Outlaw Triangle

An Overview of the Outlaw Triangle

Online Editors — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:34:02 -0400

The Outlaw Triangle is one of the most unique sporting regions in the lower 48. It's actually composed of two special places, the Little Mountain region of Wyoming, and the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam in far northeastern Utah. It's called the Outlaw Triangle because Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid used the area as a hideout in the late 1800s.
The trophy trout fishing in the Green below Flaming Gorge Dam actually extends all the way downstream into the way to the Colorado border, but the first 20 or 30 miles or so of this prized tailwater could rightfully be included in the West’s “top 10 list of best trout fisheries.” Huge brown and rainbow trout chase flies and lures in the three “sections” of the river, giving the Green the reputation as a trophy fishery. Couple that with the splendor of the canyon, and the need to protect this special place is magnified. Trout Unlimited and Field & Stream are working to achieve “Scenic” designation for this stretch of the Green, simply to ensure that it remains the pristine angling paradise it is today for generations to come.

Currently there is a proposal to pump 250,000 acre-feet of water out of the Green River annually, then to pipe it across Wyoming and down to the front range of Colorado. If this were to happen, both the fishery on the reservoir, and the tailwater would be dramatically threatened.

If the Green is vital as an irreplaceable fishery to anglers, the Little Mountain region of Wyoming, just a stone’s throw to the north of the river, is just as important to hunters. Home to trophy herds of elk and mule deer, as well as the occasional moose and thriving herds of pronghorn, Little Mountain is one of the Intermountain Region’s most-prized destinations for big game hunting. In addition to its massive herds, the region also boasts sage grouse and, in its aspen-cloaked slopes, ruffed grouse, making it an all-around destination for hunters.

Little Mountain isn’t without its attraction to the backcountry angler, either. Several populations of native Colorado River cutthroat trout swim in hidden streams on Little Mountain, making for some unique adventure for the “cast and blast” sportsman interested in a truly special experience in a remote, yet accessible public lands paradise.

Unfortunately, Little Mountain has captured the interest of the natural gas industry—proposals exist that would transform this sportsmen’s dreamscape into something significantly less. Trout Unlimited is working with local stakeholders in the communities of Rock Springs and Green River—many of them industry workers themselves—to craft a plan that would allow for responsible natural gas drilling while protecting the unique resources of this treasured landscape.

Even with a glut of natural gas on the market, however, and with prices reflecting that, industry in the West, and on Little Mountain in particular, is aggressively pursuing new “inventory,” presumably to ensure a long-term future for drilling on public lands in the West. While TU and Field & Stream aren’t opposed to developing our domestic resources, there is legitimate concern that irresponsible planning and extraction will continue to erode our sporting opportunity, which is a huge part of the Western culture and heritage.

What’s in the Green?
Fishing assets: Trophy rainbow and brown trout, a few lake trout a few cutthroat trout, and native whitefish.
Hunting assets: Big bucks and big bulls haunt the rims of the canyon. Ruffed and blue grouse, excellent fall waterfowl hunting.
Other: The Green is one of the best backcountry floats in the nation, winding through a largely inaccessible canyon, apart from just a handful off put-in and take-out points.

Threats: Continued development in the region is stressing the viability of the resource. Keeping it like it is today is becoming a larger priority for all sportsmen and women in the region. Currently there is a proposal to pump 250,000 acre feet of water out of the Green River annually, then to pipe it across Wyoming and down to the front range of Colorado.

What’s on Little Mountain?
Fishing assets: Native Colorado River cutthroat trout.
Hunting assets: Deer, elk, pronghorn, sage grouse, ruffed grouse, bear, lion.
Other: It’s a recreational retreat for surrounding local communities.

Threats: Oil and gas drilling on Little Mountain could sully otherwise healthy native trout streams and bisect irreplaceable big-game habitat, infringing on opportunity for all who fish and hunt.

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Outlaw Triangle, Day Three

Online Editors — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:22:21 -0400

Senior Editor Colin Kearns and photographer Kevin Cooley spent three days exploring what’s at stake in the battle for water in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the consequences of irresponsible drilling for oil and gas in Wyoming’s Little Mountain region. Here’s what they found on day three.

The plan for day three is to fish. That’s about it. No plane tours. No Wyoming safaris. No sunset cruises around the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. And I’m OK with that. It’s been an amazing trip so far, but it’s been busy, and the prospect of spending the day on a drift boat fishing the B Section of the Green River followed by an evening with a hot meal, cold beers, and a few rounds of horseshoes, well, that’s sounds better than OK.

As good as the fishing on the A Section had been on day one, we’d been told to expect even better action on the B. This is where the guides have been seeing the type of dry-fly fishing the Green is famous for, and where some of the biggest brown trout below Flaming Gorge Dam gorge on terrestrials. I hop in a boat with Casey Snider and Kathy Lynch, both with Trout Unlimited, and Snider and I quickly start drilling the seams and banks.

Snider and I each land a trout early on, but the fishing is pretty slow for everyone. Fortunately, the company on the drift boat is great. Lynch is as passionate about her work and the outdoors as anyone I’ve ever met. And although Snider is just a couple of weeks into his job, you can just tell that TU made a smart move to recruit him to help fight the pipeline.

In the past couple of days, we’ve talked at length about the effects the pipeline would have on the fish and the river. But there’s another victim in this story, and one that stands to take a serious hit if and when the pipeline arrives: the community. “That’s the other part to all of this,” Lynch said. “Granted, these numbers are old, but in 2001 the government tried to figure out what the economic value of the area is, and of the reservoir and the river together—the greater Flaming Gorge recreational area—the government found it generated $125 million annually for the communities.” And in Wyoming, more than $10 million is spent annually on recreational fishing in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Fishing not only brings money to the community, but plenty of jobs, too. According to the 2000 census, 47 percent of all jobs in Daggett County are attributed to tourism. “The number-two private employer in the country is Flaming Gorge Resort,” Snider said. That would be the same Flaming Gorge Resort that’s been guiding us on the river and providing our lunches.

When you add all of this together, you start to envision the disastrous chain of evente pipeline could create: First, the water levels and water quality in the river and reservoir decline. Next, the fish suffer. A decline in the fishery means anglers and tourists have less reason to travel to the area and spend money on things like lodging, food, tackle, and guide service.

Under these circumstances, how long could an outfitter stay afloat?

“For sure, we’d suffer right along with the fishing,” said Kevin Clegg, owner of Flaming Gorge Resort. “All of Daggett County, which is pretty small, is totally driven by the reservoir and the river—by tourism and visitation to the area. Pretty much everyone who comes to our resort is here to do something on the reservoir or the river.”

Or a marina?

“Well, all of our dock structure would have to be moved because the water levels would be so low,” said Jerry Taylor, owner of Lucerne Valley Marina. “And you can just imagine the cost involved in that.”

Or a lodge?

“That’s easy: We’d basically have to close our doors,” said George Stephen, co-manager of Spring Creek Guest Ranch where we’ve been staying the past few days. “They’re talking about lower flow rates and devastation to the habitat of the fishing, and 95 percent of our customers are fisherman on the Green River. The effects would be seen right away. The bed-and-breakfast might be able to remain, but I seriously doubt it.”

A decline in water quality, a devastated fishery, a drop in tourism, lost jobs, and millions of dollars in lost business: How can one honestly justify all of that loss just for some pipeline? How can there not be an alternative?

***

After we finish another amazing meal at the Spring Creek Guest Ranch—our last one sadly—we waste little time before rushing back to the horseshoe pit. We manage to finish the game with some sunlight leftover, so we start another. By the time this match ends it’s dark and the stakes are barely visible. Still, we keep tossing. Eventually it’s so dark—and the threat of a busted shin is so inevitable—that we park a pickup alongside the pit and turn on the headlights. It helps only slightly, but still enough to keep playing, which we do. We keep playing until around 11 p.m. It’s as if we don’t want the game—or this trip—to end. —Colin Kearns

Click here to see more photos from day three.

Exploring the Outlaw Triangle: Day Three

Online Editors — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:14:58 -0400

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Outlaw Triangle, Day Two

Online Editors — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:59:23 -0400

Dwayne Meadows, of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, glances at a map of the region. That checkerboard pattern? All of those colored blocks indicated leases for energy development.

Today starts early. The breakfast bell rings at 5:30 a.m. By six, we’re in the in the trucks headed toward Little Mountain to view some wildlife—and we don’t have to wait long. By 6:30, we’ve already seen mule deer, pronghorns, one moose, and a pack of wild horses. The crew from Trout Unlimited wasn’t kidding when they said this area was rich with wildlife. I mean, wild horses.

We take it slow on Little Mountain’s dirt roads. We do this because the land—decorated with wild flowers, bitterbrush, sagebrush, junipers, and aspen trees—deserves to be appreciated. Even the patches of dead junipers, killed long ago by wildfire, are beautiful in their own way—twisted and bare and pale like a league of freak skeletons frozen on the land. We take it slow so as to not disturb the animals, which we can’t seem to travel a quarter-mile without spotting, be it a mule deer doe with her fawns or a pack of antelope or a nest of juvenile hawks. Life thrives here.

Little Mountain is home to trophy herds of elk and muleys and is one of the Intermountain Region’s most iconic escapes for big-game hunting. Add to that populations of sage grouse and ruffed grouse and backcountry creeks with native Colorado cutthroat trout, and you can understand how a sportsman could come here and never want to leave. Unfortunately, places this good can attract the wrong kind of attention. In Little Mountain’s case, that attention has come from the natural gas industry.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is be pragmatic, you know, realistic,” said Steven Brutger, Wyoming Energy Coordinator for TU’s Sportsman’s Conservation Project, of the situation on Little Mountain. “We don’t want the next Jonah Field, nor do we want a national monument. Something in the middle is fine. We’re trying to find a reasonable solution where we isolate the really critical areas, like Trout Creek—spots where it just doesn’t make sense to develop it. Then there are other areas where under very careful stipulations you can have some development. And then there are some other areas where maybe more traditional methods and approaches to development can take place. So we’re trying to work out that blend.”

We keep driving, occasionally stopping to get out and observe the region from up high. From certain views you can see Little Mountain, the Green River, and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, and you realize how connected these places are—how a threat in one area has the potential to impact and threaten another. What you don’t see are state lines: The land, water, and mountains you see belong to everyone, and now that you’ve seen how special they are you want to do what’s necessary to make sure they stay that way.

We exit the trucks again and walk toward the edge of a high slope that peers into a valley cloaked with aspens. And there, hundreds of yards away, we finally glass a bull elk ambling into an opening. Then we see another and another and another, until a band of seven or more bulls is in sight. Dave Glenn bugles, but the elk do not trust the call and sprint into the trees. It takes us all a minute or so to walk back to the trucks, and just before we climb in someone spots movement straight ahead: it’s the elk. In the time it’s taken us to walk 70 yards, they’ve covered hundreds. I glance up in time to see the last bull disappear over the edge of a downslope.

***

Five-weight in hand, I look down into the valley where Trout Creek winds. I could just get in the truck and drive down to a spot farther downstream, or I could hike down the 600-foot slope that’s thick with brush and soon be casting to native Colorado cutthroats. If only all decisions were this easy.

I’d been looking forward to fishing Trout Creek since the second Brutger told me about it after I arrived. Now that I’m here, I’m so excited that I’m having trouble with my knots. The stream is only a few feet wide. If you want to walk along the other side of the bank, you jump across. The water is shallow and clear, making it hard for the fish to hide. If you don’t see one, you don’t cast. Best of all, the water is ours—at least for today. Because Trout Creek is tough to access and because of its proximity to one of the most famous trout rivers in the country, few anglers know about this spot.

“You saw more people fish the Green in one day yesterday than have ever fished here,” Brutger said.

I walk downstream and eventually run into Brett Prettyman who is casting a small black streamer to a fish holding in a riffle. The fish won’t strike, so Prettyman lets me have a shot. I make a sloppy-but-good-enough cast, and the trout rose and took my foam beetle on the first drift.

At some point I get separated from the others, and for awhile it feels like I have the place all to myself. I cast to every trout I see and eventually get the hang of landing the fly in such narrow water. And after I switch to a small yellow hopper—a fly that’s been sitting in my box since I tied it back in college, probably ten years ago—the strikes become almost automatic.

This is one of those days of fishing where everything—the setting, the water, the fish, and the fishing—is right, and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a day of fishing more in my life. So hours later, when I meet up with another angler in our downstream, I’m fine with breaking down my rod and walking to the trucks—even if I am skipping over fish that I haven’t cast to yet. Trout Creek has been good enough to me already.

***

That evening we hop aboard two pontoon boats and cruise Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Jerry Taylor, owner of Lucerne Valley Marina, is behind the wheel on our boat. As he steers, he talks about the lake’s history, its fishing, and the likely consequences of the pipeline. Taylor has a vivid way of painting a picture: We motor just a short ways from the dock and after we cross an imaginary line on the water, Taylor informs us that this would be a very different boat ride if the pipeline was in place, sucking 80 billion gallons of water from the reservoir annually.

“This would be gone,” he said. “There would be no water. The only ramp that would be in the water at that boat level would be Lucerne. All of the others around the lake would be high and dry and would have to be built down in order to get them to float.” Taylor added that the Forest Service would be required by legislation to provide access by rebuilding the ramps, but that would cost tens of millions.

Dave Glenn, who is listening to Taylor’s grim forecast with the rest of us, chimes in: “Over 40 years, the reservoir would drop from 40,000 acres to 15,000 acres. The water temperature would go up, and all of the fish here—the lake trout, browns, rainbows, bass, kokanee—all of those fish are going to get hammered and consolidated. This is a world-class fishery! And the flow down below where we fished yesterday would drop, and the fish would be toast.”

About the only optimistic notes uttered tonight came after dinner. We’d docked the boats and joined many others from the region—guides, marina workers, business owners, mayors—for a barbecue. Rest assured these citizens are prepared to fight the pipeline. They’re organized, they’re passionate, and they understand the facts. They know they have to fight as one, as Wyoming and Utah. It was inspiring to see a community come together like this to protect a place they love. I left the reservoir with real hope that they’ll win the fight.

***

Back at the ranch, the air is brisk, the stars bright. Now and then, you might hear coyotes yip in the distance. It’s a bit early to turn in for the night, so most of us head to the kitchen patio. There’s a big table where we all gather. Bruce Smithhammer and Kevin Emery arrive with a bottle of bourbon and a bottle of Scotch to share. We grab cups and ice from the kitchen and enjoy a couple of nightcaps. We go around the table telling stories and cracking jokes. We laugh and curse and make fun of one another. We have maybe just one more drink—a small one, though, and then that’s it. Really. None of this has anything to do with catching trout, but somehow today’s fishing—the most enjoyable of my life—just got better. —Colin Kearns

Click here to see more photos from day two of our expedition to the Outlaw Triangle.

Exploring the Outlaw Triangle: Day Two

Online Editors — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:36:17 -0400

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Outlaw Triangle

Online Editors — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:33:16 -0400

Our Cessna 210 races down the runway. The wings catch air, the vessel climbs, and we fly toward a dropoff, which, I’ve been told, is sheer and deep. The instant we shoot past the edge, the view briefly silences the six of us inside the cabin.

Hundreds of feet below, the Green River cuts through a vise of red canyon walls. Rafters are already coasting down the current. Fisherman are launching drift boats, getting an early crack at the thousands of trout that choke each mile of the tailwater. Bruce Gordon, the pilot, turns and floats us over mountains and valleys and plains—an endless landscape, even from the view up here—and we spot elk and antelope and one very large mule deer buck. As we survey the country, the words Teddy Roosevelt spoke upon seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time come to mind: Leave it as it is. You cannot improve it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.

Granted, this is not the Grand Canyon. But it’s still a special place: the Outlaw Triangle. Land where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once hid from men with badges. Land rich with wildlife and wild scenery. Land that should be left as it is, but could very well be marred if some get their way. Land that Field & Stream and Trout Unlimited selected as the second stop on their Best Wild Places tour.

Along with a TU crew and other outdoor writers and photographers, I’ll spend the next three days here. Together, we’ll fish, explore, and learn about the conservation concerns that threaten this land.

For the moment though, all I can think about is this view. So I look down.

***

After the flight, we fished the A Section of the Green. I boarded a drift boat with Dave Glenn, the Back Country Lands Director for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project, and Ryan Kelly, a guide with Flaming Gorge Resort. We couldn’t have been casting for 15 minutes before Glenn secured the first hookup on the dropper half of his hopper-dropper rig. The rainbow looked about 13 inches, making it average for the Green. But it was also bright and strong and anything but average. Shortly thereafter I steered my first Green River trout into Kelly’s net, and this steady action continued for Glenn and I pretty much all afternoon. All of our bites were coming on the dropper fly, so Glenn asked Kelly what kind of fly it was.

“It’s what folks in the Midwest call a ‘crappie jig,’” Kelly said. His delivery was as well-timed as a standup comedian’s, and the line got a good laugh from Glenn and I. Sure enough, the fly was nothing more than some white marabou fibers tied to a small white jighead. The fly imitates fry, Kelly said, which come out at night. But the fluctuating water levels from evening to morning kill many of them, leaving the trout with an easy breakfast. So far, the fly has worked well—but then, the estimated 15,000 trout per mile might have something to do with the productive morning bite.

Yes, you read that correctly: 15,000 fish per mile. That amounts to more than 100,000 rainbow, brown, and cutthroat trout in the seven miles of blue-ribbon flyfishing water than run below the Flaming Gorge Dam. Honestly, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the figure, but so far I can’t say I doubt it either. I mean, we’ve already seen and caught a lot of fish—and we’re not even a mile into the float.

Of course, all of this—the trout, the river, the fishing, even the fry—will suffer to a degree I’d rather not imagine if a 560-mile pipeline, proposed by developer Aaron Million, is built. This monstrosity would drain 250,000 acre feet of water annually from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and deliver it to Colorado’s Front Range. That’s roughly 80 billion gallons of water sucked from its source every year.

As a result, the water levels of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Upper Green River—both prized fisheries and vital moneymakers for local businesses—would be significantly depleted. (I’ll get a better idea as to how much so tomorrow when we tour the reservoir.) And as for the stretch below the dam, where I’m currently fishing, the pipeline would be equally devastating.

Quite simply, the less water that’s in the reservoir, the less water that’s available to conduct flushing flows below the dam—crucial practices that flush the silt and sediment off the river bottom, which can otherwise create an armor on the rocks affecting the aquatic insets, and maintain healthy stream flows and water quality. Even now, with a full reservoir, guides on the Green would prefer to see more of these flushing flows than already take place. So with even less water, it’s safe to assume the flushing flows will become less frequent, causing the quality fishing to drain alongside the reservoir’s water level.

Kathy Lynch, counsel for TU’s Wyoming Water Project, summed it up best—albeit sobering: “The trout would be the first to go.”
And with the trout, you’ve got to think much of the local economy would go, too. Something else I’ll need to explore over the next couple of days.

***

After lunch, we all swap boats. I join Steven Brutger, TU’s Wyoming Energy Coordinator, and Dano Bolton of Old Moe Guide Service. We battle some stiff winds, but Dano still puts Steven and me onto a few fish. As we work our way to the boat ramp, I remember something Brett Prettyman, outdoors editor at the Salt Lake Tribune and one of the writers in our group, said earlier in the day when he was asked for some advice about fishing the river. “Look up,” Prettyman said. The fishing on the Green is so good and there are so many fish, he continued, that it’s easy to forget where you are and miss the scenery.

As we drift downstream, I make it a point to take momentary breaks from the fishing to admire the red canyon walls carved by the Green River. So I look up. —Colin Kearns

Click here to see more photos from day one of our Outlaw Triangle expedition.

Exploring the Outlaw Triangle: Day One

Online Editors — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:24:31 -0400