I sit here, wondering what good is all this fixation on the Rear View Mirror and moldy pipe-dreams of endlessly increasing profits, when we know damned well that serious, hard changes are coming at us? When are we going to start protecting the natural resources we and especially our children depend on?
Assessment of Wetland Condition
on the Rio Grande National Forest
October 2012
Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Assessment of Wetland Condition on the Rio Grande National Forest
Prepared for:
USDA Forest Service Rio Grande National Forest 1803 W. Highway 160 Monte Vista, CO 81144
Prepared by:
Joanna Lemly
Colorado Natural Heritage
Program Warner College of Natural Resources
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Rio Grande National Forest (RGNF) covers 1.83 million acres in south central Colorado and contains the very headwaters of the Rio Grande River. The Forest’s diverse geography creates a template for equally diverse wetlands, which provide important ecological services to both the RGNF and lands downstream. Though now recognized as a vital component of the landscape, many wetlands have been altered by a range of human land uses since European settlement. Across the RGNF, mining, logging, reservoirs, water diversions, grazing, and recreation have all impacted wetlands. In order to adequately manage and protect wetland resources on the RGNF, reliable data are needed on their location, extent and condition.
Between 2008 and 2011, Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) partnered with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded effort to map and assess the condition of wetlands throughout the Rio Grande Headwaters River Basin, which includes the RGNF. …
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Background and Objectives
The Rio Grande National Forest (RGNF) in south central Colorado contains the very headwaters of the Rio Grande River. The Forest is predominantly located in the San Juan Mountains, east of the Continental Divide and west of Colorado’s San Luis Valley. However, the RGNF also arcs north and west to include the narrow line of Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which form the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley and the Rio Grande Headwaters River Basin.
The diverse geography of the RGNF creates a template for equally diverse wetlands. Heavy snowfall in the San Juan Mountains percolates through shallow mountain soils and creates alpine wet meadows, riparian shrublands, and peat-forming wetlands known as fens. In addition to precipitation, beavers play an important role creating and maintain wetlands in the subalpine and montane zones by building dams that impound and store water. Downstream of the mountains, rivers and creeks deliver peak spring flows and carry sediment to the valley below. Flooding rivers constantly rework their banks and create a mosaic of riparian shrublands, woodlands, and backwater channels.
Wetlands provide important ecological services to both the RGNF and lands downstream. They act as natural filters, helping to protect water quality by retaining sediments and potential toxins, as well as removing excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Wetlands also help to regulate local and regional hydrologic processes by stabilizing base flow, attenuating floods, and replenishing belowground aquifers. In addition, wetlands support numerous plant and animals species that depend on aquatic habitats for some portion of their life cycle and provide important opportunities for recreation. Though now recognized as a vital component of the landscape, many wetlands have been altered by a range of human land uses since European settlement. Across the RGNF, mining, logging, construction of reservoirs, water diversions, grazing, and recreation have all impacted wetlands.
Between 2008 and 2011, Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) partnered with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded effort to map and assess the condition of wetlands …
5.0 DISCUSSION
Colorado’s wetlands and riparian areas are vital components of the landscape due to the functions and services they provide in an otherwise arid landscape. On the RGNF, these ecosystems have been impacted by past and current human land use, including hydrologic modifications, mining, logging, grazing, and recreation. In order to adequate manage and protect wetland resources on the RGNF, the USFS needs reliable data on their location, extent and condition.
Prior to this and the companion EPA-funded project ...
… Of particular importance is the high percentage of wetland acres mapped with the saturated soil regime, especially in the alpine and subalpine. Many of these areas are likely fens (Figure 14), considered old growth wetlands because it takes centuries to build up their organic soils. Fens are an irreplaceable resource that should to be managed for conservation and restoration. ...
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For the full report visit:
Assessment of Wetland Condition
on the Rio Grande National Forest
October 2012
Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University
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Keep in mind our speculators and their potential investors are from Texas. What's their stake in our mountains? Not much, dreams of a profitable luxury vacation retreat, that's about it. They imagine these next decades will be little different than what we remember in our collective past. It's not so!
What they refuse to recognize, is that back home in Texas, besides their own drying conditions, they are going to be hit with a string of coastal infrastructure destroying events. This is no idle speculation it's cold hard observation based science derived. This situation will be set-up by the increasing tempo of rising sea levels and it will be driven by any one of the increasingly extreme weather systems our energized climate system is producing.
Over the next decade and two, today's speculators with their bravado and bank rolls, will be finding themselves unavoidably distracted by major disasters and challenges back home.
Reports: Climate Change Threatens Texas Oil and Gas Industry
Marissa Barnett | December 10, 2013 | Reporting Texas
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Global Climate Change Impact on the Upper Texas Coast
John Anderson | April 7, 2014
Maurice Ewing Professor of Oceanography at Rice University -
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Exploring a changing coast in the face of sea level rise – Galveston, Texas
By Kristan Uhlenbrock | 19 APRIL 2013
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Talking About Sea Level Rise: Leading Scientists Meet in Galveston, Texas
Melanie Fitzpatrick | April 29, 2013
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High water everywhere: Scientists map the risks of rising seas for Texas
December 31, 2014 | Texas Climate News
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Texas Likely to Have Among the Nation’s Highest Death Tolls from Extreme Heat.
Risky Business | October 14, 2014
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There is almost no public discussion about how to bolster resilience to the insidious threat of sea-level rise
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A big resort needs lots of water as much as it needs lots of people with money to burn. I know the developers assure us they have plenty of both, at least on paper. But, what when the sky isn't dropping enough moisture to go around? Or when people are preoccupied with more pressing needs?
Snowpack, Ice Cover Shrinking on Rocky Mountains
North America's largest mountain range has lost significant amounts of snow cover since 1980 thanks in part to climate change
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/snowpack-ice-cover-shrinking-rocky-mountains/
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Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West
By Stephen Saunders and Maureen Maxwell | September 2005
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 1 Section 1 – Water — the West’s Great Vulnerability 3 Section 2 – Climate Disruption’s Likely Effects on the West’s Water 5 Section 3 – Climate Disruption is Under Way in the West 9 Section 4 – New Findings: Changes in the West’s River Basins 11 Section 5 – Projections of Future Changes 17 Section 6 – Changing the Odds in the West 21 Appendix: Research Methodology 26 Endnotes 27
Figures, Maps & Tables Index
Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3:
Figure 4: Table 1: Table 2: Table 3:
River Basins in the RMCO Analysis 12 Warming Where Snow Falls 14
Consistent with Global Warming: Warming Greatest
in Winter, Early Spring 15
in Winter, Early Spring 15
Declining Snowpacks by River Basin 16 Climate Disruption’s Effects in the Colorado River Basin 17 Climate Disruption’s Effects in California 18 Western States Pollute More than Most Nations 21
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Warmer Springs Causing Loss of Snow Cover throughout the Rocky Mountains
The study, "Regional patterns and proximal causes of the recent snowpack decline in the Rocky Mountains," is available from Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. Released: 5/13/2013
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Loss of Snowpack and Glaciers In Rockies Poses Water Threat
July 10, 2014: Report
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What Climate Change in the Rockies Means for its Water
Bobby Magill | August 12th, 2014
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