What are water-related threats, issues, or concerns in the Roaring Fork Watershed that affect your sphere of influence or concern you the most?
- Need to determine what is sustainable
- Land use conversion from agriculture to urban and the groundwater implications of these conversions.
- Our river corridors are filling up with people.
- The groundwater recharge area above Aspen (Northstar Area) sustains the RF. Need to protect and restore this are to ensure that it can function as well as possible.
- Loss of connectivity between the uplands and riparian areas
- Issue of leaky ditches and how improved efficiency can influence groundwater supply
- Identify beneficial uses and how much water we need to meet these uses.
- Lawns are very water consumptive; which leaves less water for groundwater recharge.
- Identify what are the best uses of available water.
- We have a disconnected river system.
- Urban/rural difference in value of houses versus hay meadows
- Protection of Open Space is needed because that is why people want to move and visit here.
- Loss of cottonwood galleries; cottonwoods along ditches provide good habitat
- Education-people need to understand connection between land use and our rivers
- Need to have more people involved from the ag community; why weren’t more ag people invited to the summit.
- Need to manage development; laying of impervious surfaces impacts our rivers
- Better stormwater management
- Have communities work together to share ideas
- Channels were formed by a range of natural variability, changes to the natural hydrograph impacts our rivers. Need to add variability to our hydrograph, a stable non-variable managed hydrograph does not translate to ecosystem health. Include both timing and quantity.
- Baseflows are too low, causing increased icing in the winter; Sept to April spawning periods, very important to have overwintering habitat and access
- White water park design and construction can impact fish; inhibit connectivity and access to deep pools
What are some solutions to these threats, issues, or concerns?
- Need to identify projects that have the best chance of success.
- Have birders and landowners meet and identify birds on their property and good habitat to attract birds.
- Montana has public access from high water bank to bank, makes it easier to manage connectivity
- Restoration of riparian areas to capture peak flows and slowly release
- Look at management indicator species and work to monitor and maintain these.
- Look at the water management/conservation from the energy perspective
- Solutions need to come from the ground up
- Get better media involvement
- Have a watershed muse to translate technical info to landowners.
- Get beyond blame to solutions
- Protect ag
- Continue to have these types of summits and expand to landowners
What most needs to happen to create a unified voice for the Roaring Fork Watershed?
Didn’t have time for this question.
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