There were days in the early 1980s when, if conditions were right, Dave Parri could catch a rainbow trout every 10 minutes while wading in the clear waters of the Colorado River downstream of Granby. 

Parri had traded the overcrowded fisheries of Pennsylvania, where he used to stand shoulder to shoulder with other anglers, for the peaceful waters of Colorado’s High Country when he moved to Grand County in 1979. 

But today the approximately 15-mile stretch of river between Granby and the small community of Parshall — an area once regarded as a premier trout fishery in the U.S. — has fallen into decline. 

“Only the people who fished the river all through the ’80s know how good it was,” said Parri, a 31-year fly fishing and hunting guide. “What used to be large populations of trout turned into next to nothing.”

The construction of the 445-acre-foot Windy Gap Reservoir in 1985, built near the headwaters of the Colorado River to help divert water to more than a million people in the state’s northern Front Range cities, cut that section of river in two. Its dam constricted high seasonal flows, leading to sediment build up, while the reservoir’s shallow basin increased temperatures downstream. Major food sources for trout vanished. The fish population was decimated. 

“It was a thriving, ecologically perfect river that had amazing insect life and trout life … and that was all eliminated,” Parri said. “It was an eye-opener for me and a heartbreaker for me at the same time.”

But things are starting to change, again, this time for the better.

A $33 million project now in its final stages is being hailed as a way to reverse the damage and revive the once pristine waters. 

The Colorado River Connectivity Channel, a roughly mile-long waterway carved along the south side of Windy Gap, reunites the river upstream of the dam near Granby. The connection allows for greater flow levels that will keep sediment moving downriver, balance water temperatures and, officials hope, restore aquatic health. 

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A graphic from Northern Water shows how the new Colorado River Connectivity Channel has reunited the downstream section of river that was severed by the dam.</figcaption><figcaption>Courtesy illustration</figcaption>

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The initiative is the largest of its kind in Colorado and is being spearheaded by a coalition group that includes Windy Gap’s operator, Northern Water. More than two decades in the making, the channel represents an unprecedented show of collaboration between a water provider, local government officials and environmental advocates. 

“We need long-term partnerships to keep our rivers alive,” said Kirk Klancke, president of the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited, a key advocate for the project. “What we are doing in Grand County, I think, needs to be the precedent for every Western Slope county that’s having water diversion problems.”

There are already signs that the connectivity channel, which began delivering flows last fall, is working. Sculpin — a small, bottom-dwelling fish — was found in the waters in September. A primary food source for trout, the species had disappeared in that section of the river after it was dammed. 

But reaching that milestone was a long and arduous road, weighed down by years of negotiations, planning and fundraising. Recreators, advocates and community leaders hope it marks the beginning of a brighter chapter. 

Sounding the alarm 

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Dave Parri casts a line while fishing in the Colorado River near the town of Parshall in Grand County on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. Parri grew up recreating near the headwaters of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania and has been an avid fisher and hunter his whole life.</figcaption><figcaption>Robert Tann/Summit Daily</figcaption>

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It started with the bugs. 

While fishing, Parri remembers spawns of insects so prolific the swarm looked like flurries of snow dancing above the water. During his drives through Byers Canyon, which follows the Colorado River near Hot Sulphur Springs, the sky would be full of stoneflies.

But by the 1990s, locals who’d grown accustomed to bug-splattered windshields noticed their field of vision was becoming clearer. There were fewer and fewer bugs in the area — and that was a problem. 

Grand County property owner and avid angler Bud Isaacs at the time suspected it was indicative of a more widespread environmental problem. He alerted the Colorado chapter of Trout Unlimited — a national nonprofit dedicated to conserving coldwater fisheries — and was among the first to blow the whistle on Windy Gap. Isaacs died in 2022. 

The earliest meetings between Trout Unlimited and Northern Water over how to mitigate the problem began in the late ’90s, but action stalled for years. 

In 2006, Trout Unlimited’s national organization dispatched their lawyer, Mely Whiting, to help in the fight to protect the area’s watershed. Whiting soon embedded herself within the Grand County community, speaking with ranchers, anglers and irrigators who raised concerns over a shrinking Colorado River. 

With Northern Water seeking to build a far larger reservoir on the other side of the Continental Divide, intended to be the new permanent storage area for the water that was being temporarily held at Windy Gap, Whiting and others saw a renewed opportunity to make the connectivity channel a reality. 

Whiting and Trout Unlimited’s local chapter joined forces with Grand County government to push Northern Water to revisit the proposal, which was seen as a condition of the reservoir project moving forward. 

“Our argument was, ‘If you’re going to take more water, at a minimum, you have to fix the problems (Windy Gap) is causing now,'” Whiting said.

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Dave Parri holds a brown trout he caught fishing on the Colorado River near Parshall on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. Parri has been a licensed fishing guide and outfitter since 1992.</figcaption><figcaption>Robert Tann/Summit Daily News</figcaption>

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The water provider was reluctant at first, according to Whiting. But the group was able to bolster its case when Colorado Parks and Wildlife <a href="https://swiftmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/mountain.swiftcom.com/images/sites/2/2024/10/18104320/Neh