as they travel to spawning tributaries and back through the Colorado River.

“These fish are taking nutrients converted through consumption into headwater streams that otherwise would be nutrient poor,” Hooley-Underwood said. “The effect we see is that they support the plant community and wildlife all along these stream corridors. That’s everything from invertebrates to bears, herons and eagles. They all make use of these fish either through direct consumption or by consuming eggs. It is a cycle unfulfilled by any other aquatic organism that cannot be replaced by non-native or hybridized fish that don’t have that same migratory tendency.”

The rivers and streams of western Colorado below 8,500 feet in elevation comprise the historic native range for the three-species. Evidence suggests the three-species only occupy about 50% of their historic native range in the upper Colorado River basin.

CPW has conducted rigorous research on the three-species’ distribution in Colorado’s rivers and smaller streams to determine their distribution across their native ranges. Each of the species have been lost from at least some of the historically identified sites. Roundtail chub have been the most affected, occupying only 12.5% of sites where they were present before 1980.

Hooley-Underwood credited the work of recently retired aquatic research scientist Kevin Thompson for his breakthroughs in helping CPW understand three-species and developing the study presented in the film back in 2015.

In an effort to enhance the survival of native fish, Hooley-Underwood has taken on a project to protect tributary-spawning native suckers from hybridization with non-native suckers through mechanical exclusion.

“The native fish are so specialized for the conditions they face in the Colorado River Basin where there are drastically different flows in all four seasons,” Hooley-Underwood said. “White suckers don’t do as well in those conditions and, most importantly, they don’t migrate as far. The native suckers will out-migrate white or hybridized suckers, and some river segments just don’t support the invaders as well.

“We’ve undergone this large project throughout western Colorado’s waterways where these invasions from non-native fish have occurred. What we have found is that native suckers really like to spawn in the same tributary year after year. We’ve been able to pick a few of these tributaries that meet all of our conditions where we can control spawning and affect a large component of the population. By ensuring that even a few spawning tributaries are insulated from hybridization, we can help keep pure fish on the landscape in large numbers, even if the Colorado River Basin as a whole goes more toward hybridized fish.”

If the results from Hooley-Underwood’s research on Roubideau Creek on the Gunnison River show success in achieving that goal, Hooley-Underwood said CPW can replicate his project as a management tool on similar streams, including the White and Yampa Rivers.

“I hope the public enjoys learning more about these incredible animals,” Hooley-Underwood said. “A lot of people don’t think of non-game fish like suckers and chub as being pretty fish, but they’ve got this vivid coloration and are such an important component to what we have out here in the West. I’d hate to lose them.”

To learn more about CPW aquatic research projects visit the Aquatics Research Page.

CENTENNIAL – Arapahoe Sheriff Investigators are asking for the public’s help in trying to find the person(s) who fired gunshots into multiple homes in Centennial. It happened around 8:30 p.m. on September 18, 2022. Dispatchers received reports from multiple callers about shots being fired near E. Progress Cir. and S. Flanders Ct. in Centennial. One person who called 911 said they heard five shots being fired, then a vehicle take-off at a high rate of speed while firing five more shots.

•  Another resident who lives in the 5200 block of S. Flanders St. reported his home was struck by a bullet that went through the living room window. The bullet passed through another wall, through a box of toys, and through the armrest of a chair where a 7-year-old boy was playing on his computer (see attached photo). Because the boy was playing a video game, he was leaning forward and missed the bullet by just a few inches.
• Another home in the 5200 block of S. Flanders St. was also struck when a bullet went through the master bathroom window into the shower.
• A few blocks away, another house was hit with gunfire in the 5300 block of S. Dunkirk Way. That bullet went through the back wall of the house and into the kitchen hitting a microwave.

Deputies located multiple shell casings in the area. No one was injured. The investigation is ongoing. The suspect vehicles are described as a black Mustang or Dodge with a loud exhaust and a black BMW 4-door sedan.  Investigators are asking residents who live in the area to please check your doorbell and/or surveillance cameras for any vehicles in the area during that time. If the public has any information about this crime, please contact our Investigations Tipline at 720-874-8477.

Chocolate is wonderful on its own, but this luxurious treat also has the superpower to enhance the flavor of other foods like strawberries, bacon, pretzels, and coffee.

To mark International Chocolate Day on Sept. 13, Lawn Love ranked 2022’s Best Cities for Chocolate Lovers.

We looked among the 190 biggest U.S. cities for abundant chocolate factories and high-quality shops selling chocolate, including chocolatiers, dessert shops, and patisseries. We also considered chocolate-themed entertainment like museums, tours, theme parks, and events.

Check out the 10 sweetest (and 10 bitterest) cities for chocolate lovers below, followed by key insights from our report. (See where your city ranks.)

Key insights:

• Big-city bonbons: New York takes the crown of the chocolate empire at No. 1 overall and in the Access category. The city is home to over 100 chocolate shops and the most chocolate manufacturers in the country.
  
  Las Vegas, at No. 3, is its own Chocolate Sin City, far outnumbering the competition in dessert shops, candy shops, and ice cream shops. Chicago (No. 7) follows closely behind, with the second-highest number of chocolate stores and bakeries.

• Willy Wonka’s West: Indulgent San Francisco (No. 2) is home to industry icon Ghirardelli in addition to a number of smaller artisans and manufacturers. Head to Los Angeles (No. 5) and San Diego (No. 9), boasting plenty of patisseries, candy stores, and dessert shops to satisfy your cocoa-flavored cravings. 
  
  Up north, cities like Seattle (No. 6) and Portland (No. 14) also impress with many high-quality chocolate shops and bakeries, coffee shops, and dessert shops.

• Charming confections: The Sweetest Place on Earth — Hershey, Pennsylvania (No. 4) — might not have a variety of tasty chocolate shops to choose from, but it’s the perfect place to go if you’re looking for the ultimate chocolate-based entertainment: a chocolate theme park. 
  
  If you’re just searching for a good bite of chocolate, you might unexpectedly find it in small cities, such as Des Moines, Iowa (No. 19), Pomona, California (No. 26), and Garden Grove, California (No. 16).

• Desolate desserts: You won’t have many choices for combatting your chocolate cravings in small cities like Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Columbus, Georgia, and Mesquite, Texas, our three worst cities overall.
  
  These cities gave a bittersweet performance across the board, with scarce options for their small-town chocolate lovers.
  

Our full ranking and analysis are available here: https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-cities-chocolate-lovers/

Map courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife

LAMAR, Colo. – Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Monday ordered an emergency public fish salvage at Queens Reservoir about 15 miles north of Lamar in Kiowa County due to declining water levels related to intensifying drought conditions. 

Queens is a warm water irrigation storage reservoir as part of the Great Plains Reservoir system that includes the Neenoshe, Neegrande, Neesopah and Neeskah reservoirs. Water for the reservoirs comes via a series of canals from the Arkansas River.

Queens, which had been dry from 2005-15, had refilled and CPW had re-established fishery with crappie, catfish, bass, saugeye, walleye and wiper, creating a popular angling opportunity. 

But a series of drought years led to increased demands for irrigation water causing Queens to fluctuate. Now, it appears the reservoir may run dry again due to ongoing drought.

“Due to declining water levels and increasing temperatures, Queens Reservoir is in imminent danger of suffering a catastrophic fish-kill,” said Mitch Martin, acting CPW Southeast Region Manager. “Realizing that a large number of fish may be lost, a public fish salvage is hereby authorized effective July 21. 

The public salvage is being announced in order to optimize use of the fishery resource in accordance with Parks and Wildlife Commission Regulation 104.G. The following emergency salvage regulations apply only to Queens Reservoir and only during daylight hours.”

An emergency fish salvage means bag and possession limits, as well as fly-and-lure restrictions, are suspended for Queens Reservoir until this order is lifted. Anglers must use legal fishing methods and a valid Colorado fishing license is required.

Notification of the salvage opening and closure will be made through news releases. And signs will be placed at the reservoir.

This emergency salvage does not include adjacent reservoirs. All bag limits and fly-and-lure restrictions are still in place and being enforced at Neenoshe, Neegrande, Neesopah and Neeskah reservoirs, Martin said.

The string of reservoirs are part of the Queens State Wildlife Area, which covers 13,886 acres. The Queens SWA offers camping, boating, and hunting, especially deer, pheasant, bobwhite quail, dove, rabbit, squirrel and waterfowl.