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Badger Creek Watershed
<br />Management Area
<br />Canon City District
<br />• Royal Gorge Resource Area
<br />August, 1994
<br />?^ n n
<br />Setting and scope The Badger Creek watershed is comprised of approximately 135,000 acres of
<br />BLM, USFS, Colorado State land Board, and private lands. Badger Creek flows
<br />into the Arkansas River seven miles east of Salida, Colorado, entering from the
<br />north. The watershed vegetation ranges from pinon-juniper near the Arkansas
<br />River to high mountain meadows and timbered lands in middle and upper
<br />elevations.
<br />Issues/problems being The major problems in the watershed are damage from flooding, excessive
<br />addressed sediment losses, and deterioration of riparian areas. Badger Creek provides an
<br />important spawning area for brown trout, and sediments from the watershed
<br />cause damages to this spawning area. The sediment leaving the watershed also
<br />affects the fishery and aesthetics in the Arkansas River, in addition to adding to
<br />the sediment load entering the Pueblo Reservoir, approximately 80 miles
<br />downstream.
<br />Participants The Badger creek Memorandum of Understanding includes the following
<br />• signatories: CO DOW, Colorado State Land Board, Colorado State Forest Service,
<br />USFS, SCS, Sangre de Cristo Resource Conservation and Development Area,
<br />Upper Arkansas, Fremont, and Teller-Park Soil Conservation Districts, Colorado
<br />State Soil Conservation Board, BLM, Upper Arkansas Area Council of
<br />Governments, Fremont and Park County Commissioners, Colorado Trout
<br />Unlimited, BOR, Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, ASCS, and
<br />a private landowner/rancher representative.
<br />Sources of technical input Monitoring of vegetation, sediment loads, stream channel morphology, weather
<br />and climate, and wildlife numbers and habitat are all done by professionals, with
<br />inclusion and assistance from nonprofessional individuals and interest groups.
<br />Most management actions will be based on the analysis of previous management
<br />efforts on both public and private lands.
<br />Brief history and present The original MOU was signed in 1981, and collection of monitoring data became
<br />status the emphasis for the federal groups. In 1987, The MOU was amended and
<br />included an additional four signatories, bringing the total number of participants
<br />to 18. The Sangre de Cristo RC&D agreed to coordinate management efforts.
<br />Broad goals were set, and funding was requested and received through Section
<br />319 of the Clean Water Act, to assist with management activities and project
<br />development. Three training courses have been held for all participants and
<br />landowners in the watershed who wanted to attend. In 1993, the MOU was again
<br />renewed, with a representative for the private landowners and ranchers added.
<br />The core team (CROW, BLM, USFS, SCS, CO State Land Board, private
<br />landowner/rancher, and Sangre de Cristo RC&D) meets at least twice a year to
<br />discuss management efforts, monitoring, field inspection, and field tours. The
<br />results of the groups efforts in the watershed are presented to the signatories of
<br />the MOU at an annual meeting.
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