The State of Colorado's Watersheds Report 2005

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Background and Mission The James Creek Watershed Initiative (JCWI) is a grassroots community based organization located in Jamestown, Colorado whose mission is to engage the community to actively participate in protecting and restoring the waters of James Creek and the forest ecosystem surrounding it. The organization was founded in 1997, became a non -profit organization in 2000, and currently has 231 members. In 2000, founders of the Initiative were awarded an Environmental Achievement Award from the EPA for their efforts in community based environmental protection. During the 1990s, motorized recreation dramatically increased along the forest road that parallels James Creek for three miles upstream from the town of Jamestown's water treatment plant. This resulted in erosion of the riparian corridor and sedimentation of James Creek. The town of Jamestown was unable to meet the State's Safe Drinking Water Acts' standard for turbidity, despite the construction of a new filtration plant in 1991. The James Creek Watershed Initiative formed a partnership with the University of Colorado to study the turbidity problem. The result of this effort led to the forming of a Restoration Team, developing a James Creek Restoration Plan to reduce the sediment loading into James Creek, and securing grant funding. Accomplishments By the fall of 2004, the James Creek Watershed Initiative had moved beyond the planning phase and was ready to begin the James Creek Restoration Project. Between September 2004 and May 2005 over 60 projects were completed with the help of 80 dedicated local citizens, AmeriCorps and Wildland Restoration Volunteers. Restoration work consisted of: • Constructing 58 water bars to disconnect disturbed areas of the road and direct drainage onto vegetative buffer areas. • Stabilizing eroded stream banks using bioengineering techniques (willows, erosion control matting, native seed rock). • Redirecting stream flows back into its main channel by rebuilding the eroded banks. local watershed reports Also during 2005, JCWI continued its restoration efforts in the Overland Fire burn area. These include the following: • Organized the "Mulch the Gulch" restoration project with the Jamestown Volunteer Fire Department spreading 170 bales of straw in the area that flooded Jamestown in 2004. • Provided 800 ponderosa pine seedlings to private landowners to reforest their property. Looking Ahead Over the years JCWI has accomplished much of what it set out to do since 1997, and its time now to move forward. We will begin developing a 5 -year strategic plan, assist the Town with implementing their Source Water Protection Plan, actively participate in forest management policy making, and continue to evaluate our sediment reduction measures. AmeriCorps Volunteers restoring a stream bank along James Creek