2014 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference

Come Hell or High Water!

October 7-9, 2014

Westin Riverfront Resort

Avon, CO

Thank you to everyone who attended the 9th Annual Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference: Come Hell or High Water! hosted by the Colorado Watershed Assembly, the Colorado Foundation for Water Education, and the Colorado Riparian Association.
To see 2014's packet with agenda, speaker bios, and abstracts, click here.

Tuesday, October 7 Presentations

Plenary 1: Flood Recovery from Agency Perspectives & Lessons Learned

• Overview and Introductions: Kevin Houck, CWCB

• Julie Chang, New York Rising Community Recovery Program

• Brad Case, City of new Orleans Department of Hazard Mitigation

• Iain Hyde, Deputy Chief Recovery Officer, State of Colorado

Plenary 2: Trends in Water Policy

• What will be in Colorado's Water Plan? James Eklund, CWCB

• Could the Ballot Initiative Process Upend Colorado's Water Plan? Fiona Smith, Colorado Water Congress

• What is the Legislature's Role in Crafting State Water Policy? State Representative Diane Mitsch-Bush

Wednesday, October 8 Presentations

8:30 to 10:00 am Sessions

Watershed Coalition Strategies for Flood Recovery

• Boulder County Coalitions - Julie McKay

• Big Thompson River Restoration Coalition - John Giordanengo

• Little Thompson River Restoration Coalition - Gordon Gilstrap

• Fish Creek/Fall River Coalition - Julie Ash

• Fountain/Cheyenne Creek Coalition - Larry Small

• South Platte River Coalition - Sheryl Trent

• Coal Creek Coalition - Chris Garre

Engaging Partners

• Tap into the Crowd: How to Use Crowdfunding Sites to Fundraise for Your Organization -Meghan Maiolo-Heath, Trees, Water, & People

• A model for hyperlocal urban watershed education - Darren Mollendor, Denver Public Works

• Financing Strategies for Colorado Watersheds - Michael Feeley, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Conservation Planning

• From Weeds to Willows: Partnering with Conservation Coprs & BLM to Restore the Dolores River - Peter Mueller, The Nature Conservancy & Mike Wight, Southwest Conservation Corps

• Perpetual Conservation Easements and Natural Disasters: What could possibly go wrong? -Molly Fales, Montezuma Land Conservancy & Courtney Bennett, Colorado Cattleman's Agricultural Land Trust

• Grabbing a Seat at the Table: How Conservation Groups try to Shift the Status Quo -Theresa Conley, Conservation Colorado

10:30am to 12:00pm Session

Flood Recovery Priority Projects

• 2013 Flood Recovery: Flood Mitigation Using the Emergency Watershed Program - Rob Molacek, NRCS

• Jamestown Response to Flood and Debris Flows of September 2013: The Importance of Community, Agency, and Consultant Cooperation and Collaboration - Graeme Aggett, AMEC

• Idlewylde Dam Removal - Greg Dewey, City of Loveland

• US36: Estes Park to Lyons- Emergency and Permanent Flood Repair Project - Abra Geissler, CDOT & Julian Maskeroni, Federal Highway Administration

Groundwater

• Groundwater Challenges & Solutions for CO Watersheds - Dave Colvin, Leonard Rice Engineers

• Sustainable South Metro: Creating Resilient Water Supplies for South Metro Communities -Eric Hecox, South metro Water Supply Authority

• Aquifer System Age Dating & Vulnerability Mapping Tools to Guide Land Use Decision Making - Sean Chambers, Cherokee Metro District & Trisan Wellman, USGS

Wildfire & Community

• Wildlife Impacts on Cache la Poudre River Water Quality - Jared Heath, City of Fort Collins Utilities

• Assessing Wildfire Mitigation Outreach Strategies in the Wildland Urban Interface- Elizabeth Koebele & Adrianne Kroepsch, University of Colorado Boulder

• RWEACT: A Community Response to West Fork Complex Fire - Emma Reiger, Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation

1:30 to 3:00pm Session

Resiliency: What does this really mean?

• Risky Business - Katie Jagt, Walsh Environmental

• Restoring riparian Plumbing on the Big Thompson River After the Flood - Geoffrey Elliot, Grand Environmental & Dan Stubbs, Elliot & Stubbs River Restoration

• Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience of Riparian Habitats in the Upper Gunnison Basin -Andrew Breibart, BLM & Betsy Neeley, The Nature Conservancy

Collaborative Water Management

• A Public/Private Partnership to Grow the Flow: Drought, Roaring Fork Flow, and Aspen's Water Rights - Amy Beatie, Colorado Water Trust & Dave Hornbacher, City of Aspen

• The Roaring Fork Regional Water Efficiency Plan: A Collaborative Local Effort Toward Improving Watershed Health and Management - Beorn Courtney, Element Water Consulting, Inc.

• Communicating Drought: Colorado Springs Utilities Exceeds Goals, Rebuilds Community's Water Supply - Patrice Lehermeier, Colorado Springs Utilities

Water Quality

• Regulation 85 Year 1: Monitoring and Data Lessons Learned - Linda Chynoweth, City of Aurora & Phil Russell, City of Englewood

• Open Source Technology for Web Based Data Analysis and Information Management -Kelly Close & John Rodgers, Leonard Rice Engineers

• Water Quality Study Seeks to Answer the Question, "What was in the Flood Waters?" - Skip Feeney, CDPHE-WQCD

3:30-5:00pm Session

Stream Assessments

• Healthy Rivers and Flow Needs Assessments, Methods, Tools, and Applications - Meg White, The Nature Conservancy

• FACStream: A New Functional Assessment Model for Colorado Streams - Mark Beardsley, Ecometrics & Brad Johnson, Johnson Environmental Consulting LLC

• Comparison and Use of Hydraulic Geometry Curve in Colorado and the West - David Bidelspach, Stantec

Stream Corridor Case Studies

• Impacts of the 2013 Colorado Floods on Threatened & Endangered Species Habitat in the Platte River Basin - Kevin Werbylo & Scott Griebling, Headwaters Corporation

• Got Wood? Opportunities to Use Large Woody Debris in Stream Rehabilitation - Jeff Crane, Crane Associates

• There's a reason it's called Sand Creek - Brian Murphy, CDM Smith

Impacts in the 21st Century

• Save Our Snow: Climate Change, Fracking, Ski Areas, and Water Security in Colorado & the West - Dr. Mark Williams, UC Boulder

• Changing Water Governance? A comparative study exploring water sourcing for Colorado's oil and gas industry - Karie Boone, Colorado Water Institute

• Stretching the Stream: Large Water Demands on a Small Colorado Creek - Barbara Galloway, ERO

Thursday, October 9 Presentations 

Camp Hale Field Workshop