BLUE HERON is the name used by the BLM for the recently acquired ponds at the east end of florence here is a basic map of the area
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come straight down 115 past penrose and highway 50 the ponds are east of 115 and north of the arkansas river
the 2 ponds refered to as the north and south ponds are accessable by foot for right now also the ark is accessable east and south of both ponds
i stopped in at the canon city BLM office and spoke pete (incharge of the managment of these ponds) he was a very nice fella and povided some interesting information along with a nice map showing the property boundrys he said i could post it here but i need to dig out my scanner first and will do some touch up on it for clarity
it seems that penrose and maybe florence want to use the ponds as storage maybe even enlarge them by excavating west of the north pond. IF this happens pete hopes that some island might be made for water fowl nesting habitatalso the state park system has expressed an interest in putting in a river boat launch area and maybe even a campground all this is on hold due to the proposed expansion of pueblo res seams that if/when the expantion is done the res will only be 2 miles down stream at full pond and the state parks thinks it might be a waste of money to provide a ramp for only 2 miles of river
so for right now BLM has no active management plans. pete confirmed that DOW stocked the south (youngest) pond aproax 1.5 years ago with warm water fish. pete has heard of request to stock with trout but it dint sound like any had been stocked yet attleast by not by DOW he did belive that the ponds had had fish transplanted from the river by anglers in the past and said that people had been catching fish for awhile but didnt have specifics. he belived that when the DOW stocked it they included sunfish, bluegill, and SMALL mouth bass and thinks/assumes some catfish.
as of now the property is just public land and nothing special, walkin day use is encouraged
i inquired about organizing a voulenteer fish habitat project and pete sounded interested but said that at this time there was no way to get permission for such a project due to the uncertain future of the property ,possible state park, SWA or whatever. but that the property would remain available for fish regardless of the final plan. although if the state parks get involved that mean it will likely be a pay site
myself i hope the park dont put a ramp down to the river or make a campground it is a nice quiet spot right now and i would rather see it become an SWA like kinney karvel and hugo out east. a nice little place to kick back and relax and do a little fishing
if any of you folks that get down this way have a chance stop by the BLM office and talk to pete about it we need to get our 2 cent in before they decide what to do let them know what you would like to see out there. maybe if some more folks offer to voulenteer on a fish habitat project maybe some of us could get permission to sink some structure out there i bet those pond bottoms are pretty bleak
i did get more interesting info from the BLM so if you are interested about these ponds and would like to contribute send me a PM
come straight down 115 past penrose and highway 50 the ponds are east of 115 and north of the arkansas river
the 2 ponds refered to as the north and south ponds are accessable by foot for right now also the ark is accessable east and south of both ponds
i stopped in at the canon city BLM office and spoke pete (incharge of the managment of these ponds) he was a very nice fella and povided some interesting information along with a nice map showing the property boundrys he said i could post it here but i need to dig out my scanner first and will do some touch up on it for clarity
it seems that penrose and maybe florence want to use the ponds as storage maybe even enlarge them by excavating west of the north pond. IF this happens pete hopes that some island might be made for water fowl nesting habitatalso the state park system has expressed an interest in putting in a river boat launch area and maybe even a campground all this is on hold due to the proposed expansion of pueblo res seams that if/when the expantion is done the res will only be 2 miles down stream at full pond and the state parks thinks it might be a waste of money to provide a ramp for only 2 miles of river
so for right now BLM has no active management plans. pete confirmed that DOW stocked the south (youngest) pond aproax 1.5 years ago with warm water fish. pete has heard of request to stock with trout but it dint sound like any had been stocked yet attleast by not by DOW he did belive that the ponds had had fish transplanted from the river by anglers in the past and said that people had been catching fish for awhile but didnt have specifics. he belived that when the DOW stocked it they included sunfish, bluegill, and SMALL mouth bass and thinks/assumes some catfish.
as of now the property is just public land and nothing special, walkin day use is encouraged
i inquired about organizing a voulenteer fish habitat project and pete sounded interested but said that at this time there was no way to get permission for such a project due to the uncertain future of the property ,possible state park, SWA or whatever. but that the property would remain available for fish regardless of the final plan. although if the state parks get involved that mean it will likely be a pay site
myself i hope the park dont put a ramp down to the river or make a campground it is a nice quiet spot right now and i would rather see it become an SWA like kinney karvel and hugo out east. a nice little place to kick back and relax and do a little fishing
if any of you folks that get down this way have a chance stop by the BLM office and talk to pete about it we need to get our 2 cent in before they decide what to do let them know what you would like to see out there. maybe if some more folks offer to voulenteer on a fish habitat project maybe some of us could get permission to sink some structure out there i bet those pond bottoms are pretty bleak
i did get more interesting info from the BLM so if you are interested about these ponds and would like to contribute send me a PM
