Blue River Watershed Group
Promote Protect Restore
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Blue River Watershed Group (BRWG) was founded in 2004 by a group of local community members who were passionate about protecting and preserving the health of the Blue River Basin. Our mission is to promote, protect, and restore a healthy Blue River watershed. Over the years, we have worked on several important stream restoration projects such as the Tenmile Creek stream restoration project that was completed in 2016 and enhanced floodplain connectivity, fish habitat quality, scenery, and wetlands function, and improved recreational opportunities and public access to the section of Tenmile Creek. We have also worked on watershed planning projects, including the Snake River Watershed Plan, the Swan River Restoration, and work on educating the community on the issues impacting our watershed. Additionally, BRWG has developed an Integrated Water Management Plan available on our website that will help identify future projects that will improve the health of the watershed.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Swan River Restoration
BRWG is a leading partner in the Swan River Restoration Project along with Summit County, the Town of Breckenridge, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado Trout Unlimited - Gore Range Chapter, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District. This collaborative, multi-phase project is located in the upper Swan River drainage near the Town of Breckenridge and is designed to address damage caused to the Swan River as a result of historical dredge mining. The project area is generally devoid of natural vegetation and ecological function, with large piles of dredge rock materials causing the water to flow underground through parts of the stream corridor. The goals of the project are to restore stream and floodplain functions to over three miles of the Swan River and surrounding areas.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Acres of land that have been reforested by the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
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Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our goal is to promote, protect and restore a healthy Blue River watershed through cooperative community education, stewardship, and resource management.
We have created the Summit County Outdoor Coalition, the Integrated Watershed Managment Plan, and have several restoration projects aimed at restoring the watersheds damaged by decades of mining. Our focus on the watershed includes education and volunteer opportunities and we have water quality monitoring, river cleanups, and educational presentations throughout the year to help engage the community and the health of the Blue River.
Projects:
BRWG has partnered with Trout Unlimited to create an Integrated Water Management Plan (IWMP) for the Blue River Watershed, that will provide a roadmap for future water use, restoration projects, and other solutions to the issues that currently threaten the health of the watershed. This project is our primary focus and once it is completed the IWMP will guide the strategic direction of BRWG for the next several years.
BRWG is a leading partner in the Swan River Restoration Project which will result in restored connectivity of the Swan River once reaches C and D are restored. This collaborative, multi-phase project is located in the upper Swan River drainage near the Town of Breckenridge and is designed to address damage caused to the Swan River as a result of historical dredge mining. Part of the full restoration of the Swan River includes a goal to build effective fish barriers to protect native Cutthroat Trout which live in the North Fork of the Swan River upstream of the restoration site.
The goals of the Fish Barrier project include:
Replace and install fish barriers to prevent non-native fish species including other trout from negatively affecting native Cutthroat populations.
Restore a self-sustaining native trout fishery and create habitat for a diversity of native wildlife.
Increase the native trout population by allowing natural migration and recolonization through the reconnected forks of the Swan River without detrimental influx of non-native fish species. The Fish Barrier is partially dependent on the completion of the Swan River Restoration. The continuation of the Swan River restoration project into the upper reaches C and D is in process, and BRWG intends to play a leading role in that effort.
Blue River Watershed Group has partnered with Friends of the Lower Blue River and Summit County Sustainability to support the formation of the Summit County Outdoor Coalition. This partnerships is part of the Regional Partnership Initiatives with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO). Together with local organizations and alongside other coalitions, we have formed the Summit County Outdoor Coalition to join a statewide initiative working to ensure that Colorado’s land, water, and wildlife thrive while also providing for equitable and quality outdoor recreation experiences.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Through our current, past, and future projects guided by the Integrated Watershed Managment Plan, we have a built a strong platform on which we can reach our goals. Grant funding, individual and corporate donations, and public, private, and governing organizational support will be relied on to accomplish our goals.
The long-term goal of the IWMP is to enable consumptive and non-consumptive water users to understand and quantify current and future use and integrate those uses for the maximum benefit of all users while protecting the existing water resource.
The project has published up Phase 1 and is conducting field research for Phase 2.
Phase 1 was an information gathering phase. We compiled current research, management plans and stakeholder input. A big takeaway is that we do not know the reason(s) for the declining Blue River trout fishery between Silverthorne and Green Mountain Reservoirs.
Phase 2 is collecting additional data in several areas in order to present the community with a comprehensive picture of the health of the Blue River watershed. The project will work to pinpoint effective strategies to address the declining fishery between Dillon and Green Mountain Reservoirs.
Phase 3 is expected to being summer 2022, will identify specific projects to assist in improving and maintaining the health of our watershed.
Phase one's results have pointed to the need for additional data in several areas in order to present the community with a comprehensive picture of the health of both the main stem of the Blue River and the entire watershed. The project team believes that additional data is needed throughout the watershed but is especially important in our effort to pinpoint effective strategies to address the declining fishery between Dillon and Green Mountain Reservoirs. The following tasks will be completed in Phase 2 to build upon the work completed thus far:
Task 1: Develop scientifically valid restoration strategies through evaluation of existing stream flows – both temporally and quantitatively – in relationship to the geomorphology of the stream.
Task 2: Sample macroinvertebrates at 10 sample sites in 2021 (following the same protocol from 2020). Eight of these sites were sampled in 2020, and two of these sites will be new in 2021.
Task 3: Sample periphyton at 8 sample sites (coincident with Macro sites) 3 times during the growing season. This will build on the initial samples taken in 2020 from the Blue River at the macro-invertebrate sampling sites and subsequently analyzed.
Task 4: Create temperature profiles at the sample sites to offer variable correlations and demonstrate habitat conditions.
Task 4: Continue to work closely with stakeholders including the Advisory Committee and BREW to ensure the BRIWMP project stays on track with community priorities and concerns. Members of these groups also provide critical expertise in a wide variety of subject areas.
Task 5: Integrate the findings of Phase 2 into an updated BRIWMP.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Together with our partners we are working to increase our capabilities to be able to fully address the needs of the watershed in a comprehensive, cohesive manner. Adding staff, expanding partnerships, and leveraging relationships with governmental and non governmental agencies aligned with similar goals will allow us to meet these needs.
The formation of the IWMP and the Summit County Outdoor Coalition provides a framework for working across boundaries, physical and political, which will structure our plans moving forward.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have restored several mining damaged sections of the Blue River, increased and improved access to the river for recreation, created a strong network of community members, partners, and agencies whose goals align with ours.
Tenmile Creek restoration
From 2013-2016, BRWG, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, restored a crucial part of Tenmile Creek that had been heavily impacted by historic mining, timber harvesting, land use development, and railroad and highway construction. The project restored 2,800 linear feet of stream and rehabilitated 6 acres of associated stream banks, wetlands and floodplains. The project has enhanced floodplain connectivity, fish habitat quality, scenery, and wetlands function, and improved recreational opportunities and public access to Tenmile Creek.
Snake River Watershed Plan
In 2007, BRWG received a grant to develop a watershed plan for the Snake River, a tributary of the Blue River and one of the most disturbed basins in the state. The Plan, which was completed in 2010, identified many problems in the Basin, but concentrated on the ten worst problems. Of those, three have been worked on, including the Brittle Silver, the Delaware and the Silver Spoon Mines.
Brittle Silver Mine
Cinnamon Gulch split into three channels, one of which flowed through tailings below the Brittle Silver Mine. The Gulch was restructured so that there was only one channel which no longer flowed through the Brittle Silver Mine tailings, reducing the heavy metals pouring into Peru Creek.
Delaware Mine
Effluent from the old Delaware Mine flowed to an old pond. The pond was cleaned out and the flow channel to the pond was lined with limestone. A new culvert was placed below the road to kee p the water from flowing to the pond. Waste rock at the site was consolidated at the east end and the area revegetated.
Silver Spoon Mine
Waste rock in the drainage channel was replaced along the sides of the channel and then the channel was lined with limestone. This keeps the water from flowing over material high in minerals. By not flowing through the waste rock, much of the mineral lode is avoided
Swan River Restoration
BRWG is a leading partner in the Swan River Restoration Project along with Summit County, the Town of Breckenridge, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado Trout Unlimited - Gore Range Chapter, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District. This collaborative, multi-phase project is located in the upper Swan River drainage near the Town of Breckenridge and is designed to address damage caused to the Swan River as a result of historical dredge mining. This project is halfway completed with over a mile and a half of dredge damage restored.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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