The Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest is working closely with partners to continue important fire recovery efforts in 2023 to minimize the impacts of post-fire flooding. All of these potential projects are a continuation of fire recovery efforts that have been taking place since 2021, including vast amounts of aerial mulching and replanting.
Projects under consideration use a combination of process-based restoration and conventional road work to mitigate the impacts of post-fire flooding and debris flows. Process-based restoration adds structure to streams that help slow water, trap sediment and debris, and reconnect channels to the adjacent floodplains. Road improvement elements include increasing culvert sizes, reinforcing roadbeds and stabilizing low-water crossings.
“We greatly appreciate all the support our partners and the community have provided as we continue to recover from the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history,” Canyon Lakes District Ranger Dennis Kuhnel said. “Together we can continue to improve the resiliency of our forests and our watersheds.”
Projects include:
Kyle Gulch: The Forest Service is working with City of Greeley in this high-burn severity area. Three large headcuts (areas of erosion) are contributing sediment to Bennett Creek and the South Fork Cache la Poudre, having negative impacts on water quality.
Ratville/Monument Gulch: The Forest Service is working with the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed on this tributary to the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River where burned conditions in the watershed above are causing stream incision and bank erosion.
Sevenmile Creek: The Forest Service is working with the City of Greeley at this site where National Forest System Road 225 and Sevenmile Creek are in very close proximity to one another. Burned conditions of the watershed are causing stream incision and bank erosion. This combined with the degraded conditions of the road are negatively impacting water quality.
South Fork Cache la Poudre: The Forest Service is working with the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed at this site due to burned conditions in the watershed causing stream incision and bank erosion. Additionally recovery work will occur to rehabilitate staging locations used for aerial mulching efforts from both the 2012 High Park Fire and 2020 Cameron Peak Fire.
Upper Miller Fork Tributary: The Forest Service is working with the Big Thompson Watershed Coalition at this site to address burned conditions in the watershed above, incision and bank erosion, and deteriorating road and trail conditions downstream.
Click here to learn more about fire recovery efforts.
Jeff
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