By Wendy McDermott
We are pleased to announce the recipient of its 2024 Conservation Award: Badger Creek Watershed Partnership. The award will be presented at our Stewardship Gala on Wednesday, September 11th at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort Pavilion.
In 2016, the Badger Creek Watershed Partnership formed to address natural resource challenges in the Badger Creek Watershed. This collaborative partnership comprises a diverse group of participants that reflect the patchwork of land ownership in the watershed. Federal, state, and local natural resource managers work alongside landowners and ranchers, local ecologists and restoration technicians, and nonprofits (including Central Colorado Conservancy) to improve land health, increase range land productivity, and enhance the function of Badger Creek and its tributaries in the watershed.
The Badger Creek Watershed encompasses 100 square miles in western Fremont and southern Park counties and drains into the Arkansas River between Wellsville and Howard along Hwy 50. Badger Creek is one of the most important trout spawning streams between Salida and Cañon City. It is also an important water source for wildlife, agriculture, ranching, and the local community.
The Badger Creek Watershed is part of the Ancestral Lands of the Ute and other Tribes who used the area to hunt and gather food, fibers, and medicines from native plants. Periodic, intense grazing by roaming herds of bison were historically important for maintaining plant vigor and diversity on both riparian and upland habitats. The health of the watershed began to decline under constant pressure from domestic livestock grazing without periods of rest and recovery, leading to degradation of both upland range and riparian areas.
This degradation occurred mostly during the late 1800s and early 1900s when massive cattle drives traversed the region and as colonial settlers began permanent occupation. In this era, huge, unmanaged herds grazed all season long, year after year. This intense grazing regime resulted in compacted soils, bare ground, scant vegetation, and poor infiltration of water into the soil. During heavy rainstorms significant erosion, gullying, and flash flooding occurred.
Over time, these unchecked floodwaters scoured creek beds, cutting a trench 4-12 feet deep and up to 200 feet wide in the watershed, and leaving former wetland surfaces high and dry. An estimated 64% of the watershed’s wetlands have been lost due to this process of channel incision and downcutting.
To better understand the restoration needs of the watershed, the Badger Partnership commissioned a watershed assessment in 2018, developed a plan for improving the watershed’s function and health, and secured over $700,000 in grant funding to implement the following activities:
Utilized low tech, process-based restoration techniques to restore over 10 miles of Badger Creek and its tributaries, thereby reconnecting nearly 218 acres of riparian habitat (of which roughly 124 acres are wetlands).
Planted over 16,000 willows to jump start the creek’s ability to slow erosion and filter runoff, improving water quality in Badger Creek and its downstream confluence with the gold medal trout waters of the Arkansas River.
Installed 1.6 miles of livestock fencing and created two new off-channel water points that improved grazing management on 980 acres of private land and 7929 acres of public lands, and reduced cattle pressure on four adjacent riparian areas.
Badger Creek Watershed Partnership participants include the Badger Creek Ranch, Bureau of Land Management, Central Colorado Conservancy, Colorado Mesa University, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State Land Board, Everett Ranch, EcoMetrics, Fremont Conservation District, McMurray Land & Livestock Company, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.
To learn more about the Badger Creek Watershed and the work of the Badger Creek Watershed Partnership, check out our Badger Creek Riparian Restoration Story Map.
