Less than two months after volunteers exhausted themselves in a full weekend of planting willows and rose bushes, and less than six months after ERC strategically placed over 650 tons of rock, Buffalo Peaks Ranch is showing some early signs of success.
Sinjin Eberle, project director for the BPR restoration, visited the property on September 18. At 43 cfs, the water looked great – even at this relatively low flow, there was plenty of deeper water for trout, a key design goal in the work performed by ERC. Sinjin reports seeing plenty of 8″-10″ browns and rainbows, plus some heart-racing lunkers in the deep pools.
The willow stakes and bushes are developing exceptionally well. The rose bushes are already going dormant, so we won’t really know if the roots took hold until next spring. The four footbridges look almost brand new! A trail is developing in upper section, which means the ranch is attracting more foot traffic. One of the DOW’s measures of success is the number of “angler fishing days,” so the increased foot traffic is a very encouraging sign.
Some of the increased foot traffic is, no doubt, due to the coverage BPR received in the Denver Post. Links to the Charlie Meyers’ article and blog entry are shown below.
Rick Matsumoto
Communications Manager
