By ABBY BURK
Every Coloradan inherits a state whose lands and waters have been shaped by their predecessors. Though we often forget this fact, most of Colorado’s streams look nothing like they did 100 years ago. They are changing rapidly, becoming increasingly simplified. Our once dynamic, complex, and natural riverscapes tell a story of how land use, especially amid increasing human and climate change pressures, influences natural waterways.
People and birds depend on the many life-sustaining benefits of healthy, functioning stream corridors — our natural water systems that we all depend upon. Streams do change over time, both from natural and human causes. However, where human impacts have been substantial, such as converting a riparian-wetland corridor to a simplified channelized river, critical resilience to drought, flooding, and wildfires that these systems provide when healthy has been degraded. While people can be a significant cause of stream degradation, they can also be a critical part of the solution through restoration, which gives hope.
Myriad forces converged to propel the health of Colorado’s rivers and streams to the frontlines of discussion over the last several years, particularly in 2023. The Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) has been under the strain of administering water rights in an ever-tougher reality of climate change impacts on hydrology alongside higher temperatures, less snowpack, earlier runoff, and interstate compact issues. The DWR has had to closely examine many aspects of water administration, including stream restoration projects and the application of Process-based Restoration (PBR) approaches, which are surging in popularity.
PBR is an important spectrum of restoration work that aims to target the root causes of ecosystem change and restore a river’s natural processes so the riverscape can begin to self-heal. PBR projects look different because they are different from the past 30-plus years of traditional engineered river design and maintenance that often kept streams confined to a single channel or specific purpose of use. PBR enables the natural processes that maintain riverscape ecosystems and allows them to self-adapt and sustain on their own, with the potential for substantial ecological health improvements. Its increasing popularity provides an enormously important opportunity for Colorado to innovatively restore its degraded ecosystems.
The Colorado General Assembly recognized that functional, natural streams benefit all Coloradans and that it will take many people working together to restore degraded stream systems across the state. The passage of Senate Bill 23-270, Projects to Restore Natural Stream Systems, (which was unanimously supported after being amended), created a new law that provides a capable statewide foundation to accomplish stream restoration activities without being subject to water rights administration. The new law is a win and a good step toward clarifying stream restoration activities and restoration practitioners’ ability to thoughtfully scale up projects that benefit downstream water users and nature.
SB23-270 can “facilitate and encourage commencement of projects that restore environmental health of natural stream systems” only if people, project proponents, and the DWR understand the capabilities of the new law. So a thoughtful training was developed by an interdisciplinary team of NGOs, an attorney, and a senior river restoration engineer for anyone interested in learning about capabilities under the new bill. This includes what types of restoration projects fit within SB23-270’s Minor Restoration Activities, which activities may not, options on how to proceed in either case, other key legal language in the bill, and guidelines to reduce risk of potential conflicts for restoration projects. The training builds the bridge between the DWR and the restoration community by providing a shared understanding of what the new law looks like for projects on the ground. Since September 2023, the training has been given to and received input from DWR leadership and more than 700 people across Colorado and was also presented at the Colorado Water Congress conference in January 2024.
Natural riverscapes are dynamic, non-stationary systems that can recover astoundingly if we can address the cause of impairment and give them a chance. That gives hope and inspires and motivates restoration work. People are non-stationary and dynamic, too. It is remarkable when we come together and shift the narrative on the gap between water rights holders and stream restoration so that people can act from a place of increasing common understanding and excitement, not uncertainty, to support the riverscape systems we all depend upon.
Abby Burk is the senior western rivers program manager for Audubon Rockies who serves on the Colorado Basin Roundtable Public Education, Participation and Outreach Committee (PEPO).
The Colorado Basin Roundtable is a group of water managers and stakeholders who work to solve water-related issues within the Colorado River Basin in Colorado from its headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park to the Utah state line. Their goals are to protect, conserve, and develop water supplies within the Colorado Basin and the Western Slope of Colorado for future needs. For more information, go to https://www.coloradobasinroundtable.org/
