Whew! 2022 certainly flew by and what a year it was! We had a productive year here at UCRWG, monitoring conditions along the North Fork, helping local landowners impacted by the East Troublesome Fire implement restoration projects, educating kids and adults alike about the importance of watershed health, and providing detailed comments on the 2023 Water Plan from the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

UCRWG received a generous grant from the Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Program of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (NPS-CDPHE) to conduct monitoring and restoration work in the North Fork of the Colorado River (NFCR) this past summer thanks to the hard work of former UCRWG Board member Ken Fucik.

UCRWG contributed to ongoing post-wildfire remediation on 20+ properties in the East Troublesome Fire burn zone, implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) on 11 properties and developing concept plans for additional BMP treatments on over 20 projects.

With this 2022 NPS-CDPHE funding we:

• Planted over 800 conifer seedlings in four plant nurseries around the NFCR watershed for wildfire restoration use in 2023 and beyond.
• Purchased and installed over 600ft of wildlife exclosure fencings on private land to help protect naturally recovering willows critical to streambank stabilization. T-posts for these exclosures were retrieved from older fencing to re-use in wildfire recovery projects.

We would also like to extend a hearty THANK YOU to Morales Farms for the donation of fencing. The fencing will be used for moose and elk exclosure construction to encourage beaver restoration.

• Hydromulched and seeded a steep slope on the Grand Lake Metro Recreation District property eroding into the NFCR, working with Colorado-based Boulder Mushroom and ECCO LLC. With additional support from the Grand Lake nonprofit foundation Fire on the Mountain, we blended mycelium inoculant into the hydromulch mix in an experiment to kick-start soil regrowth.
• Developed the volunteer-friendly Colorado Headwater BRAT survey to better characterize our project area, including over 1,000 citizen-science observations. The goal of the BRAT survey is to support beaver reestablishment efforts in the headwaters of the Colorado River.
• Collected samples for water quality testing at four sites along the NFCR, including field and laboratory testing for water quality and macroinvertebrates.
• Conducted outreach and education at various local events throughout the summer and fall, including the Live Water and Troublesome Fest festivals. We’re following up these events with proposed BugBlitz! days in partnership with the Grand County Library District.

Keep your eyes open for the release of our ArcGIS Story Map summarizing our findings from this summer and providing tools for landowners to better understand appropriate restoration projects for their specific property.

📢 To be released in early 2023 ! 📢

Festival of Trees

UCRWG Board members Ingrid Karlstrom and Andy Miller gave a new twist to having a blue Christmas with the UCRWG tree decorations at the Fraser Valley Lions Club annual Festival of Trees.

100% of proceeds raised from the auction of UCRWG's water-themed tree will go toward our ongoing education and restoration work in the Upper Colorado River basin.

Photo courtesy of Tiffany Gatesman Photography

2023: Looking Ahead to the New Year

We’re ringing in the new year excited for all of the opportunities ahead to build on our 2022 accomplishments!

Thanks to a generous grant from the LUSH Charity Pot Pay It Forward grant program and Save the Colorado, we’re moving into the new year optimistic about what’s to come. LUSH funding will support grant research and writing efforts, program development and implementation and keeping us moving toward our goals.

We’re extremely grateful to also receive funding from the Wolcott Family Foundation to grow our wildly successful BugBlitz! and Watershed Corners with the GCLD over summer 2023. Look out for dates next summer at a library near you!

Finally, we’re excited to continue growing our Adopt-a-Waterway program. Head over to our website to find out how YOU can get involved!