We are excited to partner with Trout Unlimited on an abandoned mine cleanup project in the South Platte Watershed. And once again this year, we are pledging to match Colorado Gives Day donations, dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000 to help support this conservation project!
In addition to matching donations from Anglers All, federal grant support for this cleanup effort will be matched 9-to-1, meaning your gift will have 18-times the impact!
About the Project
The Sacramento Gulch Mill Site reclamation project proposes to reclaim approximately 2,500 cubic yards of mine waste rock, ore stockpile, and a mill pad near the town of Fairplay, on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest in Central Colorado. The Project is a partnership between the US Forest Service and Trout Unlimited.
Sacramento Creek is in the Beaver Creek – Middle Fork South Platte Watershed, which serves as a municipal water supply and a headwaters stream for the gold-medal reaches of the Middle Fork and mainstem South Platte downstream.
Why Sacramento Gulch?
With support from federal and local partners, TU has accomplished four mine reclamation projects in five years across the headwaters of the Upper South Platte River. In 2022, Anglers All ran a similar donation drive, and we were able to help raise $20,000 for the Orphan Boy Mine Project near Alma, Colorado. That project was completed in 2023 and was a huge success.
Systematically, TU is approaching these reclamation sites to improve water quality and habitat conditions, mainly in the Middle Fork of the South Platte drainage. Sacramento Gulch fits right into that plan.
This legacy mine site has been a US Forest Service priority for several years based on metal concentrations measured in the soil and the surface waters of the adjacent wetland. To mitigate impacts to the Sacramento Creek drainage, TU and partners plan to reclaim materials on-site to reduce metals leaching into adjacent wetlands. In addition to reclaiming mine-impacted soils at the site, TU has proposed wetland enhancement to provide ecological uplift to the site and Sacramento Creek.
Sacramento Creek includes brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, and hybridized Colorado River cutthroat trout. The river is primarily a recreational sport fishery and will benefit from improved water quality with mine waste removed from its watershed - as will the downstream reaches of the Middle Fork of the South Platte. Wildlife also use the area and will benefit. The area includes an elk migration corridor, mule deer summer range, and potential lynx habitat area.
How You Can Help
This year for Colorado Gives Day, Anglers All is matching donations up to $10,000. You can help us meet that $20,000 goal! Plus, with the federal grant support, your donations will have a massive impact.
Please visit the Colorado Gives Page for the Sacramento Gulch Mine restoration project. Then give your donation today and revisit the page over the next month to track fundraising progress.
You can also share the page with family and friends over the holiday season, encouraging them to participate in this important water quality project, right here in the South Platte Watershed.
At Anglers All, we are extremely proud to be able to partner with Trout Unlimited and give where we live this holiday season! Together, we can make a conservation impact here in our backyard.
