FLOOD10356

• County: Delta
• Title: North Fork Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Project - April 2001-April 2002 Data Report
• Date: 9/30/2002
• Prepared For: North Fork River Improvement Association
• Prepared By: CSU Cooperative Extension and North Fork River Improvement Association
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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1.0 Description of the North Fork of the Gunnison
Watershed

1.1 Introduction

The North Fork of the Gunnison
Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring
Project was initiated in April 2001. The
goal of the project is to obtain credible
water quality information for the North
Fork of the Gunnison watershed. This
project is run entirely by local
volunteers, with the donation of time
and services from a variety of State,
local, and Federal organizations (see
Section 2.8, Project Sponsors). This
annual report summarizes the results of
water quality monitoring conducted North Fork Sign
from April 2001 to April 2002, at seven
sites located throughout the North Fork watershed. It represents the efforts of dozens of
volunteers, and hundreds of hours spent preparing and analyzing samples.

Currently, there is only one long-term water quality monitoring site run by the State on
the North Fork of the Gunnison River, located near Lazear. This volunteer project was
designed to provide water quality information from all over the watershed, from above
Paonia Reservoir to near the confluence with the Gunnison River. The project was also
designed to monitor water quality parameters of concern in the North Fork, including
selenium, fecal coliforms, nutrients, sediment, and metals.

In addition to this annual report, data gathered from this sampling program will be
provided to the State of Colorado and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EP A) for
inclusion in their regional databases. In the long-run, it is hoped that the information
collected by members of this volunteer team will encourage more informed decision-
making by local citizens, government agencies, and local officials, using new water
quality data that helps to better define and quantify our natural resources.

Monitoring efforts are still on-going in 2002, with samplers going out monthly to test the
waters. Our hope is that this project will continue indefinitely, supplying the people of
the North Fork Valley with reliable information as to the state of their rivers.

1.2 The North Fork of the Gunnison Watershed

The North Fork of the Gunnison River is located in northwestern Gunnison and eastern
Delta Counties, in west central Colorado (see Figure 1.0). The headwaters of the North
Fork begin in the Gunnison National Forest and are formed by the confluence of Muddy
Creek and Anthracite Creek downstream of Paonia Dam at an approximate elevation of
6,200 feet. The North Fork flows 33 miles in a southwesterly direction from this point to

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