From the Pikes Peak Courier View (Norma Engelberg):
About 25 people came out to a recent open house at the Deckers Community Center to get information about the upcoming Hayman Restoration Project and the partnership of local, state and federal agencies and organizations that has formed to get the work done…
Most of the work will focus on watershed restoration, starting with four creeks between Woodland Park and Cheeseman Reservoir — Horse Creek, Trout Creek, West Creek and Trail Creek. Over the past seven years since the fire, these creeks have been repeatedly inundated with sediment washed out of the burn area during rainstorms. The work will include stream stabilization, wildlife enhancement, noxious weed treatment, forest thinning and planting riparian and upland vegetation, along with monitoring project effectiveness. Some roads and trails might also be decommissioned, reconstructed or relocated and roads and trails that remain where they are will be maintained…
Watershed restoration work is needed because the Hayman Fire seriously impacted an area that provides water to 75 percent of the state’s 4.3 million residents.
For more information about upcoming projects and the partnership, call project coordinator Brian Banks at the South Platte Ranger District of Pike National Forest at 303-275-5610. While the partnership’s restoration work will focus on public land, private landowners can get help for their forested acreage from a variety of organizations, including the Coalition for the Upper South Platte at 719-748-5325, and the Woodland Park Office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service at 719-686-9405.
More South Platte Basin coverage here.