Lampe 1

Sigrid Lampe
ENVS 591
Dr. Crawford
November 5, 2020

The Big Thompson River Restoration Project

About Site

The Big Thompson River originates in the Rocky Mountain National Park’s Forest

Canyon and it flows about 80 miles through Estes Park before going down the Big Thompson

Canyon and eventually merging into the South Platte River. The watershed drains around 900

square miles of mixed mountainous and plains terrain, which is east of the continental divide

(Jassby and Goldmand, 2003). It is a very important resource to the North Front Range region,

together with precipitation it provides drinking water to over half a million people, ecosystem

health, generates electricity, recreation, industrial, and agricultural use, helps with wood

harvesting, fishing and wildlife habitats, and provides scenic beauty, but it causes high-water

flooding (Greve et al., 1999).

 Lampe 2

Figure 1. Big Thompson River Watershed Map. Showing the river restoration points, forest restoration
points, and the infrastructure enhancement point.

On July 31st, 1976, a large thunderstorm swept through and within a few hours there was

12 inches of rainfall. The rain started flooding the narrow channel going down the Big

Thompson Canyon and scoured the river channel that night, which ended up causing over $35

million damages to 418 homes, and businesses, many mobile homes, 438 automobiles, numerous

bridges, paved as well as unpaved roads, power and telephone lines, and many more structures

(Jarrett and Costa, 2003). It claimed 144 individuals lives, there were 250 reported injuries, and

800 people had to be evacuated by helicopter the next day (Jarrett and Costa, 2003).
 Lampe 3

Figure 2. Aftermath of US Highway 34 in 1976 flooding.

Then in September 2013, there was a prolonged rainfall event that lasted six days and

dropped a record-breaking cumulative rainfall of 16.9 inches that stretched from Boulder, Estes

Park, Loveland, and Fort Collins all in the Front Range of Northern Colorado (Wright, 2016).

Most of the streams within the South Platte River Basin swelled in their channels, overtopped

banks, and inundated the surrounding areas. This stretched across seventeen counties, eradicated

roadways, demolished bridges, damaged around 26,000 dwellings, razed over 2,000 homes, and

caused an estimated $2 billion dollars in property losses (Wright, 2016). It also took eight

individuals lives and thousands more were endangered as well as dispossessed (Wright, 2016).
 Lampe 4

Figure 3. Aftermath of the Big Thompson River flood event in 2013

Background

The 2013 flooding event started the Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan that

was created in 2014-2015. The City of Loveland then built upon the original Big Thompson

River Restoration Master Plan and created a more detailed plan covering the reaches of the river

in the City’s growth management area, which created the Big Thompson River Corridor Master

Plan. The Big Thompson Watershed Coalition was an active partner on the project and served on

the Technical Advisory Committee (“Big Thompson River Corridor Master Plan: Executive

Summary,” 2017). The Big Thompson Watershed Coalition has been involved in planning,

managing, implementing river restoration activities, and enhancing community education as well

as involvement since 2014, then in 2016 it became a local nonprofit with the mission to protect

and restore the ecological health of the Big Thompson watershed for the use and enjoyment of

their community and future generations (“Big Thompson Watershed Coalition,” 2017).
 Lampe 5

The Nature of the Degradation

After the flooding events it caused severe erosion and sediment deposition; extensive

damage to property infrastructure; and the loss of substantial ecological, scenic, and recreational

resources in the affected river corridors (“Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan,” 2015).

The river corridors that included riparian and aquatic habitats were severely disrupted, which

ultimately impacted wildlife and devasted the recreational fishery (“Big Thompson River

Restoration Master Plan,” 2015). The flooding and erosion damaged and destroyed homes and

businesses. Large portions of US Highway 34 and County Roads were damaged, this severed

connections between Loveland and Estes Park, which stranded people that lived in the canyon

and eliminated access to Rocky Mountain National Park, the largest tourist attraction in Colorado

(“Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan,” 2015).

Figure 4. US 34 damage resulting from 2013 flooding.

 Lampe 6

Figure 5. Part of the river and road that is destroyed.

It also caused bank failures, landslides, debris flows, and channel incision, it included

property and infrastructure damage that occurred along the length of the Front Range, areas in

the Rocky Mountain Nation Park and Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest (DeWitt, 2016).

Restoration Plan Proposal and Process

The main goal for the Big Thompson River site was to guide recovery to create a more

resilient, healthy, and functioning river corridor (“Annual Report,” 2018). The recovery

improvements included improving river function such as broad range of discharges and flood

events; reduce the risk of lives and property that consists of erosion, safe access, and flooding;

protect infrastructures from becoming damaged or destroyed; limit negative impacts to private

property; and rehabilitate ecological functions (“Big Thompson River Corridor Master Plan,”

2017).
 Lampe 7

Figure 6. Example of a restored channel.

The Big Thompson Watershed Coalition partnered with Larimore County to help restore

the Big Thompson River watershed and for future flooding events. Larimore County performed

stream restoration design and implementation. They worked on assessments and designed

documents that would guide rehabilitation and resilience efforts for the Big Thompson River, its

floodplain, and its riparian corridor that included the Lower Canyon and West Loveland (“Big

Thompson River Corridor Master Plan,” 2017). The vision included improving river function

over a broad range of discharges, reducing the risk to lives and property (flooding, erosion, safe

access), protect infrastructures, limit negative impacts to private property, and rehabilitate

ecological functions (“Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan,” 2015). The team ended up

resetting the ecological trajectory of the river system while considering the hydrological

demands of the future. The resulting design was to maintain the river’s location and enhance,

repair, and rehabilitate physical and biological functions (“Big Thompson River Restoration
 Lampe 8

How to Rehabilitate an Impaired River System,” n.d.). This was done with bank stabilization,

floodplain reconnection, the creation of instream and terrestrial habitats, and native revegetation

(“Big Thompson River Corridor Master Plan,” 2017). The process included increasing the

channel floodplain connection for a range of flow events, improve river and riparian habitat by

increasing the organic matter within the reach through the addition of three large wood

structures, encouraged channel narrowing in over-widened portions by adding point bars

throughout the Reach, reduced surface erosion and increasing the riparian and upland habitat

through revegetation, and improving sediment conveyance as well as fish passage by removing

and replacing existing Rist-Goss dam with a series of riffle structures (“The Home Stretch:

Restoring the Big Thompson Legacy,” 2019).

Figure 6. Example of restored bank treatments.

Cost

The Big Thompson Watershed Coalition has raised $10 million for restoration projects

and community involvement (“Planning for Resilience Program,” 2020). In 2017 the revenue

came from state and federal grants as $4,180,251, the donations (individual and corporate) as
 Lampe 9

$19,061, and the program service revenue as $34,843, which brought the total to $4,234,255

(“Annual Report,” 2018). These funds went towards program and project expenses, management

and general expenses, and fundraising expenses (“Annual Report,” 2018). Granters included

Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Patagonia Boulder

Retail Store, Natural Resources Conservation Service – Emergency Watershed Protection

Program, Trout and Salmon Foundation, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife – Fishing is Fun

Program (“Annual Report,” 2018). The Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan created an

estimated cost for the Big Thompson River combined with North Fork and Tributaries area. The

low cost for the stream reach was estimated to be $69,134,632 and the high cost was

$225,202,785, then the low cost for roadways was $113,381,666 and the high cost was

$226,693,652 (“Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan,” 2015).

Monitoring and Aftercare

The Coalition partnered with Larimore County to continue to monitor and manage

several projects within the watershed. This includes the city of Loveland’s annual water way

cleanup, which is done by the Coalition staff, board, and volunteers to clean out the Big

Thompson River, tributaries and other associated waterways (“Annual Report,” 2018). The

removal includes tires, garbage, and home appliances that have accumulated over time.

Furthermore, there is adaptive management/monitoring program of several recently completed

projects within the watershed. This includes monitoring the sites conditions over time, weed

control, volunteer planting and stewardship days (“Annual Report,” 2018).

The City of Loveland developed a Sampling and Analysis Plan, which requires domestic

and selected non-domestic wastewater treatment facilities to develop, implement, and document
 Lampe 10

a routine water monitoring program that consists of characterizing the load (coincident flow and

concentration) of nutrients in the discharge, the concentration in the receiving water above the

discharge, and the load of nutrients in the river or stream below the discharge (“Other Projects

and Monitoring,” 2019)

Progress

The Big Thompson River Restoration project is ongoing due to the length and the

funding. So far, the Coalition project has improved over 6.75 miles of river and included 258

stream enhancement features, volunteers have logged over 1,005 hours since 2016, 10,600+

dump truck loads of sediment and debris was moved between 2016 and 2018, over 41,000 native

plants have been installed, and they have worked with 150+ landowners throughout the

watershed (“Annual Report,” 2018). There is a more detailed conceptual design for

approximately 10 more miles of river, they were awarded an additional long-term planning along

15 miles of the river that started in late 2019, and the end year goal is to raise an additional

$5,000 (“Planning for Resilience Program,” 2020). Completed projects along the Big Thompson

River include Sylvan Dale, Jasper Lake, Cedar Cove, Moodie Street, Waltonia and Mountain

Shadows, North Fork, and Glen Haven. Projects that are happening right now for the Big

Thompson River Restoration process is Wild Natural Area and Neighbors, Rossum to Wilson

and Ditch Improvement, and Big Thompson Canyon Access Pier. This restoration project is part

of a whole community, implying that organizations are not the only ones improving the Big

Thompson River. It has also been up to locals to help maintain and contribute to the river’s

recovery and management process. By contributing to the Big Thompson River, it will help

reduce the risk of flooding events and increase habitat enhancement.

 Lampe 11

Literature Cited

Ayers Associates. (2015). Big Thompson River Restoration Master Plan. Ayers Associates, 1–
109.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5de58420dca85a1b7550b9ef/t/5e15f35da26eb612a
5817cfa/1578496889412/BIG-THOMPSON-M-PLAN-5-11-151.pdf

Big Thompson Watershed Coalition. (2018). Annual Report. Big Thompson Watershed
Coalition, 1–12. https://bigthompson.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BT-Annual-Report-
final.pdf

Big Thompson Watershed Coalition. (2017). Big Thompson River Corridor Master Plan. Big
Thompson Watershed Coalition, n/a. https://www.abetterbigt.com/master-plan-document

Big Thompson Watershed Coalition. (2020, February 7). Planning for Resilience Program | Big
Thompson Watershed Coalition. Bigthompson.Co. https://bigthompson.co/programs-
planning/

ECI. (2019, December 18). The Home Stretch: Restoring the Big Thompson Legacy. ECI.
http://ecisite.net/restoring-big-thompson-legacy/

DeWhitt, C. (2016). Geomorphic Impacts of the 2013 Colorado Front Range Flood on Black
Canyon Creek and North Fork Big Thompson River. University of Washington, 1–55.
https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/36264/DeWitt_M
ESSAGeReport032.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Greve, A., Loftis, J., Alexander, B., & Buirgy, R. (1999). Design of a Cooperatively
Implemented Monitoring System: The Big Thompson Watershed Forum. Water
Resources IMPACT, 1(3), 18–22. https://www-jstor-
org.proxy.library.vcu.edu/stable/wateresoimpa.1.3.0018?
seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Jarrett, R. D., & Costa, J. E. (2003). 1976 Big Thompson Flood, Colorado - Thirty Years Later.
USGS Science for a Changing World, 1–5. https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3095/pdf/FS06-
3095_508.pdf

Jassaby, A. D., & Goldman, C. R. (2003). Water Quality of the Upper Big Thompson Watershed.
Big Thompson Watershed Forum, 1–75.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Charles_Goldman/publication/266409295_Water_Q
uality_of_the_Upper_Big_Thompson_Watershed/links/564e0c5f08ae4988a7a5d148/Wat
er-Quality-of-the-Upper-Big-Thompson-Watershed.pdf
 Lampe 12

Larimore County, Colorado. (n/a). Big Thompson River Restoration How to Rehabilitate an
Impaired River System. Stantec. https://www.stantec.com/en/projects/united-states-
projects/b/big-thompson-river-restoration

Other Projects and Monitoring. (2019, October 10). Big Thompson Watershed Forum.
https://btwatershed.org/other-projects/

Wright, W. (2016). Accelerating Waters: An Anthropocene History of Colorado’s 1976 Big

Thompson Flood. Colorado State University: Department of History, 1–192.
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/176598/Wright_colostate_0053N_13
626.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y