Old St. Vrain Road Reach Restoration

A once barren landscape is reactivated as a functioning floodplain with back channels and wood jams that provide habitat while slowing down and storing water during spring floods.

Members of the Old St. Vrain Road Reach Restoration design/build team, led by Left Hand Excavating, have been working on Front Range stream projects over the past decade. Drawing on our experience working on the St. Vrain and Left Hand Creeks Stream Management Plan and the Left Hand Canyon Watershed Restoration, Biohabitats helped the team design and construct a process-based restoration for The Watershed Center’s latest efforts to restore and protect floodplain connectivity and provide greater resilience for this important system.

Biohabitats completed permitting, examined and assessed existing conditions, performed hydraulic modeling, assisted with outreach efforts, developed the restoration concept and final design, and assisted with on-site construction while providing guidance for grading, structure installation, and aquatic habitat improvement. The approximately 3.5 AC restoration was designed to help the stream thrive by incorporating natural features that adapt to changing conditions and improve wildlife habitat.

To reconnect the floodplain, the project removed feet of flood deposits and excavated back channels that activate during spring runoff. Various types of wood structures were installed on the floodplain to provide roughness, slow flow, and improve habitat conditions.

TAGS

• Design-Build
• Ecological Restoration