$617,000 Ford Park project is a result of 2021 Vail Mountain snowmaking mishap that led to large fish kill in Gore Creek
Vail Resorts agreed to put $250,000 toward a restoration project in the Gore Creek Valley after accident
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A 2021 snowmaking mishap on Vail Mountain led to the death of 120 fish, but it could also soon lead to in-stream trout habitat improvements at one of the town’s most active locations, Ford Park.
After an investigation from the state of Colorado determined that Vail Mountain left valves open on its snowmaking system from Sept. 17-20, 2021, releasing some 2 million gallons of water containing hazardous substances into Mill Creek and Gore Creek, Vail Resorts agreed to put $250,000 toward a restoration project in the Gore Creek valley.
That project will be part of a larger effort to restore the creek after it was listed as a 303(d) impaired waterway for low aquatic life by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in 2012.
Trout fishing in Gore Creek has been protected since 1984, when the Colorado Division of Wildlife Commission declared the stretch of water between Red Sandstone Creek and the Eagle River as a restricted stream for rainbow and brown trout fishing.
The restrictions made that section of Gore Creek subject to catch-and-release regulations, limiting anglers to the use of only flies and lures, and requiring all trout less than 16 inches to be released immediately back into the creek.
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But the restrictions also allowed Gore Creek to meet Colorado Parks and Wildlife criteria to become what the agency had designated as “Gold Medal Water,” one of only nine Gold Medal Waters in Colorado at the time. Today, 11 creeks and rivers and three lakes have been designated as Gold Medal Waters. Other criteria include assessments of the fishery’s quality, requiring it to consistently produce an average of at least a dozen 14-inch trout per acre of water.
The Vail chapter of Trout Unlimited, in 1983, lobbied the state to designate Gore Creek as a Gold Medal Water, but also feared the creek was in danger of being overfished.
Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited president Charles Lorch told the Vail Trail, in 1983, that Gore Creek would be “in danger of becoming ‘fished out’ if its reputation among Colorado anglers begins to grow.”
The Trail, in the Sept. 23, 1983 story, said Gore Creek “ranks as one of the few waters in the state in which the fisherman can catch all four species of trout,” including rainbow, brown, brook and the rarer Colorado-native cutthroat trout.
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Rainbow, brown and brook trout were all found killed during the 2021 fish kill event, along with one “cutbow,” a rainbow-cutthroat hybrid.
In 2024, the Colorado State Attorney General’s office awarded $250,000 in damages to Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited stipulating that Trout Unlimited would see to an in-stream habitat improvement project on Gore Creek. A creek location in need of an estimated $617,000 in restoration work at the east end of Ford Park near the Vail Nature Center was selected, and the local Trout Unlimited chapter partnered with the town of Vail to secure an additional $200,000 in grant funds from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited members contributed an additional $67,000 to the Ford Park project, and the Vail Town Council allocated $100,000 in the town’s 2025 budget toward it, as well.
The Vail Town Council, on Tuesday, is likely to approve a recommendation from town staff to authorize the town manager to enter into an agreement with Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited for in-stream habitat improvements at Ford Park in an amount not to exceed $100,000.
