(PIKES PEAK REGION, Colo.) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Southeast Region reported on Tuesday, July 1, that the department teamed up with Colorado Springs Utilities (Springs Utilities) to rescue over 1,700 Cutthroat Trout from Mason Reservoir, allowing Springs Utilities to move forward with draining the lake for repairs.

Mason Reservoir, in the South Slope Recreation Area of Pikes Peak, is scheduled to be partially drained for repairs to a leaking pipe. While Springs Utilities replaces sections of the pipe, they will also install valves to assist with future pipe maintenance.

The reservoir was built in 1904 and can hold 1,965 acre-feet of water, and is an important part of the local water system, but it also supports a large population of fish and is a popular destination for fishing. Springs Utilities plans to complete drawing down the water levels and close access to the public for assessment and repairs by mid-summer.

But first, they had to rescue the fish, as the water levels would not be sufficient to support the full population, and leaving them there would create a tremendous loss of fish.

According to Paul Foutz, CPW Senior Aquatic Biologist, the process of moving the fish to new locations involved collecting them from the creek feeding into the reservoir using backpack electrofishers. The electrofishing process is done after analysis of the water to make sure that the level of conductivity and other factors are at the right level to minimize any injury or stress to the fish. During the process, the fish are slightly stunned by the electric current and netted in the water. It also helped that the fish were engaged in spawning, making them easier to collect.

After collecting them, CPW and Springs Utilities teams put them in hauling tanks from the Pueblo Fish Hatchery and transferred them to several local reservoirs, including Rosemont, McReynolds, and Nichols reservoirs, where they will have plenty of space and will continue to be accessible to anglers.

“Many different safety and logistical considerations must be made to ensure that our staff and the wildlife we are working with are treated humanely and minimize potential injury to both,” said Foutz. “The project was well planned and executed by our local aquatic biologist, Cory Noble, and the local district wildlife manager, Tyson Floersheim, with much help from our CPW Area 14 Team and Colorado Springs Utilities.”

Despite the difficult logistics, Foutz said that the project went very smoothly.

Not all of the fish were removed from Mason, according to Foutz. There are still many fish present, but the numbers have been reduced enough to have a sustainable amount of space when the water level is lowered. Once the repairs are complete and the reservoir is refilled, the fish population will naturally reestablish itself.