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result intense floods on the stream became less and less frequent. Woody vegetation outside the <br />exclosures began to rapidly recover. It remained slightly behind in its development compared to the <br />growth in the exclosures, but that lag was no more than a few months. After six years, the vegetation <br />outside the exclosures has now essentially caught up with the exclosure growth. This is not only true <br />near Exclosure 1 where this merging development is most evident, but it has occurred near <br />Exclosures 3, 4 and 5 as well. Exclosure 2 does not have a similar habitat adjacent to it, but instead is <br />adjacent to the large herbaceous wetland that developed on top of the clay seam that was under the <br />sand. <br />The stream realignment project south of the road crossing is another location where mining <br />went a bit too deep in some locations, but even here full recovery is occurring. <br />With the uplands in excellent shape now, encroachment of new sand caps in the stream <br />channel are only a result of erosion from land further to the south in Elbert County where <br />development is occurring. However, on the whole, the continued encroachment of sand has declined <br />tremendously and this is primarily due to the removal of grazing from the uplands and the <br />tremendous improvement in the condition of the grasslands. <br />Actually, this is not particularly surprising and was predicted by the investigator in this study <br />if the grazing would only be removed. Many studies throughout the West have shown that the key to <br />a healthy riparian corridor does not lie in the stream but on the hills around the stream. If uplands are <br />improved the riparian corridor can generally recover all on its own with amazing speed. It is the <br />encroachment of sand and soil into the stream corridor that kills the vegetation and results in the <br />sand clogged channels so commonly seen. But if grazing also occurs in the riparian corridor, <br />especially during critical times of the year, improvement of the upland itself will not help much. This <br />is because the plant materials to implement the recovery are being eaten by animals and there is little <br />left to produce the recovery. If grazing is completely removed from riparian corridor while grazing <br />continues on the upland some improvement in the riparian corridor will still occur, but eventually <br />encroachment of sediment will severely limit the amount of recovery. As a result, and as has been <br />shown in this study, removal of grazing in the riparian corridor and on the uplands at the same time <br />produces the most dramatic recovery. This has been demonstrated repeatedly in riparian corridor <br />studies in the West. The studies have also shown that a limited and tightly managed grazing can <br />eventually return to the uplands, but should be severely restricted in the riparian corridor. Some <br />grazing for a short period at certain times of the year in the riparian corridor can actually be <br />beneficial, but it is a process that requires very tight controls on the implementation. But if the <br />uplands are maintained in good condition the bottomlands with its wetlands and riparian forests can <br />be maintained in excellent health essentially forever. <br />Photographs and examination of the entire Coal Creek corridor between the Arapahoe and <br />Elbert county line and Quincy Avenue, a distance of about 6 miles, shows that most of the riparian <br />corridor has improved immensely since grazing removal. Even some of the sand clogged areas that <br />2011 Annual Report Coal Creek Wetland Mitigation Permit DA 198811488 Page 14 <br />