Endangered wetlands and waterways are the focus of a series of reports released by a coalition of conservation groups this month.  The case studies on Colorado and Montana waters focus on the impact to trout, waterfowl, and other wildlife.

You can read the reports -- released by the National Wildlife Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and Trout Unlimited -- here.

To ask your representatives in Congress to restore protections to water and wetlands under the Clean Water Act, click here.

The reports identify case studies where the loss of Clean Water Act protections has put local waters in Colorado, Montana, South Carolina and Tennessee at risk for pollution, unrestricted drainage and destruction. It is almost certain that these waters would have been protected prior to the 2001 and 2006 Supreme Court decisions that weakened the Clean Water Act.

Montana Waters and Wetlands

As a result of regulatory guidance resulting from the Supreme Court cases, tens of millions of acres of wetlands and thousands of miles of streams have been put at risk of losing Clean Water Act protections.

“These protections help guarantee the outdoor heritage of a state like Montana,” said Tom France of the National Wildlife Federation.  “Sportsmen spend a billion dollars in Montana every year, and the lack of protection for these waters and wetlands threatens that economic engine.”

Montana contains a portion of the Prairie Pothole Region, an area that contains many small, shallow ponds and wetlands that are critical to waterfowl and wildlife and important on a continental scale.

“The Prairie Pothole Region - called America’s duck factory because of the number of ducks that breed there – includes much of eastern Montana,” said Scott Yaich of Ducks Unlimited. “Ensuring that these wetlands have Clean Water Act protection is vital to the future of waterfowling.”

Fish habitat is also threatened. “Many of the world’s finest coldwater fisheries are here in Montana, and threats to these streams threaten those fisheries,” said Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited. “The epic waters from movies like A River Runs Through It depend on stream-feeding wetlands like the ones detailed in this report.”

Colorado Waters and Wetlands

“Without these protections, Colorado’s limited and precious aquatic resources are at further risk,” said Dennis Buechler, Director Emeritus of the Colorado Wildlife Federation and the author of the report on Colorado wetlands and streams. “In some instances where protections have been removed completely, the state of law has caused unnecessary confusion.”

An example of this confusion is the case of Hidden Lake – an 88 acre lake in Westminster, Colorado – that had its Clean Water Act protections removed because it supposedly does not have a surface connection to waters covered by the CWA. The lake boasts an excellent smallmouth bass fishery, and is used by local residents for recreation such as swimming and boating. After the City of Westminster protested, protections were restored. But protections were removed for more than half a decade.

“There are examples of threatened waters and wetlands all over the state,” said Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation. Colorado streams and wetlands provide habitat and benefits to more than 75 percent of the state’s wildlife and waterfowl.

Cases in Colorado where important waterways have lost basic federal pollution protections or been placed at risk because of the confused state of the law include wetlands that feed tributaries of the South Platte River, Hidden Lake and its associated wetlands, the playa wetlands in northeastern Colorado, and other waters under siege from development.