South Arkansas River
Stream Assessment & Restoration
The South Arkansas River, or Little River, is an important tributary of the Arkansas River and a tremendous biological resource in our watershed. From its origins high in the Sawatch Range, just below the summit of Monarch Pass, the South Arkansas River flows through public lands, ranches, and residential neighborhoods before reaching the Arkansas River on the east edge of Salida. The South Arkansas River remains the primary source of drinking water for the City of Salida and provides valuable habitat to the many wildlife species who use the river corridor.
Rivers and wetlands make up only 2% of our land cover in Chaffee County, yet 80% of wildlife species use these river corridors at some point in their life cycle. Healthy riparian areas, or the green ribbons of vegetation growing along the rivers, act as a living filter, attenuate floods, enhance water quality, and recharge groundwater.
Central Colorado Conservancy and the
Collegiate Peaks Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CPCTU) have worked together for several years to enhance the South Arkansas River. We completed our first river restoration project in 2010, working with several private landowners and agencies to restore a section of the river in Poncha Springs. This work enhanced fish and wildlife habitat, removed car bodies once used to stabilize the river banks, planted native riparian vegetation to add species diversity, and improved water delivery systems while reducing annual maintenance.
With CPCTU, we conducted the first-ever watershed assessment of the South Arkansas River, studying the river on a reach by reach basis to determine river health. During this process, we recognized the importance of a 1.2 mile section of the river along the southern border of Salida. This led to an in-depth stream assessment of the reach which starts at County Road 107 in Salida and runs downstream to the confluence with the mainstem Arkansas River - see this study below.
Today we are actively working on a restoration plan for this 1.2 mile section of the South Arkansas River, in partnership with CPCTU and other partner organizations through the Upper Arkansas Watershed Partnership (UAWP), established in 2020.
With a Water Plan Grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, we are currently meeting with landowners to learn what they’d like to see on their land along the South Arkansas River. We’ve contracted with an engineering and design firm specializing in river restoration work and will have an initial plan in place for this reach by mid-2025. At that point, we’ll use the plan to apply for funding to start the actual work on the ground.
Although this section of the South Arkansas
River will never be completely wild again after being heavily modified and impacted by human activity for the last 150+ years, this project will strive to enhance the ecological function of the reach. We can do this by increasing complexity in the river bed with strategically placed rocks and woody debris, creating better fish habitat with deeper holes to keep the water cooler, planting native vegetation in the riparian area, reconnecting small wetlands to the river to recharge them, and reconnecting the river to its floodplain where possible.
In addition, we’ll be working to teach the public about the importance of riparian areas along the South Arkansas River. This will be done, in part, by a new interpretive trail through the City of Salida owned Vandaveer Regional Park, one of the only sections of the South Arkansas River open to the public.
Over time, we hope to restore additional sections of the South Arkansas River, moving upstream all the way to the Continental Divide where the river begins. We’re currently meeting with landowners along other sections of the river, and working to establish the partnerships needed to make this work possible.
River restoration work only moves forward with partners - agricultural producers, water users, conservation organizations, government entities, landowners and more. We are excited to be collaborating with the Upper Arkansas Conservation District (UACD), Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative (ARWC), Greater Arkansas River Nature Association and CPCTU through the Upper Arkansas Watershed Partnership.
With the UAWP, the Conservancy has created an integrated action plan to help address the many watershed challenges we face in the Upper Arkansas River Watershed. This plan identifies projects to strengthen the economic viability and longevity of working lands, while enhancing community values such as river health, fire resilience, and water quality and quantity.
