Upper South Platte Watershed Organizations

The South Platte Watershed has 20 active organizations whose mission is to protect water sources and other natural resources of the local areas. Below, is a list, short description, and website link to current organizations provided by The Colorado Water Assembly.

Big Thompson Watershed Coalition (BTWC): The mission is to protect and restore the ecological health of the Big Thompson Watershed for the use and enjoyment of our community today and for future generations.

Big Thompson Watershed Forum: Protects and improves water quality through collaborative monitoring, assessment, education, and restoration projects.

Boulder Creek Watershed Initiative: Protects and enhances the health of the Boulder Creek watershed through community based stewardship, education, information, and action.

Clear Creek Watershed Foundation: Focuses on improving water quality through sustainable watershed management.

Coal Creek Watershed Coalition: Works to restore terrestrial and aquatic environments that have been impaired due to metals and other contaminants.

Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW): Watershed coalition whose representatives have expertise in restoration science, ecology, collaboration, forestry, local government, and also includes private citizens.

Coalition for the Upper South Platte: Focused on implementing projects in the 2,600 square-mile Upper South Platte Watershed. 

Estes Valley Watershed Coalition: Nonprofit organization that is designed to align watershed restoration and risk mitigation with community and economic development goals using a collaborative, multijurisdictional, holistic approach.

Fourmile Watershed Coalition: Stakeholder driven organization established to address their community’s creek restoration and watershed health. 

Friends of the Poudre: Nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the Cache La Poudre River from the threats of water diversion, mega-reservoirs, ecologically unsound usages, and insensitive development.

James Creek Watershed Initiative: Protect and restore the waters of James Creek and its surrounding forest.

Keep it Clean Partnership: Implement a regional stormwater management program, not only to comply with the federal Phase II stormwater regulations but to also address broader water quality watershed issues.

Lefthand Watershed Oversight Group: Assess, protect, and restore the quality of the Lefthand Creek watershed, and to serve as a hub of communication about watershed issues through the fostering of stakeholder collaboration.

Little Thompson Watershed Restoration Coalition: Group of landowners and stakeholders in the Little Thompson River. 

Middle South Platte River Alliance: Diverse group of stakeholders brought together following the 2013 floods to envision a healthier and more flood resilient corridor in north central Colorado.  

Save the Poudre: Mission is to protect and restore the Cache la Poudre River of northern Colorado.

South Platte Coalition for Urban River Evaluation: Organization with a broad-based membership and watershed focus.

Saint Vrain Creek Coalition: Mission is to implement the Saint Vrain Creek Master Plan and pursue recovery from flood impacts, resiliency to natural hazards, and protection of the natural character and multiple uses of the Saint Vrain watershed, through broad stakeholder engagement and collaboration. 

The Environmental Group (TEG): Nonprofit environmental organization in Colorado working to protect the natural lands and resources of the region from environmental degradation.

Upper Clear Creek Watershed Association (UCCWA): Designated management agency responsible for testing, monitoring, overseeing, and reporting water quality and water resource issues throughout the upper portion of the Clear Creek Watershed.

The Big Thompson Watershed Coalition

The Big Thompson Watershed Coalition (BTWC) was established in 2013 after Colorado experienced a major flooding incident (Caring For Our Watersheds, 2018). The BTWC is a collaborative effort among stakeholders from local government agencies, non-profit organizations, and residents. The BTWC vision is to establish a healthy and resilient watershed to benefit the fish, wildlife, and community. Protecting and restoring the Big Thompson Watershed habitat for sustainable use and enjoyment by the community. The goals of the BTWC are to restore river function, partner for a collaborative approach, sustain river resources, and incorporate the community through outreach and education. 

The BTWC was initially established in 2013 as a grassroots organization (Big Thompson Watershed Coalition, 2020). The members of the organization wanted to improve conditions after a disastrous flood caused severe damage to the wetland and infrastructure. The severe flooding destroyed homes, businesses, roads were torn apart, and environmental habitat was damaged. The BTWC designs and manages river restoration projects to stabilize and repair the riverbanks that were damaged as a result of flooding. River restoration has been the main focus to improve the sustainable function of the river system. As a result, the BTWC has improved the overall welfare of the community and enhanced the aesthetics along the Big Thompson River.

The BTWC has several environmental issues to manage due to the damage caused by severe flooding. Restoring the Big Thompson River is the main watershed concern. River restoration involves repairing the riverbanks, preventing erosion, and replacing the natural vegetation along the river (Big Thompson Watershed Coalition, 2020). As a secondary environmental concern, the BTWC is challenged with managing the fish and wildlife habitat throughout the Big Thompson Watershed. Additionally, water quality is a major environmental issue since the community relies on the watershed as a source for drinking water. By completing the river restoration projects the BTWC is addressing all of these environmental challenges. 

The BTWC strategic plan is to complete river restoration projects in areas that will positively impact the local communities (Big Thompson Watershed Coalition, 2020). The planned river restoration projects are occurring in Glen Haven, North Fork Big Thompson River, Jasper Lake, and Sylvan Dale. The BTWC is planning to rebuild a popular fishing pier that was destroyed. The fishing pier in the Big Thompson Canyon was a tourist and local community hotspot that is currently not accessible. The BTWC construction projects are planned based on the needs of the wetland habitat and the community. Restoration projects have been slow but progress has been gained.

The BTWC was established in 2013 and is still a relatively young non-profit organization. In seven years the BTWC has established a strong board of directors and hired professional and experienced resource managers capable of achieving the organization's mission and goals. The BTWC has already accomplished several river restoration projects and several more projects are currently in the planning phase (Big Thompson Watershed Coalition, 2020). The BTWC has been widely successful in securing grant funding to support its restoration projects and donations for planning services. 

By the end of 2018, the BTWC complete 16 river restoration projects. In 2017, five river restoration projects were completed and seven additional projects were about to begin construction. The BTWC secured $5.4 million to complete the river restoration projects and to develop new projects (Big Thompson Watershed Coalition, 2020). Furthermore, the BTWC was awarded a grant from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife towards restoration projects to promote fishing in the communities.  

Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed

The Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW) is a non-profit organization whose vision is to have a healthy and resilient watershed (Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, 2020). The mission of the CPRW is to improve and maintain the ecological health of the watershed through community collaboration (Colorado Nonprofit Association, n.d.). 

The CPRW staff has expertise in restoration, ecology, collaboration, and forestry. The CPRW frequently engages with many stakeholders to include the United States Forest Service, Colorado State University, Larimer County, City of Fort Collins, City of Greely, Colorado State Forest Service, Town of Windsor, Weld County, and community members (Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, 2020).  

In 2012, a destructive wildfire consumed the Hewlett Gulch and High Park burning 95,172 acres of the Poudre River Watershed (Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, 2020). The wildfire destroyed many homes and forest areas. The Poudre River Watershed aesthetics and natural ecology were drastically changed. The Hewlett Gulch and High Park wildfire brought natural resource agencies, non-profit organizations, and local representatives together to develop a restoration management plan.

The CPRW originally started as the High Park Restoration Coalition an informal group of people working to restore the watershed. The High Park Restoration Coalition successfully prioritized key restoration projects, secured funding for management implementation plans, and trained volunteers to assist with management plan implementation (Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, 2020). In 2013, the group officially formed the formal CPRW non-profit organization (Colorado Nonprofit Association, n.d.). The CPRW continued to provide leadership and coordinated management efforts to restore the Poudre River Watershed. 

The Hewlett Gulch and High Park wildfire created several environmental issues for the Poudre River Watershed (Kovecses, 2015). The primary environmental issues consisted of a significant increase in runoff, flooding, sediment erosion, and debris flows. Following the wildfire, each rainfall event carried sediment and ash into the Poudre River (Kovecses, 2015). The runoff stormwater was significant enough to cause road closures in the nearby communities. Stormwater runoff transports many contaminants into the river system and degrades the water quality. The Poudre River Watershed is the main source of drinking water for approximately 300,000 residents downstream. 

The CPRW strategic plan is focused on post-fire restoration, reducing catastrophic fire risk, and watershed health restoration (Kovecses, 2015). The CPRW strives to collaborate with other stakeholders to prioritize areas within the watershed to perform projects on the ground. The CPRW and stakeholders rely on the best science available to identify courses of action. The CPRW conducted fundraising to support capacity, materials and volunteers for post-fire restoration (Kovecses, 2015). The Science and Technical Committee holds meeting every couple of months to get input towards their goals, objectives, and analysis. They are always looking for people who have a desire to help make their plan better and make a difference in the watershed. 

The CPRW has organized and completed multiple successful projects to date. The CPRW implemented more than 300 acres of restoration on both private and public lands (Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, 2020). They restored a critical stream that was damaged as a result of the fire and flooding. Furthermore, the CPRW worked to mitigate the wildfire risk on approximately 300 acres of forest area that is important to protecting the community water supply. The CPRW developed, implemented, and completed the Upper Watershed Poudre Recovery and Resiliency Plan. Additionally, they are close to completing the Lower Watershed Poudre Flood Recovery and Resiliency Master Plan. The efforts of the CPRW were recognized and therefore awarded the 2014 and 2016 Larimer County Environmental Stewardship Award (Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, 2020).