The White River Alliance has had an active month with multiple projects related to water conservation in the White River Valley. Above, participants learn about riparian restoration during a two-day workshop. More than 40 landowners took advantage of the free event.
RBC | It’s been a busy month for the White River Alliance. On the heels of a “Clean Up Our River Day”, the group’s volunteers came back together for “Kick Invasives Day” where they used chainsaws and special herbicide to cut down and kill the invasive and thirsty Russian olive, trying to keep it from spreading up river and slowly removing it throughout the lower White River .
Then on Oct. 1-2, the group held a Riparian Restoration Workshop, in collaboration with the local BLM office and The Nature Conservancy. The workshop featured some of the top speakers in the field to both explain and demonstrate how low-cost natural tools can raise the water table, improve the flow of water through underground and floodplain storage and reduce the sediment load and salinity of the White River.
Locals Mike and Tena Theos showcased their healthy wetland they have worked hard to maintain over the past several years, in league with Bob Timberman of US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners Program. “Bob showed us how to both resist beavers where we don’t want them and encourage them to create riparian wildlife and bird habitat where we did,” said Mike Theos, explaining also that beavers created an important fire break which protects their home and river corridor.
Across the west landowners are struggling with disappearing streams, springs, and creeks and worry about encroaching desertification and the potential for fire. Some have found answers as they try to replicate nature’s solutions.
Several tools introduced at the workshop include beavers, or at least Beaver Dam Analogs (known as BDAs) that slow the water and allow for high rates of underground storage, and settle sediment, thus improving water quality and providing for a more continuous year-round flow. Hydrologists explain that underground water storage is a highly effective method of providing cleaner more abundant water. And the beavers are nature’s ecosystem engineers. Anyone who has ever tried to remove a beaver dam on their irrigation ditch can attest to the strength and quality of these structures.
Roughly 40 workshop participants came from all over Colorado to meeting Meeker on Sunday and tour the Theos property to understand the benefits of beaver-created wetlands in a higher elevation. On the second day, Monday, volunteers were up to their waist in water at a high desert area called Yellow Creek, where beavers have already moved in, and the White River Alliance worked with the BLM and The Nature Conservancy to expand wet meadows and create a healthier riparian corridor.
Volunteers of all ages built some of the Beaver Dam Analogs, designed to slow the movement of the water, help it expand riparian areas and increase forage while raising the water table. Robert Hampson, the BLM hydrologist said, “We could see the riparian benefits increasing every day once we put the first couple of Beaver Dam Analogs in. Our newer ones, completed by the volunteers, will only accelerate a healthier more robust Yellow Creek and help retain sediment from this perennial important tributary to the White River. Beaver dams also can help remove mineral content and sediment and creates healthy wildlife habitat.”
Speakers included Shawn Conner, owner of BIO-Logic who has trained and implemented BDAs across the West, most recently in Moffat and Routt Counties and the Walden, Colorado area. He demonstrated how removing the beaver and overgrazing over the past century has had the effect of eroding the soft sediment soil in many areas, which results in a significant drop in the water table as the water flows inconsistently at the bottom of the bare ditches. The result? Fields of sage and greasewood, instead of the historic tall native grasses the area was so well known for. Piceance actually means “Tall Grass” in the Ute language.
Bob Budd, the Director of Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust for the State of Wyoming shared best practices for grazing ranchers to increase their forage. “Mimic the path of the wildlife and the timing, keeping the livestock moving every two or three weeks, and allow the grass at least a year to grow back to maintain and improve its root system,” he encouraged, answering many questions, and explaining how managed livestock grazing can improve public land.
Robert Hampson, the White River BLM hydrologist was particularly excited about this workshop and the movement he is seeing across the west toward “slowing water.”
“This has the ability to expand our water supplies and provide cleaner and a more continuous year-round flow of water to our rivers in the west,” said Hampson, who was one of the key speakers at the workshop.
Shawn Welder, president of the White River Alliance and a local outfitter who has been involved in water issues for decades, said, “We were pleased with the geographically distributed participation of people who came to learn how we can all revitalize our local high desert landscape which have lost its riparian areas over the years due to drought and overgrazing. We hope to gain the tools to reverse that trend and help improve the clarity and quantity of our White River overall.” He adds, “Neighboring dry states have had remarkable success in using these techniques, and we have no time to lose to restore our natural riparian habitat for fire protection and wildlife health.”
