The coal-burning era at Xcel Energy’s Valmont power plant in east Boulder came to an end nearly a year ago. With no public fanfare, the utility has now given the hook to hundreds of sport fish that long called it home.
But the fish are reported to be doing fine.
Across four days in November, a team of three Colorado Parks and Wildlife fish biologists transferred about a half-ton of largemouth bass and smaller forage fish to other Front Range waters with catch-and-release restrictions. The fish averaged 16 inches in length, forcing the crew to make repeated trips because their transfer tanks were so full.
A total of about 1,600 fish were relocated to public waters from Valmont Reservoir. That included about 200 largemouth bass, according to Xcel.
The aquatic moving days were necessitated by the fact that this fall and winter, work has been underway to remove coal ash ponds that are no longer used.
As part of that work, the three reservoirs will need to be lowered, meaning it was time for a change of address for the vigorous population of fish that have lived in the reservoirs, enjoying warm waters in winter, abundant food supply and a laid-back life beyond the reach of anglers.
“Usually we get phone calls from people saying, ‘We’re draining this pond on private property; can you come out?’ And four out of five times it turns out to be non-target game species like carp or suckers,” said Ben Swigle, the CPW aquatic biologist who supervised the job.
“But I always investigate them. It’s sort of needle in a haystack. I get one of these kinds of opportunities maybe once a year,” he said. “We got nearly a thousand pounds of fish.”
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