2016 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference
 

A RIVER RUNS OUT OF IT: BUILDING STRONG UPSTREAM COMMUNITIES

October 10-13, 2016

Westin Riverfront Resort

Avon, CO

2016 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference Presentations

Tuesday, October 11, 2016: Plenary Sessions & Keynote Address

Plenary Session 1: The Science and Practice of River Restoration

Conference Opening: Nicole Seltzer, Colorado Foundation for Water Education

Plenary Introduction: Julie Ash, Colorado Riparian Association

Presenter

Dr. Ellen Wohl, Colorado State University

Plenary Session 2: Turning Plan Into Action - Implementation of Colorado's Water Plan

Plenary Introduction: Mara MacKillop

Panelists

John Stulp, Governor's Water Policy Advisor

Don Coram, State Representative

Julio Iturreria, Arapahoe County

Peter Nichols, Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti

Ted  Kowalski, Walton Family Foundation

Keynote Address: The National Park Service's 100th Anniversary Celebration

Keynote Introduction: Casey Davenhill

Speakers

James P. Doyle, Chief of Communications and Legislation, Intermountain Region, National Park Service

Nicole  Jackson, Advocate for Protecting Public Lands, Next 100 Coalition

Wednesday October 12, 2016: Concurrent Sessions

Session 1

Nexus of Water Storage and Watershed Health, Moderator: Bill McKee

• "Meeting Water Quality Standards in a Front Range Reservoir Using an Innovative Watershed-Based Approach that Benefits Multiple Partners" Laurie Rink, Barr-Milton Watershed

• "Wildfire Watershed Risk Assessments: Challenges, opportunities, and the latest science to inform source water protection management strategies " Brett Wolk, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Aaron Kimple, Mountain Studies Institute

• "One River, Many Plans” Kelly Romero-Heaney, Water Resources Manager for the City of Steamboat Springs, Zach Smith, Staff Attorney for the Colorado Water Trust

Community Conversations Across Agencies and Interest Groups, Moderator: Nicole Seltzer

• "A Watershed Community Collaboration for Source Water Protection in the Upper South Platte: Building Strong Communities for Water Quality Protection and Watershed Health " Sarah Dominick, Denver Water; John Duggan, CDPHE

• "The Fountain Creek Watershed Greenway Fund: Turning Our Creeks (Back) Into Assets" Patrick Hannon, Norris Design, Steve Rothstein, Greenway Fund

• "The High Water Mark: Policy Lessons Learned from Colorado's 2013 Floods" Deserai Crow, University of Colorado

Lessons Learned from Flood Recovery, ModeratorS: Julie Ash & Jeff Sickles

• Annual Panel on the Practice of Restoration: The Large Woody Material (LWM) Debate Recent Colorado efforts to work together to understand LWM and balance its benefits with its risks to infrastructure Panelists: Dr. Ellen Wohl, CSU (Poudre River example), Brian Varrella, CDOT & Erika Smull Ayres, (Big Thompson River example), Michael Chard, Boulder OEM & Mac Kobza, BCPOS (Boulder County example)

• “Building a Design Team to Deliver Resilience” Panel Discussion: Jeff Sickles (RWP Lead), Michael Blazewicz (Restoration/Fluvial Geomorphology), Randy Mandel (Vegetation Ecologist/ Revegetation Specialist), Dr. William Miller (Ecological)

Session 2

Creative and Collaborative Water Solutions, Moderator: Brian Epstein

• "Learning by Doing with the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement" Mely Whiting, Trout Unlimited, Lurline Curran, Grand County

• "Are Water Markets a Legal Solution for Scarcity?" Susan Ryan, Ryley Carlock & Applewhite

• "Augmentation for Increased Water Supply Efficiency and Instream Flow Benefits" Ben Moline, MolsonCoors

Advancing Technical Tools and Innovations for Restoration, Moderator: Rachel Williams

• "Connecting Vegetation Management to the Mapped Flood Risk" David Skuodas, Urban Drainage & Flood Control District

• "Geomorphic analyses in support of channel restoration design - Highlights from three years of flood recovery " Luke Swan, Otak

• "New restoration tools and methods from the Dolores River Restoration Partnership" Daniel Oppenheimer, Tamarisk Coalition & Cynthia Dott, Fort Lewis College

Water Resource Planning, Moderator: Stephanie DiBetitto

• "Developing Watershed Resiliency Metrics: A Case Study from the Cache La Poudre Watershed " Jen Kovecses, Coalition for the Poudre Valley Watershed , Brad Piehl, JW Associates

• "Empowering Upstream Communities to Protect Water" Colleen Williams, Colorado Rural Water Association

• "Crystal River Management Plan: Process, Outcomes and Stakeholder Engagement " Seth Mason, Lotic Hydrological, Rick Lofaro, Roaring Fork Conservancy

Session 3

Organizational Development Strategies, Moderator: Casey Davenhill

• "Conserving Land and Water: How GOCO, CWT and Watershed Groups Can Collaborate for Success" Amanda Hill , GOCO , Zach Smith, Colorado Water Trust

• “Behind the scenes accounting strategies that lead to winning applications, manageable grant reporting and successful project implementation “ Kevin Sear, Paragon Audit & Consulting

• “Let’s WRAP! One Water Solutions Institute at CSU has created WRAP—Watershed Rapid Assessment Program” Tyler Wible, Colorado State University

Success Stories to Know About!, Moderator: Josh Eldridge

• “CDOT's US34 Rebuild in the Big Thompson Canyon, a case study in Colorado resiliency” Brian Varrella, CDOT Region 4 Hydraulic Engineer, Carolyn Roan, Muller Engineering Company, Will deRossett, Ayres Associates

• "Upper Arkansas River Restoration Project " Greg Brunjack, Upper Arkansas River - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

• “A Sandy River Runs Through It: Middle South Platte River Sediment Transport Study” Brian Murphy, CDM Smith

Linking Water Supply With Land Use Planning, Moderator: Jayla Poppleton

• "Save Water with Land Use Planning: A Manual for How-To" Drew Beckwith, Western Resources

• "Land Use Planning to Address Water Quality and Stream Health" Torie Jarvis, Northwest CO Council of Governments

• "Adventures in Land Use and Water Supply Planning in South Metro Denver: Opportunities, Challenges, and Steps Forward " Logan Burba, South Metro Water Supply Authority, Beorn Courtney, Element Water Consulting

Session 4

Lessons Learned from Flood Recovery, Moderator: Katie Jagt

• "Lessons Learned: Watershed Coalitions Share the Successes and Challenges of the Watershed Resilience Pilot Program" Erin Cooper, Little Thompson Watershed Coalition, Cecily Mui, Saint Vrain Creek Coalition

• "The Art of Partnering: Case studies from the Big Thompson and Estes Valley Watershed Coalitions " Shayna Jones, Big Thompson Watershed Coalition, Molly Mills, Estes Valley Watershed Coalition

• "Restoring Resiliency to St. Vrain Creek Following the Flood of 2013" Douglas Laiho, Boulder County

Advancing Technical Tools and Innovations for Restoration, Moderator: Chris Sturm

• "Living Streambanks: A Manual of Bioengineering Treatments for Colorado Streams" John Giordanengo, AloTerra/Synergy Bill Spitz, Olsson Associates

• “Utilizing the CWCB Searchable Revegetation Matrix to Facilitate Proper River Revegetation for the Front Range of Colorado" Randy Mandel, EWP Vegetation Ecologist/Golder Associates

• "Assessment of Geomorphic Impacts of Riparian Vegetation Removal on the Colorado River" Gigi Richard, Mesa State University

Legacy of Mining Panel Discussion, Moderator: David Holm

• Jean Wyatt, EPA; Robyn Blackburn, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Skip Feeney, Mine Impacted Waters Task Force; Dr. Andrew Todd, U.S. Geological Survey; Jason B. Willis, Trout Unlimited; Carol Ekarius, Coalition for the Upper South Platte; Trez Skillern, US Forest Service; Jeff Graves, Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety; Peter Butler, Animas River Stakeholders; Curtis Hartenstine, Southern Ute Indian Tribe

THANK YOU TO OUR CONFERENCE SPONSORS:

Conference Hosts