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<br />~ <br /> <br />'ii <br /> <br />STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVES <br />2260 Baseline Road, Suite 101 <br />Boulder, CO 80302 <br />(303) 545-6467 <br />(303) 545-5216 Fax <br />larry(aJ,stewardshipinitiati ves.com <br />www.stewardshipinitiatives.com <br /> <br />October 26, 1999 <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: North Fork Working Group members <br />FROlVl: Larry MacDonnell <br />RE: October 12 field trip and next meeting <br /> <br />.~. <br /> <br />Present: Carl Zimmerman(Colorado Soil Conservation District), Randy Mandel(Rocky Mountain Native <br />Plants), Andres Aslan(Mesa State), Paul von Guerard(USGS), Nat Miullo(EPA), Kirk Vincent(USGS), <br />Brian Hyde(CWCB), Kurt Kubik(BLM), David Bradford(USFS), Karen Hamilton(EPA), Gary <br />Weiner(NPS), Rick Krueger(USFWS), John Ozga(BOR), Jeff Crane, and Larry MacDonnell <br /> <br />The group meet for breakfast at Zack's in Hotchkiss. After introductions, Jeffprovided an overview of <br />NFRIA and its activities to date. We then walked across the road to the site of the North Fork <br />demonstraltion project. This project is now well underway. An access road has been bulldozed into the <br />river on the north side. Several piles of large boulders are in place awaiting construction work. <br /> <br />We taIkedfIrst about the plan for the instream structure that will make it possible for the Smith McKnight <br />ditch to divert water out of the river without having to bulldoze a gravel dike in the channel each year. <br /> <br />Jeff pointed out the general direction the river channel will take, including the enlarged meander, as the <br />river moves downstream. The expectation is that the area to the northwest of the meander will become a <br />wetland. <br /> <br />Members of the group asked a number of questions, and a considerable number of suggestions were <br />offered. The general conclusion was that the project design made sense and was well engineered. Cautions <br />were raised about the inherent uncertainty in such restoration projects. It was recommended that NFRIA <br />make special efforts to inform the community about the learning nature of river restoration work and the <br />possibility that an unusually large flood event could damage or even destroy the project. <br /> <br />Next the group went to Calvin Campbell's land along the river. This is a highly braiqed channel area that <br />has been adding deposition in the past two years of monitoring. On the assumption that this is an aggrading <br />reach, Jeffhas been contemplating ways to deepen and stabilize the channel to pass more sediment and <br />materials. <br /> <br />Closer examination suggested that this reach may not be aggrading on a long-term basis. Thus, rather than <br />focus on ways to construct a channel that would pass more material it may make more sense to focus on <br />protecting the existing outer limits of the existing channel, especially at the upstream bend where the <br />Campbells have their diversion structure, and to allow the river to continue its efforts to restabilize within <br />this broad channel. <br /> <br />\ <br /> <br />The working hypothesis has been that the North Fork was a considerably more sinuous, single channel river <br />with dense riparian vegetation that flooded regularly. Channelization and land reclamation for agricultural <br />