Plans include:

FORU helped coordinate a wetlands shrub planting with Pat Hooley and 24 middle school students and their teachers on Wednesday, September 26 th at River Bottom Park . The shrubs and supervision of the planting was provided by Thordy Jacobson, City of Montrose Parks Superintendent . The Forest Service supplied shovels and FORU brought a cake to celebrate a first year anniversary with the kids. Hank Hotze introduced the students to FORU's goals to protect and preserve the Uncompahgre River corridor and explained the value of the planting to help stabilize the river bank. The students worked well together and had the 50 shrubs in the ground within an hour, demonstrating that they could have planted twice as many that morning. Thordy took them on a walking tour of Cerise Park , pointing out the invasive trees and shrubs and why it is important to replace them with native plants. Many were surprised at the pond and new playing fields. The soccer and football players were especially impressed. FORU plans to host similar events with students every Spring and Fall.

Pauline Adams, Roland Holzwarth, Elizabeth Roscoe and Kathy Urso attended the 2 nd annual Sustaining Colorado's Watersheds Conference in Breckenridge Oct. 2-4 th .

Jeff Crane of the Colorado Watershed Assembly in Hotchkiss was one of the conference organizers. The overall theme of the conference was how to balance water quality, water quantity and energy development. Workshop topics included the how to's of applying for EPA Clean Water Act 319 watershed planning funds, municipal source water protection plans, the Prairie Waters Project, Aurora's sustainable water supply solution, the impacts of wildfire on rivers, riparian buffers as a beneficial land use practice, mining remediation, public health impacts of natural gas development, emerging contaminants and many more. Marc Catlin spoke about best management practices (BMPs) for salinity and selenium mitigation. FORU members were pleased to find a tremendous amount of support at the State and local level for the work that FORU has been doing over the past year. In April, FORU partnered with the Uncompahgre River Stewardship Alliance and others to apply for Colorado Watershed Protection Funds. At the conference FORU learned that the Colorado Water Conservation Board has awarded $10,000 to URSA for watershed planning. Jeff Crane has agreed to be the consultant for this project. The watershed partnership is growing and a proposal to apply for EPA Clean Water Act 319 planning grant funds will be submitted by January 8 th .

Over 60 people attended the State of the River event sponsored by FORU, the Montrose League of Women Voters, Alpine Bank and DMEA. Jim Pokrandt of the Colorado River Water Conservation District began with a computer generated fly-over of the Uncompahgre Watershed.

It was impressive and educational as it showed the tributaries which drain into the river and the complex irrigation system feeding in and out of the Uncompahgre as it flows to the confluence with the Gunnison River in Delta. Jim spoke about climate change, water quantity and the demands, both in state and beyond, on the Colorado River , which includes the Uncompahgre watershed drainage. He showed an aerial photograph of Lake Powell which is now at 50% storage capacity because of continuing drought. With the effects of climate change and population growth throughout the state, issues of water quantity and distribution will become more critical.

Marc Catlin of Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association provided a fascinating history of water use in the valley. The Association was founded in 1902 and was the beneficiary of one of the first Bureau of Reclamation projects initiated to build a tunnel bringing Gunnison River water into the valley to irrigate 88,000 acres. The project was completed in 1909.

In 1996 the UVWUA was notified that the water in the Uncompahgre is selenium rich. The Uncompahgre River is responsible for 30% of the selenium in the Colorado River . The Selenium Task Force was formed in 1997 by Marc and over 25 others to study and mitigate the salt and selenium load in the river, which is leached from the Mancos shale when it is wet for long periods of time in the presence of nitrogen. Selenium has been shown to be hazardous to wildlife and endangered species, particularly wild fowl. It is stored in the reproductive organs of birds and toxic levels lead to dead nests.

The Selenium Task Force is the recipient of an EPA Clean Water Act Non-Source Point 319 grant to mitigate the salt/selenium loading. Numerous hot spots have been mapped on the east side of the river. One current strategy for mitigation of selenium has been to pipe water along canals, laterals and ditches in the irrigation system that are wet for over 180 days. Since 2002, 26 miles of pipe have been laid in a system which includes 575 miles of canals and laterals and 216 miles of ditches. Since piping the water can affect existing wetlands, an important aspect of the plan has been to mitigate 52 acres of wetlands in Escalante Canyon .

Marc emphasized the importance of public education about water quality problems on the Uncompahgre River . Agricultural water users can minimize salt/selenium leaching by converting from open furrow irrigation to pivot sprinklers. He also pointed out that when land use changes from agricultural to residential piped watering systems should be used.

Both Steve White, Montrose County Land Use Director,

                                                              and Dennis Erickson, City of Montrose Parks Planner , described the Uncompahgre River corridor as a tremendous asset to the community which needs to be protected. The BOCC is working to include river corridor conservation in the future master plan. The City of Montrose has been actively working to acquire land along the river to expand public parks and allow river recreational access. Dennis would like to see an amphitheater and education center in parks near the river. He emphasized the need for community partnerships to support future land acquisition.

Hank Hotze of FORU gave the final presentation showing pictures of recent scoping and educational floats of the Uncompahgre as it runs through Montrose. He acknowledged FORU's interest in protecting                                                     

the Uncompahgre watershed over the long term.At this time, FORU has been actively engaged with City and County officials with a request for a 100 foot riparian buffer zone from the edge of the river and an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to accomplish that goal. Having non-compacted soil along a river's edge is cited by the EPA as one of the best ways to protect water quality. This soil and the natural vegetation at the water's edge act as a percolation system to filter out contaminants which are washed toward the river during storm water runoff (non-source point pollution). Hank pointed out that preserving the river corridor not only protects water quality and wildlife habitat, but also increases the economic value of the land to landowners. The responses to the master plan review process for both Montrose City and County document the importance of the river corridor to the community. From the perspective of FORU, as Montrose continues to grow, it is important to craft a vision of commercial growth which incorporates preservation of the greenway and wildlife corridor and also provides public access for multiple recreational uses.

The City of Montrose Parks Department, under the supervision of Thordy Jacobson, has been removing invasive plants in Cerise Park . FORU will partner with the City and Matt Miles to plant native species this spring.