5. Riparian Areas
Goal: To protect and restore the functions of riparian areas.
Objectives:
A. Identify and protect our existing high quality riparian communities.
B. Identify and restore high priority riparian zones so that the riparian zone and the aquatic system are functionally connected again.
C. Identify and minimize impacts from development, land uses, and other activities (e.g., beaver eradication) in riparian areas.
D. Eradicate invasive plant species in riparian areas and prevent their expansion into new riparian areas.
E. Improve our community’s understanding of the importance of riparian areas and riparian issues by educating citizens and decision makers on the importance of riparian areas for a wide variety of wildlife.
F. Assess riparian habitat condition, wildlife status and trends for all major streams in the watershed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Comments from 8/20/09 Public Meeting:
ReplyDeleteA. Identify and protect our existing high quality riparian communities.
B. Identify and restore high priority riparian zones so that the riparian zone and the aquatic system are functionally connected again.
C. Identify and minimize impacts from development, land uses, and other activities (e.g., beaver eradication) in riparian areas.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: The discussion group felt that Objectives A, B and C were all interrelated. They agreed with all of them.
It was noted that a number of smaller streams were not assessed by the Stream Health Initiative (SHI). There are gaps in our knowledge for streams above Ruedi Reservoir. We need to close those gaps.
There are large areas of private lands as you go downstream. This makes it even more important to work with landowners on management strategies. Education is also very important. Ranchers have been following in the shoes of their predecessors – this may not be the best course of action for the streams.
D. Eradicate invasive plant species in riparian areas and prevent their expansion into new riparian areas.
ReplyDeleteGroup Discussion/Recommended Actions: Pitkin County and other jurisdictions have weed boards. We need to work with them, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and others to encourage treatments for invasive species along roads.
E. Improve our community’s understanding of the importance of riparian areas and riparian issues by educating citizens and decision makers on the importance of riparian areas for a wide variety of wildlife.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: The group spent most of its time on this Objective. It was noted that people don’t understand the problems with riparian areas and what can be done to prevent those problems.
Recreationalists and environmentalists are often at odds. People have different views on appropriate uses along our rivers and streams (e.g., Roaring Fork Transportation Association (RFTA) is working on trails). We should consider greenway management in the Roaring Fork Watershed – this would bring disparate groups together.
A brochure could be developed to give to new property owners, informing them of the ethics of living near rivers. Let’s get the realtors involved – consider promoting a “Realtors for Rivers” organization.
F. Assess riparian habitat condition, wildlife status and trends for all major streams in the watershed.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions:
■ Instream Areas
Goal: To protect and restore the functions of instream areas.
Objectives:
A. Monitor the condition of the native fish communities and determine limits of acceptable change.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: The discussion group recommended changing “native” to “wild or naturally-reproducing fisheries”.
It was observed that we have quite a bit of population monitoring underway already; while we can expand the effort, we have a good baseline.
B. Assess instream habitat condition status and trends for all major streams in the watershed.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: More information is needed on water quality (nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorous), there should be more temperature monitoring, as well as more data collected on macroinvertebrates, algae, and embedded substrate.
The number and duration of flushing flows we need is also unknown. 600 cfs was recommended by Bill Miller’s study; however, the number of days/duration needed for flushing flows (14 - 30 days?) is not known.
A habitat survey is needed from Basalt to Ruedi Reservoir.
C. Maintain or increase population size, extent, and purity of all existing cutthroat trout populations.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: There are only four populations in these sub-watersheds (and they are small populations). Barriers to population growth include land use. We need to protect spawning areas. Disease transmission is an issue.
We need to identify how many populations we want to encourage (do we want more than four?).
D. Maintain existing boreal toad populations and, where possible, restore or expand populations.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: Education is needed on disease transmission (Kitred disease).
E. Monitor existing Northern Leopard Frog populations and, where possible, expand populations.
ReplyDeleteGroup Discussion/Recommended Actions: No populations exist in these sub-watersheds.
F. Prevent the New Zealand mudsnail and Quagga and Zebra Mussels from establishing in the watershed.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: There is a strong desire for better education to occur at fly-fishing shops regarding whirling disease.
It was suggested that we should be funding/staffing ways to clean boats.
G. Determine the adequacy of recreational access to our rivers and streams, their recreational carrying capacity and the limits of acceptable change.
Group Discussion/Recommended Actions: Trails along rivers are an issue. We should be working to harden/redirect use. As a first step, there needs to be an inventory of trails to determine ownership. It was suggested that we contact fly-fishing groups/guides to determine where we need assessments.
Comments from 9/10/09 Public Meeting:
ReplyDelete1. Objectives A, B and C were grouped together and considered the best Objectives, with Objective A being given the top priority in this group. It was noted that Objective F also ties in to this group of Objectives.
2. Objective D was identified as the other important Objective. Oxeye daisies were noted as a species of particular concern.
3. Education about invasive plant species and riparian areas generally (Objective E ) was considered key.
4. A series of action items for meeting the Riparian Areas’ Goal were identified, but not prioritized by the group:
a. Encourage leasing of water rights (under recently enacted legislation) to keep water in the streams; do so without damaging existing water rights.
b. Encourage water conservation and efficiencies.
c. Investigate why minimum stream flow requirements are not being met.
d. Create “win-win” situations where heavy water users will be rewarded for cutting back on their water usage.
e. Create diversion dam efficiencies.
f. Investigate conditional water rights (e.g., Placita and Osgood Reservoirs). Who are the owners? Do these water rights pose a real threat?
g. Verify the state of the cottonwood galleries along our rivers and streams and identify ways to improve them.
h. Explore ways to achieve historical flooding to recharge riparian areas.
i. Identify potential problems associated with oil shale development in the watershed.
Comments from 9/24/09 public meeting in Woody Creek:
ReplyDelete1. Priorities included education on importance of riparian areas and invasive species. Also regulating existing and future land development setback regulations.
2. Roads are large issue. Many weeds grow along roads and are spread through development. In this area many roads are in the riparian area.
3. Need to preserve what we have – best riparian areas are in usually in headwaters. Benefits of open space and conservation easements was also discussed.
4. Are we loving our rivers to death? Secure open space - need to disperse impacts and also increases our impacts. Many private river front properties- few public accesses – river access locations then become impacted even more.
Comments from 10/1/09 public meeting in Glenwood Springs:
ReplyDelete1. The group discussed ways we can pull the lever to actions that protect riparian areas
a. Water quantity – timing of the quantity, when we have high flows and low flows and duration greatly impact riparian health
b. Need to curtail and control invasive species. Revitalizing historic flows will help to keep weeds out.
c. Education for both kids and adults is absolutely necessary.
i. How do we get to the typical RF watershed adult? HOA, work place, rotary, real estate brokers, etc.
ii. Need to get people to make an in-home change (i.e. water usage).
d. Incentivizing participation in following regulations. Donating easements was mentioned.
i. Need more consistent stream set backs in watershed across the counties. In Garfield county it is 35 feet and in Pitkin 100 feet.
2. The most pressing objectives are C and D – development and invasive aquatics and weeds.
Comments from a 10/15/09 Public Meeting in Aspen:
ReplyDelete1. Remember “bad ideas in water development never go away.” Riparian areas are vital for the health of our rivers and streams and wildlife populations.
2. We definitely have data gaps; we need to assess riparian habitat condition for all major streams in the watershed.
3. Improving our community’s understanding of the importance of riparian areas and riparian issues is critical. Homeowners need to understand what a high-quality riparian area looks like – that it is not a manicured lawn extending to the stream bank.
4. In identifying high priority riparian areas for restoration we should consider the fact that slight land management changes may significantly improve areas that have, thus far, only been slightly altered. In contrast, an area such as Northstar would require significant work for substantial riparian improvement. At Northstar, the stream channel is incised and meanders cannot be easily recreated.
5. Invasive species (e.g., Canada thistle, tamarisk, leafy spurge, oxeye daisy, purple loosestrife) remain a significant concern. Again, education is needed. Even vegetation that has not been designated as “noxious” is problematic. For example, pasture grasses are a problem in riparian zones because they prohibit cottonwood and willow seedlings from becoming established on bare soils.
6. Maintaining some high flows and a natural hydrograph in our rivers and streams is key. Can we do a better job managing diversions to achieve these conditions?
7. We should try to improve our monitoring of the health of our riparian areas (e.g., bird species, invasive weeds) through local governments and volunteers. We should set goals and obtain feedback from monitoring.
Comments from Dec 3, 2009 meeting with
ReplyDeleteGlenwood Springs City Council, River Commission, and Planning and Zoning Board.
Perhaps need a regional effort to acquire open space. Mention of special district that would cross jurisdiction boundaries for open space and water issues. Would have the ability to tax to raise funds for these purposes.