Under Colorado’s "Unified Assessment" this watershed is considered a priority need for restoration due to the growth in population in both the Front Range and intermountain areas. A coalition of stakeholders, including local governments, federal and state agencies, businesses, water providers and individuals within the watershed have banded together to protect the water quality and ecologic health of the Upper South Platte Watershed through the cooperative efforts of watershed stakeholders, with emphasis on community values and economic sustainability.
A 1999 EPA grant made possible a Data Inventory and Assessment (DIA) which was designed to: 1) Identify and document available data and responsible entities related to watershed land use activities, water quality, environmental quality and Geographic Information System (GIS) information. 2) Identify and rank existing and potential sources that can affect water quality and ecological health within the watershed. 3) Assess water quality and stream health within the watershed. 4) Prioritize areas for potential protection and restoration activity and areas requiring further study.
The DIA became the backbone of a yearlong planning process. Partners identified and prioritized 15 issues (agriculture, fire, land use and development, mining, natural sources, recreation, solid/hazardous waste, storm water runoff, transportation, underground storage tanks, water rights, water system operations, wastewater treatment plants and septic systems, and weeds) that impact, or have the potential to impact the watershed. Through the planning process, the partners then identified and began implementing projects that would begin to address these issues.
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Currently the U. S. Forest Service (the management agency of most of the public lands in the watershed) has increased its participation through the national large-scale watershed Upper South Platte Restoration Project. This project is designed to return the montane forest within the watershed to its historic nature through vegetative management, with the goal of reducing the likelihood of catastrophic fire. Due to the current unnatural fuel loads and poor forest health, catastrophic fire has become the most critical issue in the watershed, as evidenced by the 2002 Hayman Fire, the largest in Colorado history, burning over 137,000 acres, much of it at extremely high intensity that will have ecologic impacts for decades to come.
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Background reference materials;
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