Field Trip Summary: 

Riparian Reconnect is a grassroots wetland restoration effort by restoration practitioners, conservationists, scientists, and land managers dedicated to restoring Colorado’s headwater riverscapes throughout Colorado. Led by Colorado Open Lands and EcoMetrics, our work targets headwater wetlands with beavers (Castor canadensis). We emphasize historical context and careful reading of the riverscape to diagnose ecological  processes that have been disrupted. Our restoration treatments and strategy are site-specific and adaptive, but all share the goal of promoting natural processes which heal and reduce stress on the land.  

Recommended for field trip: small backpack with rain jacket, an extra layer, water, sunscreen and snacks.  Long pants and waterproof boots, muck boots or waders recommended. 

Detailed Description: Located in the Southern Rockies Ecoregion at the headwaters of the South Platte River watershed, our restoration sites are riparian wetlands on first- and second-order streams that drain the Mosquito and Park Mountain ranges at an elevation of about 10,000 ft. (3,100 m). Our restoration strategy targets wetlands that were historically drained and degraded by the removal of keystone species (beavers) followed by colonial settlement that brought high-intensity agricultural and industrial land uses. Declining pressure from these industries, along with a growing appreciation for the importance of healthy wetland ecosystems to people and nature, makes these sites ideal for long-term restoration and conservation.

Hunting and trapping of beavers during the fur trade led to a precipitous population decline and near extirpation of the keystone species and massive loss of associated wetland. By 1840, beavers were considered fully trapped out of the Southern Rockies. On the heels of the fur trade, a booming gold and silver industry lured prospectors to the area. During the mining boom of the 1850s-1890s, Park County’s population peaked at levels that far exceed today’s numbers. Many headwater streams and wetlands were severely degraded by intensive placer mining, but more widespread ecological damage was caused by mining-supporting forestry practices of the day and the conversion of riparian land for agriculture. These impacts continued through to contemporary times. Livestock ranching has been the dominant industry for much of the past 200 years, and supporting land uses such as stream channelization, vegetation conversion, irrigation, hay mowing, grazing, and roads have been dominant impacts on both private and public riparian lands in the region for most of recent history to today.

Ecological amnesia set in over that time. Until recently, most lay people and many experts presumed that the ubiquitous simplified, channelized, dry, heavily grazed riparian areas we had become used to were natural and healthy ecosystems. But observations of unimpacted sites and sites that have recovered naturally suggest a different natural reference ecosystem: prior to the relatively recent anthropogenic disturbance from extractive fur, metal, and livestock industries, the natural condition of many headwaters riparian areas was complex beaver-mediated wetland habitat.

The Riparian Reconnect program was established to help people understand and appreciate the biologically rich and valuable wetland ecosystems that were once widespread in the area prior to industrial use. Our mission is to restore and conserve these valuable wetland ecosystems as much as possible by reducing and reversing the effects of historic land use impacts. Our restoration strategy is centered on the recovery of beavers as a keystone species to catalyze ecological recovery by reenabling natural restorative processes, and to sustain these processes through conservation and ongoing land stewardship.

On this field trip, we will visit two Riparian Reconnect restoration sites in the National Forest that exemplify the degradation history and restoration approach described above. One site has enjoyed 30 years of passive restoration via grazing management but no beavers. The other site has similar grazing management and active beaver dam mimicry treatments that resulted in beaver reoccupation. Comparison of the sites will fuel facilitated discussion among participants around the following questions:

1. How important are beavers as keystone species in the maintenance of habitat complexity, niches, and maintenance of biodiversity? How do the sites differ with respect to habitat from various taxonomic viewpoints: plants, microbes, macroinvertebrates, fish, birds, amphibians, mammals, etc.? To what degree can we mimic the role of beavers, as opposed to restoring them?
2. To the degree that restoration depends on reestablishing keystone species like beaver, what spatial and time scales are relevant to evaluate effectiveness and progress?
3. How does this this approach to restoration (reestablishing keystone species, reenabling natural processes, reversing past impacts) differ from conventional approaches? What does this mean for the way we evaluate restoration effectiveness and success? Is the term “process-based” helpful in this shifting mindset?
4. How should we view the ongoing role of people and society in riparian ecosystems? Are humans just ecological stressors on natural systems, or do we have a role in ecosystem health and recovery? Should we think of our role as land stewards or as active participants in ecosystem evolution?

We hope that participants will bring their ecological expertise, experience, and enthusiasm to the field trip to engage with us in these topics.