S1E27: 1.27 - Superfund Sites, Gold Mining to Gold Medal Water

Some terms naturally go together like "Colorado Parks and Wildlife" and "world-class fishing."

Few would ever add to that list the term “Superfund sites.”

That's because Colorado Parks and Wildlife's 42 parks are recreation meccas. Its 350 wildlife areas boast some of the finest wildlife and aquatic habitat in the state. And even in the United States.

But they weren’t always so pristine. In fact, CPW's aquatic biologists and research scientists have played a key role in transforming rivers and wetlands dangerously polluted by decades of mining and milling into prime fish habitat by restoring the waterways to their historic unspoiled conditions.

They are erasing the dark legacy of gold mining and restoring gold medal fisheries that are known by anglers worldwide and home to threatened or endangered species.

And here to talk about the work that took place along the Upper Arkansas River is Eric Richer, Aquatic Research Scientist and Paul Foutz, Senior Aquatic Biologist for CPW’s Southeast Region.