Eagle River report card grades in community water plan require some explanation

Part of the Eagle River Coalition’s Community Water Plan is a series of “report cards” for stream segments from Red Cliff to Dotsero. Unlike school grades, these report cards take a good bit of explanation.

Along with the letter grades, the report cards look at potential future impacts, from urbanization to the future effects of a warming and drying climate.

Lotic Hydrological, a consulting and research firm, developed the scorecard. Watershed scientist Bill Hoblitzell said the scorecard criteria was gauged against natural conditions, using data collected between roughly 2018 and 2022. Using nature as a yardstick, there can be some good news and some disturbing findings.

For instance, the stream segment through Minturn between Cross Creek and Gore Creek shows a lot of improvement from the days 30 years ago when the stream ran orange due to leakage from the Eagle Mine at Gilman.

But the presence of the Homestake Reservoir affects peak flows, which are essential to flush streams in the spring.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

The relative lack of peak flows also contributes to some elevated levels of metals in that stretch of the river.

Those conditions ease as the river merges with Gore Creek at Dowd Junction.

Improvement on the Gore

Gore Creek has had its own troubles, of course. That creek in 2013 was named to a state list of “impaired” waterways.

The creek over the past several years has received a lot of attention from the town of Vail and the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District.

The stretch of Gore Creek between Black Gore Creek and the Vail wastewater treatment plant garnered mostly good scores.

Hoblitzell said that all the work that’s been done, including reduced pesticide use around the creek, has helped improve water quality. That’s helped improve the presence of macroinvertebrates — small bugs that are the basis of the food chain in and along the creek.

A continuing problem through Vail, of course, is urbanization and the presence of Interstate 70. That means salinity is still an issue for water quality in the creek, Hoblitzell said. But, he added, reservoirs don’t have as much impact on streamflows.

Once the river passes the Riverwalk Center in Edwards, the terrain opens up, and the section has what Hoblitzell called “legacy impacts.” Still, he said, the floodplain is still largely intact, and the Eagle River Coalition and other groups have spent a lot of time on rehabilitation efforts on planting in riparian areas.

Most of the report card scores are pretty good along the length of the river, although a number of the indicator arrows point to concerns about future warming.

But the stretch of Gypsum Creek between the U.S. Forest Service boundary and the confluence of the Eagle River has several failing scores, and requires a good bit of explanation.

A hard-working creek

Hoblitzell said Gypsum Creek’s scores are “common” to rural creeks that have been used largely for agricultural purposes. The creek is relatively small, Hoblitzell said, and doesn’t drain many high-elevation mountains.

In addition, the creek in many places has been diverted to grow hay.

Hoblitzell said a lot of creeks similar to Gypsum Creek can dry up in spots through a growing season. Those creeks also are often diverted into agricultural uses.

“It’s very altered compared to a naturalized flow,” Hoblitzell said. “People are using a lot of Gypsum Creek … From a natural standpoint, it’s doing a lot of work.”

Gypsum Town Manager Jeremy Rietmann called the report card a “place to start” when it comes to stream health. That can include no longer allowing development up to the streambank when new development takes place.

“You make those investments when you get the chance,” Rietmann said.

In addition, fertilizer and pesticide application can be limited, and there’s a new irrigation system at the Gypsum Creek Golf Course that takes stream health into account, he said.

Hoblitzell said creeks including Gypsum Creek across Colorado are getting better. Sometimes that’s as easy as fencing out cattle and other livestock or having greater stream setbacks when new development takes place. In places where native riparian plants have been eliminated, they can be replanted or allowed to grow back.

“Gypsum Creek works really hard to support agriculture and the town,” he said.

Part of the idea behind the Community Water Plan, Hoblitzell added, is to guide communities in the future to do what’s possible to keep streams “working for both people and nature.”

To find the scores, go to Waterplan.eagleriverco.org.