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Midway Enhancement Project

Click the image above to view the Midway Enhancement Project Photo and Video Gallery!

In years past, methods to protect private property and public investments along the river included the use of bulldozers to straighten the channel, divert irrigation water, and construct dikes and levees within the active floodplain. Individual property owners armored the riverbank with rock rip-rap, car bodies, used tires, cabled trees, broken concrete, or anything else available at the time, usually at the expense of the downstream property owner. It eventually became an annual practice by the county to bulldoze the channel prior to the spring runoff.

The project is designed to protect private property and return natural function to the ecosystem by utilizing the full potential of the floodplain to reduce erosion, improve water quality, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and recharge groundwater storage. Agricultural and residential property on the edges of the floodplain are protected by stabilizing the banks with large boulders buried along outside bends of the channel and the installation of a variety of natural vegetative treatments. In high velocity areas, upstream-pointing jetties, known as rock veins, are used to slow the water down while providing additional fish habitat in the channel. Although this type of treatment holds the outside banks of the channel in place and prevents natural movement of the river, it cost-effectively protects private property, economic investments, and serves the social and political agendas of the community while providing additional habitat, an aesthetically pleasing natural streambank, and improved recreational potential.

Root wad installation on a portion of the North Fork. (Click to enlarge)

Early written accounts by the first homesteaders in the valley in 1882 indicate that the floodplain was wide and very thickly vegetated. Development and in-channel activity throughout the last century has removed much of the energy-dissipating vegetation that reduces erosion and replaced it with bare gravel bars. A major component of this project is to reestablish that native vegetation. In many cases that means slowing the river down by increasing meanders throughout the full extent of the floodplain and thereby reducing the overall slope of the channel. It is currently unknown whether a single-thread meandering channel existed in the valley prior to the 1880’s or if the system has always been braided. However, there are specific benefits to creating a non-entrenched single-thread channel. Not only does it reduce slope and velocity to allow for the re-establishment of native vegetation but also consolidates several small channels into one larger one, conserving water by reducing evaporation rates and capable of sustaining fish populations during summer low-flow conditions.

It is important to note that the creation of a single-thread meandering channel does not necessarily mean that it is designed to remain that way in perpetuity. Rivers are dynamic and in order to meet the goal of returning natural function to the ecosystem they must be engineered in a manner that will allow for movement and change while protecting private property. The stabilization of outside bends on the periphery of the floodplain may be necessary to meet the objectives of individual landowners but in no means suggests that the intent of the project is to channelize the river into a hard and fast meandering stream. The reconstruction of the channel is intended to act as a “head-start” program to give the river the opportunity to “restore itself” after one or several competent floods.

The project meets the objectives of several competing interests between farmers, ranchers, hunters, fishermen, residential property owners, irrigation companies, environmentalists, gravel miners, and boating enthusiasts. While this may seem next to impossible to accomplish, several years of meeting with these groups has provided substantial insight and optimism. The project’s four primary objectives are proposed to meet the needs of each of these interest groups. They are:

Channel Reconstruction - Reconstruct portions of the channel to replicate historical river patterns and undisturbed reference reaches. Designs are consistent with basic geomorphic principles. The new single-thread primary channel has been designed for a bankfull flow of 3,000 cfs to allow for safe overbank flooding throughout the full extent of the floodplain without damaging adjacent property. Regular flooding recharges wetlands and groundwater tables, deposits sediment, and reestablishes native riparian vegetation. The new channel utilizes many existing channels in the floodplain to minimize the loss of existing established riparian vegetation while maximizing the full width of the floodplain to reduce overall slope and stream velocity.

Revegetation - Reestablish diverse native riparian vegetation along streambanks and disturbed portions of the floodplain. Vegetation has a profound effect on the stability of soils. It serves as a buffer between the water and the underlying soil and increases the effective roughness of the land thereby dissipating erosive energy during high flow events. The vegetation enhances aquatic habitat by providing shade to reduce water temperatures and summertime evaporation rates. Diverse native wetland vegetation improves water quality by enhancing the filtering capabilities of riparian wetlands. The riparian areas provide habitat for 75% of all western wildlife species.

Irrigation Diversion - Rebuilding two irrigation diversions provides reliable and efficient irrigation water. Sustainable agriculture and the rural quality of life are top priorities in the community and agriculture is dependent on irrigation. However, the unstable nature of the river has caused extensive damage to irrigation facilities and farmers cannot afford to repair them properly. Therefore, every summer ditch companies hire bulldozers for a few hours to construct temporary gravel “push-up” dams in the river to divert water. The Midway project has designed permanent, low-head, rock diversion structures with concrete headgates at the point of diversion. This conserves water and reduces maintenance by diverting a full decree of water and leaving the rest in the river. Fish will be able to migrate upstream while recreational boats can safely pass downstream. The channel will be allowed to stabilize and vegetation to reestablish with the elimination of the bulldozer.

Education - This project educates the community, elected officials, other watershed or conservation organizations, and appropriate government agencies about the value of riparian conservation and the degree of success found from various techniques and methods used throughout the project. The continued success of this project and other ones like it hinge upon illustrating and demonstrating the economic, social, and environmental importance of such work. The education component of this project includes published accounts of the project description and monitoring results, interpretive signs along the river, posters and brochures, presentations to local schools and civic groups, exhibits at community and appropriate statewide events, and the development of a web site

NFRIA has received contributions from a large and diverse group of partners for this project:

1. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment- awarded $150,000
2. Colorado Water Conservation Board- awarded $50,000
3. National Fish & Wildlife Foundation- awarded $100,000
4. Colorado Dept. of Transportation- in-kind rocks and hauling worth-$72,335
5. National Park Service- awarded $27,000
6. Sickles Construction- in-kind equipment donation worth $30,453
7. Colorado River Water Conservation District- awarded $28,000 cash
8. General Service Foundation- awarded $15,000 cash
9. Watershed Assistance Grant from River Network- awarded $28,000 cash
10. National Forest Foundation- awarded $50,000 cash
11. Local landowners- in-kind rock donations worth $250,350
12. Campbell & Sons Ranch- in-kind labor worth $3,090
13. Sheppard & Wilmont Ditch Company- in-kind labor worth $3,905
14. Ritter Construction- in-kind rock hauling worth $13,530
15. Delta Sand & Gravel- in-kind rock hauling worth $19,658
16. Mesa State College- in-kind willow labor worth $2,080

Construction of the entire restoration project began in April 2001 and was completed in April of 2002.