A manufacturing company purchased 100 acres of abandoned golf course on floodplain of Fort Collins to develop its new headquarter. To reduce the frequency and severity of flooding, the company reconnected the Cache la Poudre River with its floodplain, removing fill from 31 acres to build up pads for properties.

Plum creek is a primary tributary to the Chatfield Reservoir, a major source of water for Denver, Colorado. Urban development and increased stormwater runoff disrupted the creek’s sediment dynamic, causing streambed degradation and loss of wetlands. This project restored Plum Creek and its riparian habitat to increase water supply and protect native species. 

The Dolores River Restoration Partnership, Escalante River Watershed Partnership, Gila Watershed Partnership, Verde Watershed Restoration Coalition, and Virgin River Coalition formed a partnership to restore riparian lands across the Colorado River basin. These organizations work to control invasive species, improve terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and reduce erosion. 

Starting in 2013, the emerald ash borer (EAB) has been detected in Colorado, spreading throughout most of the North American ash (Fraxinus). The City of Fort Collins updated the tree inventory on public properties and aimed to treat 2,100 ash trees using pesticides (Emamectin benzoate) or mechanical removal, while replanting more resilient trees over a 3-year period.

The Dolores River Restoration Partnership (DRRP) is a public-private collaborative working to restore ecosystems and plant communities in the Dolores River corridor. Invasive plants in this region have degraded habitat for both native plants and wildlife, increased wildfire risk, and negatively impacted recreational opportunities. The project has four broad goal categories: ecological, social, management, and economic. 

In Colorado, the City of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) department engaged in ongoing efforts to remove cattails and manage American bullfrogs to protect the native northern leopard frogs (NLF) from predation, competition, and disease transmission. Since 2015, ecologists have mechanically removed approximately 500 adult bullfrogs from 10 NLF habitats.

A collaborative effort among irrigators, conservation interests, regulatory agencies, local entities, and nonprofit organizations is working to restore the declining Colorado River Cutthroat Trout population in Abrams Creek, Colorado that had been impacted by water diversion. The team piped the ditch to improve the irrigation efficiency and conserved 40% of the diverted water.

The Three Forks Ranch in Routt County, Colorado was purchased by David Pratt in 1999. Dave Rosgen of Wildland Hydrology was later hired to improve the hydrology and habitat conditions of a 10.5-mile stretch of the Little Snake River flowing across the property.

The Lower Boulder Creek Floodplain was degraded by gravel mining. This creek’s natural stream geomorphology was restored by adding riffles, pools, and large woody debris. The creek was reconnected to its historic floodplain, creating vegetated seasonal wetlands, improving water quality, and reducing flash flood risk. 

In 2012, the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) led the Lower North Fork Prescribed Fire Project on a 50-acre unit of the Denver Water property. However, a rapidly escalating wind event carried ground-level embers across the established prescribed fire control line, resulting in three spot fires that eventually led to an escape and conversion to a wildfire.

Two major fires and subsequent flooding events wreaked havoc on a critical watershed and reservoir that supplies Denver with water. Water utilities partnered with the U.S. Forest Service and corporate sponsors to manage the watershed and improve forest health.

This project was focused on restoring a half-mile floodplain and terraces along Glorieta Creek within Pecos National Historical Park (NHP), which had been historically mined for sand and gravel and bulldozed into levees and two reservoirs. The main goal was to restore hydrological function by removing the levees and reservoirs and recontouring the creek channel.

In 1990s, state, federal, and tribal agencies executed a cooperative agreement to launch the SJRBRIP to conserve and recover Colorado Pikeminnow and Razorback Suckers in the San Juan River Basin while meeting water needs of the local communities. The primary focus of the project went to mechanically removing nonnative fish (especially Channel Catfish) via electrofishing.

After an extremely heavy rain destroyed almost 500 miles of roadway in Colorado, the state is redesigning roadways and the streams they follow to make the roads more resilient to future floods. Rebuilding strategy include armoring road base away from river and constructing floodplain between the road and the river.

The project is part of the St. Vrain Forest Health Partnership which is a collaborative of agencies and community members working to increase the pace and scale of cross-boundary forest restoration that provide infrastructure protection and public safety in the St. Vrain Watershed.

The Uncompahgre Plateau (UP) Project was formalized through a joint partnership of federal and state governments to restore the ecological, social, cultural, and economic value of the over 1.5 million acres of Uncompahgre Plateau. The primary UP programs are: Landscape Scale Project Planning, Invasive Species Management, a Native Plant Program, On-The-Ground Treatments, and Education and Technology Transfer.