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Northern Water, partners to continue fire recovery work

Those efforts will now address restoration of the burn scar on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management properties
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Aerial mulching will continue in 2022 in areas affected by the East Troublesome FireImage courtesy of Northern Water

NEWS RELEASE
NORTHERN WATER
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Grand County and Northern Water are continuing to implement numerous post-fire watershed restoration projects spanning private and federal lands.

Efforts are expanding beyond the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program that was implemented following the 2020 East Troublesome fire. Those efforts will now address restoration of the burn scar on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management properties, which constitute nearly 80 percent of the fire footprint.

Since early 2021, Northern Water and Grand County have implemented more than $22 million in watershed restoration projects thanks to funding secured from the NRCS and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Last summer, Grand County and Northern Water implemented more than 15 different types of projects throughout affected areas of the East Troublesome Fire.

These included: installation of three debris booms in Grand Lake and Willow Creek Reservoir to protect infrastructure from floating debris; more than 5,200 acres of aerial mulching to reduce potential hillslope erosion on burned soils; construction of check structures in gullies to trap and store sediment mobilized from the hillslope and to prevent downcutting by increased peak flows; removal of sediment along areas of Colo. Highway 125 following 2021 monsoons; and projects that protected private properties from postfire flooding.

Projects planned for this summer include extensive aerial mulching operations that are scheduled to start June 20 and aim to cover roughly 10,000 acres (subject to funding availability), sediment management, channel stability, flood risk reduction, road protection, and hillslope and gully erosion control.

Projects will be implemented throughout the burn area and are expected to be complete by fall of 2022.

Additional projects are being planned with expected implementation in 2023.

Learn more about summer projects at www.GCWatershedRecovery.com.