Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project

Location:

Southwest of Denver, Colorado

Case description (read more)

The Upper South Platte River Watershed is a critical watershed that provides approximately eighty percent of the drinking water for the 1.5 million residents of the Denver Metropolitan area. When the Buffalo Creek fire burned 11,900-forested acres in this watershed in 1996, Denver’s drinking water supply was threatened after heavy rains on denuded hillsides caused severe siltation in the water-intake structure. Rocky Wiley, Manager of Planning for the Denver Water Department recalled, “We got a black eye from that. Though the public was understanding, it proved to the Forest Service and others what could happen because of these fires and this was only an 11,000-acre fire!” Officials from the US Environmental Protection Agency, Colorado State Forest Service, and USDA Forest Service immediately recognized the need to begin working collaboratively and across jurisdictions in order to better manage the risk of catastrophic fire along Colorado’s Front Range. This case tells the story of the progress that can be made when groups build strong linkages between scientists and managers, adopt a learning mode that includes systematic experimentation and monitoring, and build the political and budgetary support to move forward.

What is fostering progress? (read more)

• One of the key factors in the progress made by the Upper South Platte Project was the group’s decision to directly involve scientists as members of the partnership.
• Similarly, the group’s progress has been fostered by their emphasis on cooperative monitoring and the coordination and shared learning it has fostered.
• Members’ commitment to working together and building relationships has been another critical factor fostering the group’s progress.

What challenges were faced and how were they overcome? (read more)

• A major challenge the group has faced is the recent battery of fires that have destroyed large forested areas in the Upper South Platte basin. These fires were a major distraction that frustrated efforts and forced the restoration project off track.
• Another major challenge faced by the restoration effort was an appeal filed by seven conservation groups of a Forest Service decision to log approximately eight square miles within a roadless area.
• The restoration project has struggled with the differing capabilities of the parties to implement projects in a timely manner

What lessons can be drawn? (read more)

• A deliberate focus on learning can foster success: group members acknowledged the need to learn about the system and experiment with different prescriptions through adaptive management.
• Patience, persistence and sustained commitment can enable a project to overcome many challenges.
• Building on pre-existing networks can enable a group/project to quickly move forward.

Contact information

Related Links

• The Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project
• Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project: Pike and San Isabel National Forests 2002 Annual Report
• Coalition for the Upper South Platte
• Press release highlighting Forest Service’s decision to delay implementing project in light of environmentalists’ appeal

This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.