Phantom Canyon River Adventure Days

The mission of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is to preserve plants and animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The mission of Trout Unlimited/Rocky Mountain Flycasters (TU/RMF) is to conserve, protect and restore North America’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. Both of these organizations achieve their mission by engaging communities effectively through conservation and education programs and partnerships.

Phantom Canyon Preserve Update

For almost two decades, TU members and TNC staff have cooperated in a combination of recreational, educational, and stewardship activities involving the trout fishery on the North Fork of the Poudre within the Phantom Canyon Preserve. In the early years, the recreational component was a few days of catch and release fishing open to the public with fishing guidance provided by TU volunteers. The stewardship component was TU volunteer labor to maintain approximately 6 miles of primitive foot trail along the river.

In 2007, with the intent of better aligning the missions of both TNC and TU, the public fishing program was modified to include a component of conservation education along with the fishing experience. The revised public fishing program was named River Adventure Days. The stewardship program continued as before.

This is a challenging year economically and so we ask for your patience and understanding as the River Adventure Days, along with the other TNC outreach programs, have been adjusted to comport with the reduced capacity of the Nature Conservancy staff resources to continue TNC’s commitment to the highest priority conservation work.

Dependent on the final plans for Trail/Fishing days in 2010, it appears there will be a similar or perhaps greater number of angler-half-days available to TU volunteers in 2010. Thus, TNC is making every feasible effort to provide the opportunity for TU volunteers to fish at Phantom Canyon, whereas there are other programs not involving TU which have been completely removed from the 2010 list. Looking further ahead, some sections of the river trail will need some realignment and erosion control in the next few years, so it is expected that this will provide additional Trail/Fishing days in future years.

For more information feel free to contact Scott Baily or Guy Turenne with our message form.

Last updated: 14 Feb 2010

Trail Maintenance—Phantom Canyon

River Trail: Trout Unlimited Volunteers

What to expect:

The first part of the day, participants will be divided into two groups; one to work upstream on the river trail the other downstream. Trained leaders will supervise the trail maintenance work. You will be using gas powered weed trimmers to clear the trail of grasses and forbs, hand pruners and saws to prune overhanging shrubs and branches along the sides of the trail and rebuilding rock cairns marking the trail and river crossings. You will be hiking through rocky areas with low brush, poison ivy, nettles, cactus and possibly rattlesnakes, and also wading in and out of the river multiple times. After the trail work is completed, participants will have the opportunity to fish the north fork of the Poudre River and will be distributed throughout the designated river reaches, 2 people per reach, for catch-and-release fly fishing with barbless hooks.

What to bring:

Bring a current Colorado fishing license (there is no place close by to purchase a license), a sack lunch, water, sun/rain/wind protection, sturdy work gloves, wading staff, spare dry clothing and binoculars and camera if desired. Long pants and sleeves are recommended because of stinging nettles and poison ivy. Each participant will need to provide their own fishing equipment and must pre-clean their gear prior to the trip to help protect the river from non-native species. (Please see the Common Sense Disinfection Procedure for details on how you can prepare your equipment.)

There will be a limit of 10 participants plus two leaders for each scheduled trail maintenance day. Leader training is scheduled for Saturday, April 24 and the first Trail Maintenance Day is scheduled for the following Saturday, May 1 with May 2 an alternate day if needed. Two other trail maintenance days are tentatively scheduled for Sunday July 25 and Saturday August 21. In order to volunteer for a trail maintenance day you will have to register with the Nature Conservancy's website. Participants must stay the entire day. The work day begins at the gate off U.S. Highway 287 and will run from 7:30 a.m. to roughly 6:30 p.m.

You can contact Scott Baily or Guy Turenne with our message form.

Last updated: 20 Mar 2010

Other Phantom Canyon

RMF has been doing trail maintenance for some time. Other reports can be found on the Phantom Trail page.