River Network, in partnership with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and input from several statewide non-governmental organizations (NGOs), developed a web-based Watershed Prioritization Tool to help identify and prioritize locations for watershed planning throughout Colorado. While some regions in Colorado have completed watershed planning, there are many gap areas that do not have a watershed plan. This presentation will discuss how we leveraged existing geospatial datasets to crosswalk instream flow gaps; areas of high species or ecosystem conservation value; ecological and economic impacts of flood, drought, and wildfire; and the existence of an active watershed group; among other factors. 

The tool is designed to help state agencies, NGOs, and funders more effectively allocate resources to initiate watershed planning in collaboration with active watershed groups or community-based organizations (CBOs). Additionally, it can support communities and CBOs in identifying where to focus their planning efforts.

Importantly, the tool also highlights high-priority areas that currently lack both a watershed plan and an active organizing group. This visibility can spark interest and help catalyze the formation of new local efforts. While the tool identifies geographic priorities, it does not preclude support for lower-priority areas that show strong community interest.

Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an interactive activity using the Watershed Prioritization Tool. Together, we will walk through a hands-on exercise to explore watersheds of interest, engage with various planning layers, and review the geospatial data that informed watershed scoring. Also, attendees will be invited to participate in a brief survey to help identify and catalog active watershed groups throughout Colorado.

This tool not only guides data-informed decision-making using lessons learned from the last ten years of watershed planning but also serves as a catalyst for building stronger community connections and fostering hope for a more resilient, collaborative future for Colorado’s watersheds.

Staff from Ducks Unlimited's Great Plains and Great Lakes Atlantic regions will describe recent efforts to champion natural floodplain functions as an opportunity to mitigate flood risk while also improving wildlife habitat.  By supporting integrated river planning and community involvement, DU’s goal is to ensure the delivery of river-related ecosystem services.  As we work to promote projects at the intersection of river corridor restoration, river-floodplain connectivity, and community flood resilience, we recognize solutions to improve ecological functions will fall on a spectrum from managed to process-based.  By embracing opportunities to weave together natural and engineered solutions, we can minimize risk and optimize community benefits.

These themes will be explored through projects across Colorado and a landscape-scale initiative developed with selected mayors on the Mississippi River. Projects will be discussed from very diverse social and physical landscapes.  Yet common elements begin to emerge from these efforts.  One such element is the importance of supporting collaborative processes and communication between local governments and communities living along the river. Second is the development of a baseline understanding of ecosystem condition, site-specific stressors, and honest conversations about the difference between reference and potential future conditions. A third common element is the need to build connections between river practitioners, hazard and emergency mitigation planners, and floodplain resource managers.

In closing, we will solicit audience participation to explore current challenges such as:

How can we…

• Better communicate the value of individual projects, which independently may not appear to reduce flood risk, but collectively mitigate flood impacts to vulnerable communities?

• Leverage existing networks, plans, and professional knowledge to conduct semi-rapid planning to enable both planning and project development to occur in close succession. 

• Quantify the ecosystem service values of nature-based solutions to mitigate flood risk and explore their merit and recognition in corporate sustainability goals?

Patience, persistence, and partnership are proving essential to the success of a beaver meadow restoration effort, 12 years in the making, along Fish Creek in Estes Park, Colorado. What began as a setback—regulatory constraints—became an opportunity to pivot a one-off reach-scale restoration project into a multi-year, phased adaptive management project. This shift by the Estes Valley Watershed Coalition (EVWC) enabled the implementation of a pre-restoration monitoring plan, generating valuable baseline data to guide future phases of beaver meadow restoration along the Fish Creek corridor. 

EVWC brought together private landowners, local volunteers, academics, consultants, and private industry to contribute labor, funding, in-kind donations, research, and technical support. Each phase of the project became a public touchpoint, strengthening community ownership and understanding of the restoration project.

By embracing an unexpected longer timeline, EVWC created space for continual learning supported by meaningful pre- and post-restoration monitoring that will inform future beaver meadow restoration activities across the state. This presentation will share lessons from the Fish Creek beaver restoration project and introduce a restoration model that moves beyond “one and done” projects in favor of longer-term, larger-scale projects. This restoration model highlights how partnerships among funders, academics, community groups, and industry, paired with phased implementation, monitoring, and adaptive management, can drive effective watershed restoration.

Wilynn Formeller

Wilynn Formeller has worked in conservation for over two decades, with a background in wildlife/landscape ecology and land stewardship. Originally from Central Texas, she worked with a few environmental organizations before moving to Colorado in 2011 - trading armadillos and humidity for elk and snow. At EVWC, Wilynn oversees daily operations, leads project development, and manages grant writing and administration. Her work supports collaborative, community-driven efforts to protect and restore watershed health across the Estes Valley.

Karin Emanuelson

Karin Emanuelson is a Restoration Engineer/River Scientist with expertise in river restoration design, analysis, permitting, and construction oversight and watershed health assessment, planning, and analysis. Karin’s academic foundation combined environmental engineering with watershed science leading to a holistic knowledge base of watershed processes including hydraulics, fluvial geomorphology, hydrology, and ecology. Throughout her career, she has gained experience in an array of river design/analysis applications in various geographical locations and river types from ephemeral headwater streams to major river systems. In her free time, you’ll find Karin backpacking in remote places, running on winding trails, and hanging at local breweries.