An angler concerned about discarded fishing line at Twin Spruce Ponds on Colorado Highway 145 was the force behind a new disposal site to clean up the area.

During a cleanup day with the Dolores River Anglers Trout Unlimited chapter at the ponds last fall, Brandon Hill noticed fishing line was a common form of waste.

After collecting handfuls of the line at the event, he found that lines commonly left at lakes and ponds in Southwest Colorado can take 500 years for monofilament line to biodegrade. In the meantime, it can kill fish, birds and other wildlife. Fluorocarbon line used for fly fishing requires thousands of years to biodegrade.

“It just made me realize that we should be thinking about this,” he said.

In July, Hill began working with his Trout Unlimited chapter and Colorado Parks and Wildlife and installed a collection site.

It can be easy just to cut a tangled fishing line and leave it. But anglers at Twin Spruce have been using the collection site, he said. He wants to see the recycling sites spread across the region.

Hill is still trying to find a company that will accept the line for recycling, but he doesn’t expect that will be problem, he said.

The next collection site could be at Summit Reservoir on Colorado 184.

“I think everybody seems to be really on board with the idea,” he said.

mshinn @durangoherald.com