Big Thompson River Restoration Coalition
Inter-Agency Coordination Meeting
AGENDA & NOTES
Date:May 13 (Tuesday)
Time:8:30am to 10:30am
Location:Loveland City Council Chambers, Civic Center Municipal Building, 500 E. Third Street, Loveland, CO 80537. See Directions Below.
Present: See Agency List
Meeting Notes are in Blue
Welcome, Background, and Introductions: John Giordanengo (WRV), 5 min. Status update.
State of NRCS EWP program on Big T: John Andres or other NRCS Staff and/or Sponsors, 10 minutes:
Steve Yochum: The snow pack is currently 135-160% of median levels.
- Phase 1 funding: Status of projects.
70% of the Big Thompson wrk is done; more than ½ the projects are completed. Mainstem work is finishing up, as well as Drake sites 1 and 2. NRCS will not get to the rest of the mainstem before spring run-off, work will now be focused on the upper basins.
- Phase 2: Projects that are not emergencies now, but are an important part of long-term river restoration and property/life protection. Status of federal request?
Steve is not sure if we will secure funding. If NRCS obtains Phase 2 funding, they will complete Damage Survey Reports. The work will be subcontracted out. Sponsors need to come up with the 25% contributions, or else Phase 2 will not happen.
WRV
Lukas McNally: Phase I Construction season started one month ago on Big Valley Reach. Trees were removed from the channel & debris was removed from above the ditch diversion. The second project was a toe rock revetment across from the Fire Station in Glen Haven. On May 17th, WRV will lay down erosion matting and plant willow. Work is also being planned for milepost 71 where there is a split channel. Flows are eroding the banks, so WRV plans to bring in fill and rock. CDOT has supported this work.
Lukas has secured a location for stockpiling large wood with the landowner’s permission. (David Jessup has 160 trees with root balls at Sylvan Dale.)
Status of CDOT exigency projects and river restoration planning/implementation efforts and needs:Steven Griffin orScott Ellis,45 minutes:
- Remaining Exigent river/bank restoration work.
Steve Griffin: CDOT has been working on a few hot spots, including the Narrows, which is now stabilized. CDOT is now entering into a more permanent design phase. The Idelwild Dam site is in good shape. There will be many eyes on the ground during the snow melt period, as well as crews on hand ready to respond. 18-20,000 cubic yards of material was moved out of Drake.
- Hydraulics and Hydrology report on Big T. Summary of preliminary data, and implications for future floodplain and restoration planning.
These events are opportunities to revisit the hydrology that we regulate. 7 watersheds were evaluated. The process was to look at the current effective hydrology and evaluate it to see if it is outdated. The Big Thompson data is a bit older. Phase one was evaluating the hydrology in the canyons and west of the plains ; Phase 2 will be east of the canyons, including the plains. Bob Jarret of USGS estimated the 2013 flow rates and provided peak estimates. John Hunt of Ayres evaluated stream gauge data and conducted flood frequency analyses. In the Big Thompson, the gauge at the mouth of the canyon was used, providing data from 2007 on. The Rainfall Run-off Model agreed with the gauge data. The 10 day rainstorm data was compressed into a 24 hour event (as is typical in this type of model), providing estimates for the 500 year, 100 year, and down to the 10 year flood. Reports are by watershed. CDOT has been bringing together local agencies to see if they want to adopt these numbers. Currently, these numbers are strictly recommendations.
There are implications for the BTRRC because road design would be affected by these numbers. The floodplain delineations would also change. Larry (CO Parks and Wildlife) posed a question about low flow numbers, and stated that the numbers would need to be reviewed for the impacts to wildlife.
Steve Yochum: There is a potential problem with using the Rainfall Run-off Model for 10 year flood events. You might not see any run-off. The model does not provide low flow numbers. John Hunt suggested that stream gauge daily data gives the best low flow data. CDOT will have to look at flow duration curves. The USGS can provide flow numbers, and regressions can be run to fill in data gaps. You could also regionalize data to address the data gaps.
- Other CDOT updates.
Larimer County Update: Matt Lafferty and/or Mark Peterson, 10 min.
The exigent site by the WRV site (near the store) has been completed. Central Federal Lands is designing work on lower portions of Highway 43. The County is finishing local road repairs and has temporary access to properties. They are in the process of reviewing CDOT reports . Larimer County has applied for block funds, and is trying to use the money to meet private road needs. They have put in an application for a Hazardous Mitigation grant.
There are 2 bids out on construction of the Buckhorn. Work will continue into December on that site. David Jessup asked if any additional debris removal will be offered from the County. The answer was no, not unless NRCS provides the funds.
After the 1976 flood, Larimer County created a local improvement district to facilitate the placement of bridges. The bridges were made public, and the county now owns 17 of these bridges/crossings. FEMA has funded temporary replacement, and has allotted more money towards studies of these crossings. John Hunt mentioned how the far side of some of the crossings drop off, creating access issues. Mark responded that the properties on the far side might be private roads.
John Giordanengo asked if Larimer County could incorporate input from the BTRRC public meetings into the Larimer County planning process; possibly altering their schedule to meet community needs.
City of Loveland Update: Chris Carlson, 10 min.
The City of Loveland has completely the majority of its’ projects. 2 ½ weeks ago, the power project was finished, although 23 homes are still without power. The temporary line was removed. There is still more work to do at Morey Wildlife Reserve this summer. The Highway 287 bridge is done, as is the Idylwilde Dam removal. The site could use more restoration work. Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park needs more work as well.
The City is working with FEMA for infrastructure funding, and to get mitigation money. They are also focusing on the Wilson-Taft reach. Railroad Avenue is still closed. West of Wilson Blvd. is done.
Weld County and/or Town of Milliken Update: Omar (Milliken) and/or Diana Aungst (Weld County), 10 min.
- Status of planning efforts.
- Short term needs.
Diana Aungst (New Floodplain Administrator for Weld County): She is working mainly along the South Platte now, but is also overseeing the Big Thompson in Weld County. Most of the parcels out east are 80 + acres. There area huge amounts of debris east of Milliken.
Diana would like any modeling data for the Big Thompson.
Gordon Gilstrap mentioned that the Conservation District has names of all of the farmers along the Big Thompson. He will send Diana the contact info.
John Hunt alluded to the need for road & bridge work in Weld County.
USFS Update:Jane Gordon,10 minutes:
- Status of Idylwilde Dam and other USFS projects.
- Future planning goals and needs, etc.
USFS is working with the City of Loveland on Idylwilde. They are amending the soil & will make the site accessible to fishing. They are hiring a seasonal employee to help this summer. The priority list for 2014 is done. Along the North Fork, they have been decommissioning picnic sites and removing damaged restrooms. There will be an update on the USFS Flood site today.
The USFS has been working with the CO Dept. of Labor & Employment, Larimer County Conservation Corps, Enterprise crews, volunteer groups, and Poudre Wilderness Volunteers.
There is a meeting tonight at Group Publishing in Loveland from 5-7 PM. There will be another meeting on May 20th at the Canyon Lakes Ranger District with a recreation focus.
Summary of First (April 12) Big T Master Planning Meeting and next steps: Jana McKenzie (Logan Simpson Design/Ayres Associates) and status of data collection for Phase II of Master Plan (John Hunt, Ayres Associates), 30 minutes. Discuss next steps (Public input process, data needs, etc).
Jana: 70 stakeholders showed up. The next meeting is June 12th. There were many questions about the Olympus Dam. People were concerned about the look of the canyon as a corridor to Estes Park. There were also concerns about property boundaries now that the river has shifted. The maps got great feedback.
John Hunt: Phase 1 was the identification of non-NRCS sites; April 12th was the kick-off for Phase 2. The field work has been done for the Flood Risk Assessment and the Erosion Risk Assessment. Over the next week and a half, Alpine Eco will be working on the Riparian Habitat Improvement and Bill Miller will be working on the Fish Improvement Assessment. Ayres has been using a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.
Discussion came up regarding 2 fish passages installed by Sylvan Dale. Bill Miller should be made aware of these.
Jacobs Engineering is doing assessment work. Efforts are being made to avoid duplication of work with CDOT. The draft Master Plan should be done by August, the final Master Plan is due September 15th.
Ayres is focusing on reaches that will receive the greatest benefits. They are creating concept drawings to influence work others will be doing. City of Loveland has provided high resolution imagery. CDOT will be acquiring imagery over the next few weeks, and ortho-rectified imagery should be available in late July, which will include 1 foot contours.
Ayres is looking to put together a series of focused agency meetings over the next 4 weeks:
- Agencies and entities with infrastructure in the Big ThompsonCanyon and will include CDOT, Larimer County, City of Loveland, NRCS, and Central Federal Lands.
- The second category would be with resource agencies including Colorado Parks and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife, Corps of Engineers, and this group would gather to look at permitting obstacles.
- Land owning agencies with open space and recreational user groups in the canyon, and would include Larimer County (Open Space and Parks) , USFS, City of Loveland, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, and possibly other user groups (rafting community).
Other Agency/Programmatic Updates. Open forum
- Agencies share status and updates
John Giordanengo will be phasing out as Northern Regional Director of Wildlands Restoration Volunteers this summer, but will be maintaining his role as BTRRC chair and managing the Master Planning Process.
Summary and Next Steps: John G, 5 minutes.
Next Inter-Agency meeting: Tuesday, June 18, 9am-11am
Next Master Planning meeting:
June 12th, 6-8 PM
Loveland School District Administrative Building
800 South Taft Avenue Loveland, CO 80537