2015 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference
October 6-8, 2015
Avon, CO

 In it for the Long Haul

The 10th Annual Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference will be hosted by the Colorado Watershed Assembly, the Colorado Foundation for Water Education, and the Colorado Riparian Association. This conference, taking place in Avon, CO from October 6-8, 2015, works to expand cooperation and collaboration throughout Colorado in natural resource conservation, protection and enhancement by informing participants about new issues and innovative projects and through invaluable networking!

Agenda overview:

Plenary sessions begin at 1:00pm on October 6th and are themed “Defining resiliency for Colorado Communities” (Plenary I) and “Defining resiliency for the Yampa Valley” (Plenary II), with an evening keynote address “River Mind: The True Value of Wild Rives” by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols.

On October 7th, concurrent session topics will include: water and agriculture nexus, flood recovery, education and engagement, restoration ecology, creative public policy, hazard mapping, telling stories with data, capacity building, water flexibility, long-term planning, and leadership skills. In the evening, there will be a film screening of The Great Divide with producer Jim Havey.

The conference will conclude with a field workshop at Camp Hale the morning of October 8th from 9:30am to 12:30pm. The workshop will feature National Forest Foundation and USFS White River National Forest speakers to discuss the history, hydrology, and upcoming restoration work for the Camp Hale site. Camp Hale is located between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley and was a U.S. Army training facility constructed in 1942 for the 10th Mountain Division.  Soldiers were trained in mountain climbing, Alpine and Nordic skiing, cold-weather survival as well as various weapons and ordnance. When it was in full operation, approximately 15,000 soldiers were housed there.  Additionally Camp Hale has variously served as a WWII Prisoner of War Intern Site, a CIA Training Site for Tibetan Guerillas, and a Youth Training Center. Today is a National Historic Site and is being restored to improve watershed viability and ecosystem function.

Anticipated speakers and topics at the field workshop include:

• Overview/Cultural History of Camp Hale – Aaron Mayville, USFS
• Hydrology/Fluvial Geomorphology of Camp Hale River Restoration – Mark Weinhold, USFS
• Avian Ecology – Jonathan Lowsky, Colorado Wildlife Science
• Macro-invertabrates – Corey Engen, FlyWater
• Ground Water – Gil Barth, S.S. Papadopulos and Associates
• Willow / Sedge propagation – Randy Mandel

Visit www.coloradowater.org/Conferences  to learn more.