Colorado Healthy Headwaters Working Group

Working together to increase the pace, scale, and value of process-based restoration throughout Colorado.

Wetlands along the Cache la Poudre River. Photo: Evan Barrientos/Audubon Rockies

Who We Are

Vision: Work together to increase the pace, scale, and value of process-based headwaters riverscape restoration throughout Colorado to improve watershed health, critical wildlife habitat, and ecosystem services.

Collaboration: What can we do more effectively as a group? Although each organization will continue to work on its existing approaches to watershed health, by collaborating on group goals and actions, we can do more to achieve this vision than working separately. 

Tri-Chair:  Jackie CordayAbby Burk, and Fay HartmanIf your organization or agency is interested in becoming a member of the Healthy Headwaters Working Group, please email us.

Our Story: How and why we came together

In December 2019, Colorado Parks & Wildlife held a workshop to bring together the many agencies and organizations that work to restore headwater streams and wetlands in Colorado. The goal was to discuss collaborating to increase the pace and scale of headwaters restoration by supporting policy and science.

The workshop led to the creation of the Colorado Healthy Headwaters Working Group The workshop organizers were inspired by how new partners came together during the 2012-2016 California drought crisis to restore wet meadows in source watersheds to improve ecological function and water security.

The idea was to replicate that California success story here in Colorado. To date, Healthy Headwaters Working Group members include academic researchers (Colorado State University, Colorado Mesa University, Mountain Studies Institute), state agencies (Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Water Conservation Board), federal agencies (Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management), conservation, land trust, and watershed nonprofits and funders, and river/wetland restoration practitioners.

Please note, this is an ever-growing and dynamic list of partners. 

Our Partners