Vail Valley Riparian Revegetation Specifications (Vail Valley, CO) 2018
OVERVIEW: AloTerra worked with Crane Associates and the Town of Vail to develop riparian revegetation palettes and design approaches for private lands throughout the Vail Valley. Part of Vail’s Project Re-Wild, and prioritized by the Eagle River Watershed Council, this project resulted in the development of four distinct riparian revegetation palettes for the Vail Valley. Using the Riparian Hydrosere approach to specifying plants relative to bankfull elevations, plant palettes were specified for hydroriparian, mesoriparian, xeroriparian, and upland hydroseres. Other characteristics such as soil types, elevation, geography, ecology, and plant availability shaped the final plant palettes and seed mixes. The final revegetation design manual, tailored to both land owners and landscape architects, included typical drawings, plant palettes and recommended densities and treatment approaches, vendor availability, and other design resources to help improve the successful establishment of diverse riparian flora in Vail valley.
Eagle River/Whiskey Creek Riparian Restoration (CO) 2017
OVERVIEW: Nestled between I-70 and a popular regional bike trail, two priority reaches of the Eagle River canyon were identified by the Eagle River Watershed Council for riparian restoration. The primary goal was to increase biological diversity within the riparian corridor. Working closely with Crane Associates, AloTerra provided site assessments, restoration design, materials sourcing and acquisition, and volunteer oversight to install native riparian shrubs and trees for two priority reaches of the Eagle River upstream of Eagle, CO, as identified by the Eagle County Water Quality Action Plan (ECWQAP).
Streambank Stability Assessment Protocol and River Health Assessments. Practical restoration monitoring tools for impaired streams (CO) 2014-2017
OVERVIEW: AloTerra developed two protocols to standardize and facilitate assessment of stream degradation and evaluate restoration efficacy. We developed and implemented our Streambank Stability Assessment monitoring protocol, and a River Health Assessment protocol, to address needs in a variety of settings for entities dealing with post-flood and other stream degradation circumstances. Three years of baseline and evaluation monitoring efforts and pilot testing examined streambank stability assessments (AloTerra protocol), geomorphic risk assessments, vegetation line-point intercept transects, and repeat photography. AloTerra’s Streambank Stability Assessment (SSA) has now been piloted on six stream systems in Colorado, and one stream system in the central valley of California over the course of four years. Implemented on property managed by the City of Longmont, Boulder County, USFS, Prologis Inc., and for private landowners, the SSA protocol has become a valuable resource for real-life measurement of stream degradation at sub-reach level, prioritization of restoration design and construction activities, and long-term evaluation and understanding of restoration efforts and their results.
Colorado:
Estes Valley Eight River Resilience and Restoration (Estes Park, CO) 2017
Jasper Lake Revegetation Project (Big Thompson River, CO) 2017