Universal Angling Access Design Guide: Focused on the Denver South Platte River

Universal Angling Access Design Guide: Focused on the Denver South Platte River

This guide is intended to fill a knowledge gap for designers, engineers, and contractors so that river access points can be located near good fishing locations and can incorporate underwater habitat into their designs. By interviewing experts with years of experience working with our unique river we have assembled ideas, examples, dos and don’ts, and design recommendations to help these professionals understand the opportunity to integrate aquatic habitat into their designs. River access is not just to launch your kayak or play fetch with your dog. River access is for people from the neighborhoods near the river. Where a young couple wheels their new baby outdoors for the first time, where a grandparent brings a grandchild to learn fishing, where kids skip rocks and watch beavers and stalking birds at work, where teachers bring the class to collect macroinvertebrates and release their Trout-in-the-Classroom raised fish, where new anglers tryout their gear, learn to cast and feel a fish hit their lure for the first time, where injured anglers can hobble and cast as they recover, where workers can steal a few minutes to cast, catch, and release before or after work with their kids, and where senior anglers can practice their lifetime sport without the risks of the high country. Providing access to the river must be paired with attention to habitat protection and restoration, sediment transport, flood control, fish passage, recreational fishing and overall ecosystem function. Previous projects on the Denver South Platte have proved that good design can result in both flood control, a healthy river and a successful fishery. Angling is growing in popularity across the country and there are very few places where people can walk or ride their bikes to a world class fishery. The Denver South Platte can be one of these places! The river supports healthy fish populations, but they are under increased pressure from climate change and access to the river is not distributed equally throughout the city. In the next decade, millions of dollars will be invested in the Denver South Platte. It is critical that these projects support healthy river function as well as provide equitable fishable access for people of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels to connect with their home river.