Can Fishing at Rocky Mountain National Park Be Saved?

By Daniel Cohen

“Leave it as it is.  The ages have been at work on it and only man can mar it.”

In these spoken words, one can see the clear vision of America’s twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt.  A father of modern conservation, a champion for the preservation of public lands and natural resources, and an avid sportsman, Roosevelt left his legacy in the form of the many lands and waters that he fought to protect. 

His lead was followed by presidents such as Woodrow Wilson and others that served in the years after him.  Wilson formally established Rocky Mountain National Park on January 26, 1915.  The following year, under the Organic Act of 1916, Wilson proclaimed that the purpose of Rocky Mountain and other National Parks was, “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Since the days of its foundation, Rocky Mountain has served as a symbol of natural beauty and an example of America’s dwindling pristine landscape.  In many ways, it has been managed under the accords that Roosevelt and Wilson imagined.  There has been minimal direct resource extraction, the Park has seen little road incursions, and at first glance it may seem as if the area has changed little since the early 1900’s. 

Unfortunately, Park scientists and others who have begun to take a closer look are realizing that the Park is in fact undergoing changes and impairments that may jeopardize its value and worth not only to future generations but to our own as well.

New reports from U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service scientists about poor air quality in Rocky Mountain National Park are raising concerns among the scientific community, conservation groups, and committed anglers who call Park streams their home waters.  According to Keith Keenan, Northeastern Area Vice President of Colorado Trout Unlimited (CTU), retired fishing guide, and longtime resident of nearby Drake, “I originally became involved in this issue last year when I noticed that the smog haze in the valley coming up to Estes Park had been growing continually worse each year for the past few years. I started looking into the problem and found out the situation was much worse than I anticipated.” 

What Keenan found was that researchers in the Park were documenting significant changes in water and soil chemistry as a result of increasingly poor air quality in and around the Park region.

According to Park researchers, air quality problems – specifically increased nitrogen loading – could jeopardize the future of Park fisheries.  

Park ecosystems are already showing signs of nitrogen saturation, and if current trends continue the highly-sensitive Park lakes and streams will begin to acidify.  These dropping levels of pH could impair or ultimately eliminate fish habitats.  Scientists have already observed changes in algae and phytoplankton community structure and warn that these changes, although apparently small, could be a sign that larger impacts are yet to come.   Rocky Mountain National Park Science Officer Terry Terrell explains, “Preliminary model results indicate that at the current rate of annual increase in nitrogen deposition, we can expect die-offs of fish within the next 15 years.  If the rate were to double, this could happen within 5 years.  The Park is taking this very seriously.”

The main cause of increased nitrogen inputs to Park and other watersheds is nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions originating from vehicles and industry along the booming Front Range.  The heavily trafficked Denver/Fort Collins corridor and increasing energy demands for the same area are creating nitrogen levels that exceed the “critical loads” of alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems.  When critical loads are surpassed, these ecosystems lose their ability to buffer further nitrogen inputs and soils and streams begin to acidify.

The park has special significance to Keenan, CTU, and anglers throughout the state as it is a centerpiece of greenback cutthroat trout recovery efforts.  Since 1997, CTU volunteers from the Alpine Anglers Chapter have put in more than 7,000 hours to foster the reintroduction and conservation of Colorado’s threatened state fish.  Rocky Mountain is home to the majority of stable greenback cutthroat populations in the South Platte drainage, and is essential to the recovery and eventual de-listing of the species.  “If current trends continue, the Park’s waters will acidify and we could lose greenbacks and the other Park fisheries enjoyed by thousands of anglers every year,” explained CTU Executive Director David Nickum.  “We’ve seen the early warning signs, and we now have the opportunity and responsibility to make changes that will preserve greenbacks in the Park for future generations.”

To combat further degradation of the Park, CTU joined Environmental Defense in filing a petition with United States Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, a former Colorado Attorney General, urging her to find that Rocky Mountain National Park is impaired for air quality – a finding that would trigger state and federal actions to reduce the pollution sources that threaten the park.  CTU members also wrote letters to Norton urging her to protect the Park from degraded air quality.

As the ninetieth anniversary of Rocky Mountain National Park’s establishment is upon us, it is important to reassess its condition in light of the vision that Roosevelt and Wilson created.  We might ask ourselves, what would visionaries such as they do if they were in our position today?  We are beginning to realize the changes that are affecting even our most protected lands and waters such as the Park.  As anglers, these areas are important not only for the persistence of sensitive trout species such as the greenback, but also for the foundation of our sport.  Because of previous protections, these are the famous waters that anglers from around the United States can come to enjoy every year.  These are the waters that were supposed to remain, “unimpaired”. 

Roosevelt and Wilson likely would be saddened to think of what the Park’s waters will become if they are not afforded protection from this new threat.  Much of the early conservation movement in the United States was fueled by sportsmen such as Roosevelt and it is up to the sportsmen of today to follow suit.  As new information about air and water quality in Rocky Mountain National Park continues to come to light, it is increasingly important that anglers speak out to protect the lakes and streams that we have come to know and appreciate.  You can lend your voice to the Park’s fish by writing to Secretary Norton at: Department of the Interior, Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240.

About The Author 

Daniel Cohen has a degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin.  He currently works for Colorado Trout Unlimited and enjoys spending as much time as possible in Colorado’s backcountry.