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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />The Eagle River watershed is an extraordinary resource that providing a host of ecosystem services and <br />benefits. It is also a system characterized by complexity and change. With a rapidly growing population <br />focusing land use conversions in and near the river corridor coupled with growing pressures for water from <br />within and without, the fate of the Eagle River is increasingly determined by our decisions and stewardship. <br />This report describes the results of the Eagle River Inventory and Assessment (ERIA), a joint effort of <br />Colorado State University (CSU) and the Eagle River Watershed Council (ERWC) to assess the current state <br />of the Eagle River watershed from a basinwide ecological perspective and to prioritize potential restoration <br />activities to improve the integrity of the river system. The objectives of the Eagle River Inventory and <br />Assessment are; <br />1. Undertake a systematic, watershed-wide inventory of channel, riparian, and upland characteristics <br />that currently control the ecological integrity of the Eagle River. <br />2. Collect and assess planning efforts of this type that have been performed by various agencies and <br />organizations on selected sites within the watershed. <br />3. Perform an analysis of existing monitoring information to assess the status of various waterbodies and <br />river reaches in the watershed and determine sources of pollution and degradation. <br />4. Identify and describe candidate conservation and restoration projects (structural and non-structural) <br />and link them to current issues and likely outcomes through field reconnaissance, meetings with <br />watershed stakeholders, Geographic Information System (GIS) inventory and analysis (e.g., riparian <br />conditions, land cover, geomorphic processes, etc.), and scientific assessment. <br />5. Prioritize restoration strategies in a decision matrix based on potential benefits, likelihood of success, <br />rough estimates of costs, and stakeholder input. <br />6. Produce a report describing the results of watershed inventory and prioritized recommendations for <br />restoration projects and strategies. <br />With a drainage area of nearly 1,000 <br />square miles, the Eagle River watershed <br />encompasses a complex array of natural <br />processes, human influences, and candidate <br />restoration activities. Time, as well as <br />financial constraints, inevitably limit the <br />ecological, hydrologic, and geomorphic <br />assessment of large river basins. The Eagle <br />River Inventory and Assessment is no <br />exception in that these constraints <br />necessitated a restricted focus on the <br />predominant stressors in the watershed, <br />maintaining balance between collection of <br />new information and adequate analysis of <br />the large body of existing information <br />relevant to the project. The approach <br />adopted for this study primarily relied on <br />the targeted utilization of numerous <br />existing data sets, rapid synoptic surveys of <br />riparian and instream conditions, <br />interpretation of aerial photography, GIS <br />analyses, historical information, local <br />knowledge, and expert judgment. <br />~~ <br />~~ <br />}~ ~~ <br />~~ F~ <br />.s <br />"mater is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime <br />and our children s lifetime. The health of our waters is the <br />principal measure of how we live on the land" -Luna <br />Leopold <br />Eagle River Inventory and Assessment ES-1 <br />