Big Thompson Watershed Forum Archive
Big Thompson Watershed maps, reports, and water quality data links are at the bottom of this page.
The Big Thompson Watershed Forum was a 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization located in Loveland, Colorado incorporated on December 23, 2002. The Forum was formed because a group of concerned citizens, stakeholders, and officials observed clear signs of local water quality deterioration, such as dissolved oxygen, more frequent fish kills, increasing E.coli and bacteria counts, trash and debris, and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) listings.
The Forum addressed water quality issues by developing assessment programs that included water quality monitoring and evaluation to define priorities and to identify protection actions in the areas of mitigation, monitoring, education, and supporting reasonable water quality regulations. Changes at the local levels having to do with project priorities pointed the individual Forum member’s water quality assessment and protection efforts in different directions. After a gratifying 18-year run, the Board of Directors decided in 2021 that closure of the Forum was the appropriate course of action.
The Forum’s founders believed that water quality could best be protected by monitoring the entire watershed. Thus, the Big Thompson Watershed Forum was created and designed to take a holistic approach to water quality assessment and protection, embracing the spirit of cooperation and community involvement.
The Big Thompson River flows roughly 75 miles eastward from its headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park through Estes Park and Loveland to its confluence with the South Platte River. The watershed includes the Big Thompson River, the North Fork of the Big Thompson, the Little Thompson River, Buckhorn Creek, Glacier Creek, and all tributaries prior to joining the South Platte southwest of Greeley.
The U.S. Geological Survey collects samples from the Big Thompson River.
Having targeted the lack of comprehensive water quality and stream flow data as the greatest obstacle to effective protection efforts, the Forum created a collaborative water quality monitoring program in partnership with Colorado State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, and local municipalities and stakeholders to allow a more thorough examination of water quality issues in the Big Thompson River and its tributaries. Based on a well-documented initial assessment, extensive stakeholder discussion, research, and historical TMDL listings, the Forum determined that nutrient, metal, sediment, and pathogen water quality variables were the highest priority for a monitoring and assessment program.
Volunteers collect samples in the Big Thompson River
Seasonal Reports:
2019 Spring Monitoring Summary
2019 Summer Monitoring Summary
Annual Reports:
Special Reports:
Relationship between macroinvertebrates and dissolved selenium in the Lower Big Thompson River
2018-19 Winter Monitoring Summary
2017-18 Winter Monitoring Summary
5-Year Reports:
2021 State of the Watershed Report
In 1997, the Forum developed a volunteer monitoring program to help determine baseline water-quality conditions throughout the Big Thompson Watershed. The sampling locations were selected to fill in the gaps from the USGS Cooperative Monitoring Program and included sites in the Big Thompson River, North Fork of the Big Thompson, Little Thompson River, Fall River, and Glacier Creek.
From 1997 to 2015, the 12 sites were sampled 6-8 times per year by Forum staff and volunteers trained by the Forum, in partnership with US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 8. The USEPA Region 8 laboratory in Golden, CO, analyzed 26 water-quality constituents, including nutrients, metals, bacteria, total organic carbon, and major ions. The USEPA Volunteer Monitoring Program was discontinued in late 2015.
Water Quality Reports
The Forum’s “State of the Watershed” water quality reports include the rivers, streams, and canals in the Big Thompson Watershed. Additional reports have also been completed on the lakes and reservoirs within the watershed. These reports meet the Forum’s mission and program goals by summarizing past and current water-quality conditions, evaluating trends and changes in water quality, comparing Forum data to applicable Colorado water-quality standards, and identifying water-quality impacts from adverse events and watershed perturbations such as wildfires, floods, and the mountain pine beetle epidemic.
Findings documented in these reports support broader efforts to identify and evaluate strategies for water-quality protection in the context of a comprehensive watershed management plan. Ongoing assessments build on previous watershed reports that evaluate data from the flowing/surface water sites.
Big Thompson Watershed Forum Watershed Conferences
The Big Thompson Watershed Forum historically hosted a Watershed Conference every two years. The last conference was held on November 1, 2017, and included attendees from local utilities, federal and state agencies, and academia.
15th Watershed Conference – November 1, 2017
Sustaining the Health of a Working River
14th Watershed Conference – September 25, 2015
From Flood to Future ~ Rising from Mud to Ashes