Survey of Critical Wetlands and Riparian Areas in Gunnison County Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University 8002 Campus Delivery Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-8002 1 Survey of Critical Wetlands and Riparian Areas in Gunnison County Prepared for: Colorado Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman Street Room 718 Denver, Colorado 80203 Prepared by: Joe Rocchio, Georgia Doyle, and Renée Rondeau November 17, 2004 Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University College of Natural Resources 8002 Campus Delivery Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-8002 Copyright © 2003 by Colorado Natural Heritage Program Cover photograph: Pond dominated by beaked sedge (Carex utriculata) and narrowleaf bur-reed (Sparganium emersum), with East Beckwith Mountain in the background. Photo taken by Joe Rocchio. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Financial support for this study was provided by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR) through a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8. We greatly appreciate the support and assistance of Alex Chappell of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Kimberly Seymour of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and Sarah Fowler and Ed Sterns of the EPA, Region 8. This project would not have been possible without the help of many dedicated individuals. We appreciate the support of the members of the Gunnison Wetland Focus Area Committee for providing their local knowledge of important wetlands in Gunnison County. Art and Sandy Hayes, both with the Bureau of Land Management, provided moral support, lots of input on sites, and plenty of research materials, especially GIS data. Thanks so much, and we’ll never lose site of what could be “If sage grouse had antlers.” Barry Johnston, of the U.S. Forest Service in Gunnison, provided invaluable incite, recommendations, and data (via the “Barry Bible,” as we like to call his incredible publication: “Ecological types of the Upper Gunnison Basin: Vegetation-soil-landform-geology-climate-water land classes for natural resource management”.) Gay Austin, also with the U.S. Forest Service in Gunnison, assisted us with valuable suggestions of interesting wetland sites and attended any questions we had throughout the summer. Ian Billick, Director of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), kindly answered questions, provided suggestions, and provided access to the resources RMBL had to offer. Butch Clark provided many helpful suggestions and contacts and a tour of his property along Tomichi Creek, a wonderful oasis of willows in an otherwise ‘sea of pastures’. We are also very thankful to Lynn Cudlip, whose input and enthusiasm for this project was invaluable. Kathy Darrow also provided much support via site suggestions and a wonderfully written article, which appeared in the Gunnison Times and Crested Butte Weekly, touting this project and its benefit to Gunnison County. Thanks so much, Kathy, for educating the citizens of Gunnison County about the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Wetland Program’s effort to work toward voluntary wetland protection and restoration and the role the Colorado Natural Heritage has in that process. Paula Lehr kindly shared her home and knowledge of the locations of rare high elevation wetland species. Paula’s input and hospitality was much appreciated! And speaking of hospitality, we’d like to especially acknowledge and thank Matt Malick of the National Park Service and the Curecanti National Recreation Area for providing us with a place to rest, work, and sleep for the latter half of the summer. Your hospitality made our time in Gunnison County very enjoyable. John Hess, Planner with the City of Crested Butte, provided us with a tour of the Crested Butte Land Trust wetland properties and much input and data on the wetland resources found there. Special thanks to Jessica Young (Western State College) and Paul Jones (Colorado Division of Wildlife) who provided invaluable input on the Gunnison Sage Grouse, David Gann (The Nature Conservancy) provided suggestion on sites, and Dan Bauch (Colorado Division of Wildlife) provided us with information on fish in Gunnison County. We are also grateful to the landowners who gave us permission to survey their property. We enjoyed meeting them, and in some cases hiking with them on their property. Our staff in Fort Collins, including Kathy Carsey, Jodie Bell, Jill Handwerk, Jeremy Siemers, Amy Lavender, Alison Loar, Barbara Brayfield, and Katie Newhaus all worked with us patiently. Brad Lambert provided much assistance with boreal toad data. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 1 CONSERVATION STRATEGIES ............................................................................................. 4 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 8 WETLAND DEFINITIONS, REGULATIONS, AND FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENTS.......................................................................................................................... 11 WETLAND DEFINITIONS...........................................................................................................................11 WETLAND REGULATION IN COLORADO ..................................................................................................11 WETLAND FUNCTIONS AND VALUES.......................................................................................................12 WETLAND FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT ....................................................................................................13 Overall Functional Integrity............................................................................................................................13 Flood Attenuation and Storage .......................................................................................................................14 Sediment/Shoreline Stabilization ...................................................................................................................14 Groundwater Discharge/Recharge .................................................................................................................14 Dynamic Surface Water Storage ....................................................................................................................14 Elemental Cycling ............................................................................................................................................15 Removal of Imported Nutrients, Toxicants, and Sediments.......................................................................15 Habitat Diversity...............................................................................................................................................15 General Wildlife and Fish Habitat .................................................................................................................15 Production Export/Food Chain Support ........................................................................................................15 Uniqueness.........................................................................................................................................................16 HYDROGEOMORPHIC (HGM) APPROACH TO WETLAND FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT .............................16 PROJECT BACKGROUND...................................................................................................... 19 LOCATION AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDY AREA.............................................................19 HYDROLOGY ............................................................................................................................................22 VEGETATION............................................................................................................................................24 OBSERVATIONS ON MAJOR THREATS TO WETLAND BIODIVERSITY .......................................................25 Hydrological Modifications ............................................................................................................................27 Development .....................................................................................................................................................28 Mining................................................................................................................................................................28 Livestock Grazing.............................................................................................................................................28 Logging ..............................................................................................................................................................28 Recreation..........................................................................................................................................................29 Roads..................................................................................................................................................................29