Katrina Byars & Jason Evitt Conservation Biology

Site Assessments for the Crystal RiverReference Reach at Placita Riparian.

Assessment and Recommendation for Redstone Riparian.

Introduction:Wild and free to a much larger extent than most rivers is the Crystal River in Colorado. Near its headwaters is an old townsite, Placita, and it has a modern history dating back to the mining era. There have been many threats and disturbance. Mining brought major impact to the area. Placita was almost flooded and turned into a reservoir. This area actually represents the resilience of a riparian area. The destruction that occurred there in the late 1800’s was wild and unabandoned. The attitude of the laborers was preoccupied with survival and hopes of striking it rich and the attitude of the businessman was of exploitation. Ecology and sustainable restraint

was a distant glimmer. There continue to be impacts and threats to the river. Its wild status led American Rivers to declare it in the top 10 most endangered rivers in the U.S. in 2012. It is one of only two wild rivers that remain in Colorado. The Wild and Scenic designation is still being pursued.

Stream Condition AnalysisSite 1: Placita

Rosgen Stream Classification: C3

Stream Width Profile:

West side of river: 81.5 meters potential width27.5 meters-river to RR54 meters-RR to road

East side of river: 300 meter potential width

EPA Rapid Bioassessment Protocol:

Epifaunal Substrate/Available Cover

15 Snags, leaves, and organic material heavily dispersed in naturally occurring mounds along both stream sides

Embeddedness 17 Stones and pebbles in the stream bed were cobbled or imbricated.

Velocity/Depth Regime

20 Ideal combination of riffles, pools, point bars and cut banks

Sediment Deposition 16 Less that 25%

Channel Flow 14 Water fills more than 75% of the channel.

Channel Alteration 19 Historical alteration but nearly full channel recover. C class shape.

Frequency of Riffles or Bends

16 Diversity of riffles and pools.

Bank Stability Left BankRight Bank

79

Some erosion but mostly good condition.

Vegetative ProtectionLeft Bank 9

9

More than 90% of streambank surfaces covered by native vegetation.

Right Bank

Riparian Vegetative Zone WidthLeft BankRight Bank

1010

Healthy and complete vegetation.

Macroinvertebrate Assessment:

Taxa Abundance Richness

Group 1 Taxa 18 2

Group 2 Taxa 2 1

Group 3 Taxa 6 2

Site 1 Discussion:Intact dual channel creates a meandering flow of hydrology and depth regimes that include snags, riffles, points banks, runs and pools. This complexity of environment and structure is accompanied by rich vegetation of native moisture obligates, including cottonwood, willow, blue spruce, and communities of macro-invertebrates and birds. The system is functioning optimally with a total of 81 meters of potential, with 27 meters uninterrupted riparian habitat. Filled with hydrophilic wetland obligate species. The overhangs are well intact, with cut bank/point par deposition at intervals optimal for overflowing banks and seeding and germination of successional cottonwood dominated riparian habitat. Some impact from historically affected flow, but high frequency of alternating rifle/pool pattern. High amounts of organic material are present in the water. Logs in the river provide desirable habitat for fish and insects. The rocks on the river bottom are imbricated, which provides excellent, stable macroinvertebrate habitat.

Steam Condition Analysis:Site 2A: Redstone Park/Elk Park

Rosgen Stream Classification: C5

EPA Rapid Bioassessment Protocol:

Epifaunal Substrate/Available Cover 2 Area highly altered and impacted by human development, very little riparian coverage throughout the site. The area that had native vegetation was highly fragmented from other riparian zones.

Embeddedness 3 Rocks were more than 75% surrounded by sandy sediment and many rocks were covered completely.

Velocity/Depth Regime 8 This area was dominated by a run, with little variation of velocity and depth eliminating habitat potential for every trophic level of the riparian zone.

Sediment Deposition 5 Heavy, unnatural deposition of sediment.

Channel Flow 9 Single channel fast flow.

Channel Alteration 2 Heavily armored on right side by Redstone levy. Bridge abutment left

Frequency of Riffles or Bends 3 Infrequent riffles and bends

Bank Stability Left BankRight Bank

11

Unstable, degraded eroding.

Vegetative ProtectionLeft BankRight Bank 1

2

Minimal, anthropogenically removed.

Riparian Vegetative Zone WidthLeft BankRight Bank 4

1

90% destroyed.

Macroinvertebrate Assessment:

Taxa Abundance Richness

Group 1 Taxa 7 2

Group 2 Taxa 3 1

Group 3 Taxa 3 (spider mites) 1

Site 2A Discussion:This area is within the town of Redstone and is very developed. The buildings are very close to the river boundary and are within the floodplain. Much of the stretch is armoured to prevent the river from freely moving and displacing the human development and habitat. Any vegetation in the area is fragmented and isolated from the river. Coal Creek empties into the Crystal River just upstream from where we did the invertebrate and imbrication assessment. Coal Creek carries a huge sediment load into the Crystal River. The stones in the river were not imbricated and the high sediment load adds to the inability of the area to provide habitat for living organisms. The fast flow of the run combined with the armoring prevents pools and riffles and habitat. There is some cottonwood regeneration on a portion of the left bank downstream from the footbridge. The macroinvertebrate population reveals a poor habitat and an inability to support life.

Stream Condition Analysis:Site 2B: Redstone-North (Downstream) of Site 2A ~ 2000m

Rosgen Stream Classification: C Degraded to a D. Slope 9%.

Macroinvertebrate Assessment:

Taxa Abundance Richness

Group 1 Taxa 1 Caddisfly Larva2 Stonefly Nymphs1 Dead Mayfly Nymph

1

Group 2 Taxa 1 Platyhelminthe 1

Group 3 Taxa 1 Midge Larva 1

Site 2B Discussion:This area is a few hundred meters downstream of the convergence of Coal Creek with the Crystal River. Coal Creek is subjected to frequent mudslides and carries huge loads of sediment downstream. There is a classic example of aggradation in this area- a building of the base of the river channel through deposition consequently causing erosion to occur laterally. A huge amount of deposition occurs here. As the riverbed rises and widens, channeling occurs with islands of deposition-braiding. There is serious channeling and braiding here with many channels and little habitat for fish with no real pools. Unstable, exposed rocky islands that have no habitat potential appear intermittently between the channeling. Mass sedimentation, high bed load, cobble highly overturned, highly embedded and not imbricated are all indicators of poor riparian health. Constant aggrading as the energy from the barricaded river upstream releases it energy and bedload. Again, the macroinvertebrate population reveals a poor habitat and an inability to support life.

Overall Discussion:This landscape consists of the Upland Maroon Formation of ancient compressed sandstone with high iron content that is partially eroded by wind and water. It is a South to North trending valley with a dynamic mosaic of riparian, shrublands, spruce/fir, Aspen groves and Gambel Oak on a varied topography. The eroded hillsides hold steep cliffs, and form the deep u shaped valley. Water comes from the top of the watershed down the surrounding slopes to the river so the condition of the surrounding slopes is reflected in the riparian zone. The riparian zone is an important interface and buffer between the impacts from the surrounding slopes and the health of the ecosystem. The East side of the valley is a patchy distribution of Engleman Fir and Subalpine Fir on higher slopes with Douglas Fir and Aspen distributed on lower, more moist slopes and Gambel Oak below that on dryer slopes before the riparian habitat. The West side of the valley is dryer, less vegetated and dominated by Gambel Oak and Juniper forests with pockets of moist soils from seeps and microclimates supporting patches of more diverse habitats.

Most streams in the West have a highway or road next to them, which prevents the natural tendency of the river to meander back and forth across the valley floor to dissipate its energy. Highway 133 runs through the valley and was paved around 20 years ago. There were up to 3 railways going through the valley 120 years ago. There was widespread logging, mining, fishing and hunting...the place was trashed and it has shown tremendous resilience to be in the condition it is now, especially given continued growth and development.

Riparian zones are the fecund waters from which a myriad of life emerges. These areas present emergent phenomena that cascades upward beginning at stream ecology and enhancing ecosystem function, structure and service all the way to the forest canopy. Expanding outward from each biological niche filled by each species exists an interrelated constellation of associated species from micro bacteria to primary predators to primary decomposers. Examination into each species exposes a suite of associated species, that accompany each group, within the larger system. This overlapping and nested matrix of biological interrelationships produces ecosystem functions that benefit all of life. The foundation of the web of life that includes a complex interplay between soils, temperature, moisture, structure, and cascading inter-relationships between the many living parts begins in the riparian zone. Essential habitats of many species, these areas support humans and wildlife through background ecosystem services such as water purification and storage, cloud seeding and local climate regulation, streamflow regulation, and invaluable nesting habitat.

An underground aquifer ebbs and flows through the soil substrate as seasonal river flows fluctuate in this subalpine ecosystem. A healthy river will have a pattern of cut banks and point bars that alternate as it meanders downstream. The elevation gradient is an important factor for this process. As sediment is picked up, it begins to carve through the soil structure and pushes its own diversion in front of itself. This process creates a banking action and a pool is eventually carved in this area where a bend in the river now exists. This cutting action is followed by

deposition of the cut material resulting from the lower velocity the corner created. That is where the riffles are formed and this duality continues itself as the river continues on its path of least resistance (Malone, 2013).

The pools that are formed give habitat to fish and the riffles give habitat to insects like Mayflies, Caddisflies and Stoneflies. The Cutthroat trout that are native to the area and have evolved along with all the other elements of the system, sit in the pools and wait and intercept the nutrients and insects that originate from the riffles. The spring thaw and accompanied high river flows flush out the sediment that collects in the pools and riffles and creates new habitat as it displaces others. The sediment holds nutrients that the anaerobic bacteria have been breaking down all year, and those nutrients are dispersed into the ecosystem. The flooding that occurs during that time takes those nutrients out over the point bars where the cottonwoods and willows will established because those plants are timed to release their seeds in this specific window of opportunity.

The health of this invaluable piece of the Crystal River Watershed was threatened by development of a dam at the historic town site of Placita. The area has ideal topography for a dam with the narrow entrance to the canyon and a wider, bowl shaped valley floor before. This was a huge hurdle to overcome in the preservation of the valley and the stream ecology. It shows what can be accomplished when area institutions combine their efforts and resources. The water rights have not yet been purchased and the value is dependent upon the Wild and Scenic designation outcome. Briefly, one recommendation would be to for the “good guys” to buy those water rights to prevent them from going to unsustainable practices. The current goal is to get every single person in the watershed to sign on to a petition as proponents of the Wild and Scenic designation so that the legislators can support it knowing there won’t be any opposition, which seems to be the only way to they will.

Recommendations:The reference reach site at Placita was in fully functioning condition, despite historical and current partial river containment, and a large mudslide collection site that was illegally deposited by CDOT. Minimal restoration of this site will result in riparian rebound. Introduction of the beaver at placita, and restoration of cottonwood and willow in anthropogenically cleared areas would me more than adequate to maximize this site’s natural potential.

The Redstone site 2A is a completely different system, with severe armoring on both left and right streambanks by Highway 133 and the Redstone town levey respectively. Because of this armoring the stream lacks variation in flow regimes, the water runs fast and carried a thick bedload of sediment. There is serious degradation to riparian habitat. This riparian area is vital for associated ecosystem functions and restoration will not only prevent further degradation in the future, but will help to re-establish a network of life functions for the benefit of the entire river valley. At this site immediate restoration methods include the replanting of native

vegetation especially cottonwood and willow. Total restoration of flow regime would be impossible because Redstone is built in the floodplain of the Crystal’s historical flow.

Constraining the river won’t allow shifting bends and the shifting patches that allow for emergent succession of riparian communities. As meanders naturally shift, the mosaic of riparian trophic communities shifts with them. Create more diversity of flow, improve vegetative coverage and encourage the accumulation of deadfall, snags, and organic material. It would be possible to partially restore banks and flood regimes on the left bank, by reducing armoring and adding boulders, and snags to dissipate energy, encourage meandering and create a variable flow regime. Revegetation on both banks is necessary to restore the riparian habitat to full system function, allowing it to maintain water temperature, trap sediment and pollutants, form micro-climates and connectors between habitats, provide a food source for macroinvertebrates, slow flooding flows, and creating terrestrial habitat.

Coal Creek was heavily degraded on both stream sides, and was brown with flowing sediment. Where it met the Crystal River the water was drastically different. Severe and serious degradation as a result of sediment runoff from Coal Creek is evident in the Crystal River at the Redstone site. Immediate attention is necessary. Recommendations for stream reclamation include filtration dams of locally sourced carbon material filled sand bags. As water flows through, the solids are collected. Alternating zones of water purification using local, water obligate riparian plants, and beaver dams can purify the water of sediment while replanting the river stream banks with cottonwood and willow, as well as native grases, and wild fruit bearing shrubs. The tailings from the historical mining operations, which considerably contribute to erosion could be revegetated using a type of native plant like a saltbush or plant that can process the heavy metals.

At site 2B, restoration is only possible once conditions in site 2A have been improved. Once upstream restoration is complete, natural meanders must be restored. Stream direction can be guided by the placement of snags, and boulders, and over time it will return to its historical cut bank point bar, riffle, pool pattern. Native vegetation especially with cottonwood and willow seedlings should be established on existing rock islands to facilitate functional future channeling.

Restoration of the Redstone site will increase ecosystem services such and flood control and instream flows. Additionally these improvement to the river system will increase fish and wildlife habitat which has high associated value both monetarily and ecologically.