News Release

Great Sand Dunes Announces Fish Restocking in the Upper Sand Creek Drainage

USFWS

News Release Date: August 20, 2021

Contact: Katherine Faz, 719-378-6341

Mosca, CO – Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the National Park Service (NPS), and Trout Unlimited have been working to restore Rio Grande cutthroat trout to its native waters since 2004. The current focus area for Rio Grande cutthroat trout restoration is the Sand Creek drainage in the Great Sand Dunes National Preserve, including the Upper and Lower Sand Creek Lakes as well as Sand Creek.

Last summer, CPW, NPS and other partners successfully removed non-native fish populations from the Upper and Lower Sand Creek Lakes and the upper reach of Sand Creek within Great Sand Dunes National Preserve. Over the coming weeks, CPW will begin restocking these areas with the native Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

If weather conditions allow, CPW will operate a helicopter in the Music and Medano Pass areas on August 23 and 24, 2021, to stock Upper and Lower Sand Creek Lakes with Rio Grande cutthroat trout from the Medano Creek drainage. Medano Creek, located within Great Sand Dunes National Preserve, was restored with Rio Grande cutthroat trout in the 1980s. Staff from CPW and Great Sand Dunes will capture Rio Grande cutthroat trout from Medano Creek and transfer them to Upper and Lower Sand Creek Lakes to speed up the recovery effort in the Sand Creek drainage. The adult-sized Rio Grande cutthroat trout from Medano Creek would be old enough to spawn in the Sand Creek Lakes in summer 2022. CPW will also stock Upper and Lower Sand Creek Lakes with young Rio Grande cutthroat trout raised at Haypress Lake via airplane this fall.

These restocking activities will not result in any restrictions to visitor access within Great Sand Dunes National Preserve; however, visitors should be aware that helicopters may be operating in the area during the week of August 23, which may affect the visitor experience.

For more information on this multi-year partnership restoration project, contact Resource Management Specialist, Fred Bunch at [e-mail]. For more information on the status of helicopter operations, contact the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center at 719-378-6395.