Fish all you want — they’re doomed either way.That’s the bleak message wildlife officials have given at a handful of reservoirs across Colorado and Oregon.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Both states face stark drought forecasts, with some reservoirs expected to run dry by summer’s end.
Given that water managers don’t expect water supplies — or, consequently, the fish that rely on them — to last in those locations, officials have taken special administrative action to remove limits for anglers.“We have a number of reservoirs that we expect to get exceptionally low this year,” said Tyler Hoyt, an assistant district fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.“We took a proactive approach this year and opened the seasons up early to allow anglers to go out and make use of those fish.” In Oregon, the three reservoirs where fishing limits were lifted all store water from the Powder River, a tributary of the Snake River, which flows through the northeast part of the state.
In Colorado, officials recently allowed a period of unlimited fishing on the Antero Reservoir on the South Platte River in the central part of the state and approved another to start Monday on the Nee Noshe Reservoir to the southeast.Water flows out of the Antero Reservoir and into the South Platte River in mid-May.Denver Water is sending the water to the nearby Cheeseman Reservoir to reduce the amount of water that will be lost to evaporation.
Jason Connolly / AFP via Getty Images fileThe lifted restrictions are a result of the historic snow drought that many Western states have experienced this year.Reservoir operators expect some water storage bodies to run dry, and some are also deliberately moving water to other parts of their systems to reduce the amount that will be lost to evaporation.
In these unusual operations, the fish that stock some of these reservoirs will be collateral damag...