Ecological Effects of the Lawn Lake Flood of 1982, Rocky Mountain National Park
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wi2-o issc^rce room 1 ^omo Please do not remove r^e^. this item from ^teiMes> Resource Room Ecological Effects of the Lawn Lake Flood of 1982, Rocky Mountain National Park Scientific Monograph NPS/NRROMO/NRSM-93/2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service The National Park Service publishes scientific studies of significant natural resources in units of the National Park System. This research is of scholarly quality and may include any discipline of the biological, physical, or social sciences. Editorial Staff Fish and Wildlife Service Paul A. Opler Managing Editor Paul A. Vohs Subject Editor National Park Service Donna L. O'Leary Publications Coordinator Jerry D. Cox Technical Editor Suzanne D. Hardy Editorial Assistant Martha W. Nichols Editorial Assistant Cover Photo: A backdrop of mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, highlights the alluvial fan created by the Lawn Lake flood. Copies of this report are available from the Publications Coordinator, National Park Service, Natural Resources Publication Office, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225- 0287. ISSN 0363-0722 fig* NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WATER RESOURCES DIVISION ;* FORT COLLINS, COLORADO ^3 RESOURCE ROOM PROPERTY Ecological Effects of the Lawn Lake Flood of 1982, Rocky Mountain National Park Editors Henry E. McCutchen Northern Arizona University Cooperative Park Studies Unit Flagstaff, Arizona 86011 Raymond Herrmann National Park Service Colorado State University Water Resources Cooperative Park Studies Unit ' Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 David R. Stevens 1 ^ Rocky Mountain National Park Estes Park, Colorado 80517 Scientific Monograph NPS/NRROMO/NRSM-93/21 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service •1993- 'Present address: National Park Service Alaska Regional Office, Anchorage, Alaska 99503. Contents Page Foreword iv Hydrology and Geomorphology of the 1982 Lawn Lake Dam Failure, Colorado. Robert D. Jarrett and John E. Costa 1 Geomorphic Response of the Fall River, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. John Pitlick 18 Alpine Sediment Movement and Erosion in the Roaring River Watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park. Rebecca M. Summer 33 Geochemistry of Iron Oxides in the Roaring River Alluvial Fan, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.M. Iggy Litaor and Richard B. Keigley 55 Micronutrient Status of Tree Species Affected by the Lawn Lake Flood in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Kenneth A. Barrick and Mark G. Noble 70 Vegetation Development on the Exposed Shores of Lawn Lake. Donald H. Mansfield 86 Macroinvertebrate Community Recovery Following Episodic Flooding From an Earthen Dam Failure. David R. Beeson and Terence P Boyle ..112 Terrestrial Arthropod Fauna of the Alluvial Fan Resulting From the Lawn Lake Flood. Howard E. Evans 138 Colonization of the Lawn Lake Alluvial Fan by Amphibians: Potential Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Factors. Linda C. Zimmerman and C. RichardTracy 148 Changes in Avian Breeding Populations Resulting From the Lawn Lake Flood of 1982. Ronald A. Ryder and Deborah West Bangs 163 Effects of the Lawn Lake Flood on Local Distribution and Abundance of Mammals. David M. Armstrong 170 Observations of Plant Ecology on the Lawn Lake Flood Alluvial Fan. Richard B. Keigley 192 in Foreword Lawn Lake is located at treeline, 3,350 m (10,987 feet) above sea level. It is in one of the most scenic areas of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. In 1903, a privately constructed dam enlarged the lake to store water for irriga- tion. These activities preceded the designation of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915; because of the established water rights, the dam continued to be privately managed, maintaining an easement within national park property. On 15 July 1982, the dam at Lawn Lake failed, probably due to a piping failure. The subsequent flood sent approximately 831,000 m 3 of water cascad- ing down the Roaring River—causing the Cascade Lake Dam to fail—and then continuing through the town of Estes Park. Three people were killed, and nearly $30 million of damage occurred. The president declared Larimer County a disaster area on 22 July 1982. Failure of the dam released a torrent that scoured the drainage of the Roaring River, inundated adjacent ecosystems, and deposited a large debris fan at the confluence of the Roaring and Fall rivers in the park. The physical and biological effects of the flood were profound, particularly within the park. As perturbations of this type in high-elevation ecosystems are rare, the flood captured the interest of local, national, and international scientists and scholars. The period following the Lawn Lake Flood was recognized by the Na- tional Park Service (NPS) as a rare opportunity to study and better understand ecosystems affected by catastrophic flooding. The present study represents the results of the last 8 years of multidisciplinary research. In 1983, Gustav Swanson, professor emeritus of Colorado State University, focused the NPS effort when he proposed the concept of developing a research consortium for the flood. In May 1983, these thoughts became reality when the park hosted a meeting and field trip for interested investigators. From that first meeting, plans rapidly developed and were put in motion for the organization and funding of a multidisciplinary research effort to investigate the physical and biological ef- fects of the flood as well as the area's subsequent recovery. The NPS Rocky Mountain Region and the NPS Water Resources Field Support Laboratory initiated the program. Later, additional help was obtained from the National Park Service's Natural Resources Preservation Program. Contributions of additional value were made by other government and private sources. In addition, many of the contributors to this volume donated their professional skills and talents to these efforts. The result has been a multidisciplinary scientific study of an unusual event—a study that details many research efforts focused toward understand- ing the effects of and the response to the catastrophic flood on 15 July 1982. As their titles reflect, the 1 2 studies presented here have covered many physi- cal and biological science disciplines, including geology, hydrology, chemis- try, botany, and zoology. The studies tell the story of the ecological changes that followed the failure of Lawn Lake Dam and the subsequent flood that produced rapid hydrologic changes, including inundation, scouring and depo- sition (burial), nutrient and mineralogic changes, sediment accommodations, and direct biological effects. Finally, these studies detail the recovery pro- cesses that occurred in both aquatic and terrestrial biological communities. Many important publications on the effects of and the response to the flood were presented before those in this symposium. One of the major ones, published in 1986, is the 78-page U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper by R. D. Jarrett and J. E. Costa titled Hydrology, Geomorphology and Dam- break Modeling of the July 15, 1982, Lawn Lake Dam and Cascade Lake Dam Failures, Larimer County, Colorado. Jarrett and Costa have provided a con- densed version of that monograph for this volume. A number of reports and publications have stemmed from the research of Dr. Colin Thorne (Queen Mary College, London, England) and his associates. This series of five re- ports, printed as technical reports of the NPS Water Resources Field Support Laboratory, are not reprinted in this volume because of space constraints. These reports include Bedload Transport and Hydraulic Geometry Relations for Fall River, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (1984), by John P. Hick; Bed Material Analysis on the Fall River (1983), by David S. Biedenbain; two reports, Measurements of Bend Flow Hydraulics on the Fall River—at Low Stage (1983), and—at Bank Full Stage (1985), by Colin R. Thorne et aL; and Stream Discharge Rating Curves for the Fall River, Rocky Mountain National Park (1983), by Mark Segenthaler. Copies of these reports may be obtained from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Water Re- sources Division, Fort Collins, Colorado. Another article of interest can be found in the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 57(1): 1-18, titled Sedimentary Processes, Vertical Stratification Sequences, and Geomorphology of the Roar- ing River Alluvial Fan, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, by Terence C. Blair. We again thank the authors and investigators who persisted —with mini- mal NPS help — to complete their studies. These studies represented a rare opportunity to learn more about a phenomenon of great importance to re- sources managers within the National Park Service and to land managers ev- erywhere. The results of their work have helped to better understand the nature of riparian changes that occur owning to catastrophic flood events and the recovery process that follows. James B. Thompson Superintendent, Rocky Mountain National Park The Editors OJ o c a i- u73 d< a. Cd sa) a> "eo E Cd T3 MU Jcd c £ Cd -J u cj J= o *-* <^ '-!- c 4-i W) O _c l_, 2 CD i cd E E 3 -o C/D <u cu £ -C S- ^c <u <G c cd u o c i IS cd >, £ <d o cd o > -C CJ a. _c *"' <D c sCh o H T3 § S .J2 J -a Is £ > 3 cd cd T3 u u X! cd H a; o eJ u "T3 a> C a cd «3 & a cd o U t- u. VI Hydrology and Geomorphology of the 1982 Lawn Lake Dam Failure, Colorado Robert D. Jarrett U.S. Geological Survey P.O. Box 25046, MS 418 Denver, Colorado 80225 John E. Costa U.S. Geological Survey 5400 MacArthur Boulevard Vancouver, Washington 98661 Abstract. Failure of the Lawn Lake Dam released 831,000 m 3 of water with an 3 estimated peak discharge of 5 10 m /s down the Roaring River valley. Floodwaters from 3 Lawn Lake Dam overtopped a second dam with a peak discharge of 204 m /s. Cascade 3 Lake Dam, 10.8 km downstream, also failed and increased peak discharge to 453 m /s.