Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID CO-2023-R01

Historic Mapping of the Colorado River Headwaters

Institute: Colorado
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $4,588 Total Non-Federal Funds: $9,359

Principal Investigators: Michael Childers

Project Summary: The Colorado River is one of the most overallocated and endangered rivers in the West. At the source of the river, large-scale water projects divert water from the river’s tributaries, including the Fraser River, out of the Colorado River watershed to Colorado’s Front Range across the Continental Divide. As part of the Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) project, several dams such as Green Mountain and Windy Gap were constructed to storge water for the West Slope as a compromise for the diversion of water to the East Slope. These dams and water diversions, along with urban development, a tourist industry, and agriculture has significantly altered Middle Park’s hydrological landscape, which has had rippling effects downstream. The construction of Windy Gap dam near the confluence created a “hole” in the Colorado, where stream flow averages less than 100 cfs after the spring runoff, which increases salinity downstream and impacts federally endangered Colorado River fishes, as well as native greenback cutthroat trout. Thus, the objective of my project is to examine the changes in riparian vegetation and land use around the Fraser and Colorado rivers confluence, and to provide a historical context for use in restoration projects going forward.