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INTRODUCTION <br /> In 2008,Valley Floor Preservation Partners (VFPP) partnered with the Town of Telluride to <br /> acquire the Valley Floor, a property that is now protected as open space by a conservation <br /> easement. In 2011,the Town commissioned Ecological Resource Consultants to develop <br /> the Valley Floor Trails and Conceptual Stream Restoration Plan. This plan divided the San <br /> Miguel River, as it travels through the Valley Floor property, into six sections with <br /> recommendations for various levels of river restoration work in each of the six reaches. <br /> Reach One,the focus of this project,was the most severely degraded section of river on the <br /> Valley Floor according to the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service's Habitat Suitability Index. <br /> The San Miguel River within the project area was an eroding manmade linear channel.The <br /> overarching goal,therefore,was to improve hydrology, channel morphology, and water <br /> quality by creating a naturally functioning river system and mitigating past impacts. <br /> Objectives included creation of a new 4,250-foot meandering channel in Reach One <br /> reconnecting the river to its historic floodplain, removing and remediating mine tailings, <br /> and naturally re-vegetating the old channel with excavated material from the new channel. <br /> VFPP's, mission is to support environmental restoration and educational projects on the <br /> property. <br /> BACKGROUND <br /> The 560-acre Valley Floor property is a unique natural resource located at the entrance to <br /> the Town of Telluride,a National Historic Landmark District. The Valley Floor is a valued <br /> community asset, protected as open space by a conservation easement held by the San <br /> Miguel Conservation Foundation, and owned and managed by the Town. In 2008,the Town <br /> initiated a detailed ecological and resource evaluation of the Property, producing the Valley <br /> Floor Environmental Report. The Environmental Report provided a scientifically based <br /> assessment of the physical and biological characteristics of the property in order to guide <br /> the Town in future policy decisions regarding management, maintenance and restoration. <br /> The Town then built on the information provided in this report to produce the 2009 Valley <br /> Floor Open Space Management Plan. The Management Plan,updated periodically, provides <br /> philosophical and policy guidance for management of the natural resources and public <br /> recreation on the Valley Floor. <br /> A primary recommendation of the management plan was to develop and implement a <br /> strategy for stream restoration and trails throughout the Valley Floor. In 2011, Ecological <br /> Resource Consultants, Inc. (ERC) and ERO Resources Corporation were retained by the <br /> Town to evaluate stream and trail opportunities and develop a Trails and Conceptual <br /> Stream Restoration Plan.This report provided the framework to proceed with <br /> development of trails and stream restoration on the property in a manner consistent with <br /> the conservation easement and management plan. In 2013,the Town contracted with <br />