Steamboat gets $5 million for river restoration project

A restoration project at the confluence of the Yampa River and the Walton Creek in Steamboat Springs got a boost this week with a $5 million grant awarded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
“The Yampa River/Walton Creek confluence restoration is a unique opportunity within Colorado for large-scale ecosystem restoration along one of our big rivers, and it is one of the city’s highest priorities related to watershed health,” said the city’s water resource manager, Julie Baxter, in a statement.
“The project is truly multi-beneficial, not only enhancing the long-term health and resiliency of the Yampa River system but also our community’s resiliency to future floods, wildfires, and drought,” added Baxter.
Conceptual design work for the restoration project began last spring and was completed by the city and a consulting firm, Stillwater Sciences, last summer. Wildlife officials hope the work will clean up a mess made from gravel mining operations in the 1970s and 1980s.
The mining work heavily altered the stretch of river and left behind an ecosystem tangle of nonnatural backwater ponds, gravel deposits, artificially raised banks and side channels, along with perfect spring spawning areas for nonnative northern pike.
“This has been a goal for many years to address all these issues at Walton Creek confluence,” said Bill Atkinson, longtime CPW aquatic biologist in Steamboat, about the restoration project in an interview with the newspaper last year. “The way the river has been altered through this reach, it’s no longer functioning properly.”
Atkinson said the redirected river waters and gravel pits create slow, wide and warm areas that do not pass sediment naturally. That section of river forms point bars, upstream bank erosion and a significant breeding ground for northern pike where the fish eggs adhere to submerged vegetation. The nonnative fish are voracious feeders of everything from invertebrates to trout.
“It’s an area of high concern from a standpoint of northern pike recruitment to the river,” Atkinson said.
Pending the final commitment of funds from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the city says it has raised the $7.9 million which (includes allowances for cost escalation and contingency) estimated for the final design, permitting, and construction of the project.
In November, the Colorado Water Conservation Board approved the city’s application for $2 million in grant funding intended for projects of statewide significance. The board is also contributing $500,000 from the Species Conservation Trust Fund for the project and city council members in Steamboat have approved $400,000 from the city’s 2025 Capital Projects Fund to support the restoration work.
According to the city, the design and permitting process is expected to be completed by 2026 with construction expected to be completed by 2028.
Steamboat Pilot & Today reporter Suzie Romig contributed to this article.
Trevor Ballantyne is the editor for the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach him, call 970-871-4254 or email him at [email protected].
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