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<br />South Platte River, Chatfield Downstream Channel Improvement Project- Vegetation Management Plan <br /> <br />Purpose and Need <br />The purpose of this report is to comply with Corps requirements and remove 100% of <br />channel obstructing vegetation, while still preserving ecological integrity, environmental <br />quality, and maintaining recreational values in the South Platte Corridor below Chatfield <br />Reservoir to Hampden Ave. This challenging objective requires adaptive management of <br />natural resource use, visitor access, and ecological planning in the project area. <br /> <br />Project Approach <br />Key components of this VMP include addressing two main goals to be achieved by the <br />CWCB. The first goal is to respond to the Corps inspection requirements pertaining to <br />vegetation removal within the flood control channel. The second goal is to voluntarily <br />provide environmental mitigation and enhancement, outside of the flood control channel but <br />within the Project area. <br /> <br />In order to reach the 100% vegetation removal goal of this project, a Pilot Project was <br />initiated late summer 2007 in an area documented as a Deficiency Location in the Corps <br />inspection report (USACE 2007). As mentioned in the Background section, Pilot test plots <br />were sprayed with FDA approved herbicide, where an estimated 9 acres of vegetation was <br />treated in the river channel bottom. Field surveys were conducted to monitor the Pilot <br />Project success and plan for additional vegetation removal phases over a period of 4 years <br />which prioritize Corps requests. Details can be found in Chapter III. To reach the <br />environmental mitigation goal, the entire Project area was separated into four main reaches <br />shown in Map 1 and further described in Chapter II and III. <br /> <br />Ma 1: Overall Pro' ect Area with Reaches Identified <br /> <br /> <br />Page 6 <br />Final Report - April 30, 2008 <br />