Cache La Poudre Watershed Analysis

Since the settlement of the American West, rivers have experienced changes in the natural flows and movements. Among these processes flooding has become controlled as dams have been built. Esselman et al. (2011) tracked numerous categories of anthropocentric activities through geographical informational systems. The team found that upstream fish habitats were exponentially impacted by human activities downstream. In addition to the upstream movement of impacts human impacts also travel downstream. Different human impacts on the Yellowstone River versus the Platte River have greatly affected the river ecosystems.

In 1935 the Hoover Dam was completed forming Lake Mead, providing flood control, reservoir storage, power generation and regulates the downstream flow to the Lower Basin States. [footnoteRef:20] In 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam was completed forming Lake Powell, providing the Upper Basin States with enough reserve capacity to allow them to meet their annual obligation of 7.5 Million Acre Feet (MAF) to the Lower Basin States, allowing the Lower Basin States to use the allocation.[footnoteRef:21] As a consequence of the construction of the Hoover Dam and the Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado?s flow often evaporated in Mexican sands close to the Delta.[footnoteRef:22] Around the 1970s, the Cienega de Santa Clara had shrunken by 500 acres. Nevertheless, due to the following wet decades, the Cienega was resuscitated to about 10% of its original acreage in the 80?s and 90?s.[footnoteRef:23] Currently, the Cienega is a 40,000 acre wetland that exists due to the return flows from the Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District near Yuma, Arizona.[footnoteRef:24] This Cienega is the home of less than 100 members of the Cucapa tribe and is the habitat of several endangered fish and birds, including Desert Pupfish and Yuma Clapper Rail.[footnoteRef:25] [19: D.F.

One of the largest geographic physical structures in the United States is the Colorado River. Human activity and its interaction with this great river have an interesting history. The resources provided by the river have been used by humans, and caused conflict for human populations as well. One of these conflicts is water distribution, and the effects drought conditions have played in this distribution throughout the southwestern region. Major cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the southwest depend on the river. It provides water for over 20 million people, irrigation for 2 million acres of land, four thousand megawatts of hydroelectric energy, and over twenty million annual visitors for

The Colorado River Basin starts in the Rocky Mountains and cuts through 1500 miles of canyon lands and deserts of seven US states and two Mexican states to supply a collection of dams and reservoirs with water to help irrigate cropland, support 40 million people, and provide hydroelectric power for the inland western United States [1,2]. From early settlement, rights over the river have been debated and reassigned to different states in the upper and lower basin; however, all the distribution patterns lead to excessive consumption of the resource. In 1922, the seven US states signed into the Colorado River Compact, which outlined the policy for the distribution rights to the water [3], however, this compact was written during an exceptionally

The topography of the watersheds throughout Sevier County vary amongst three different watersheds in the Upper Tennessee River Basin (Upper). The Holston River Watershed covers approximately 999 square miles and it drains into the Tennessee River (Holston). The Pigeon River Watershed is partially located in Tennessee with only 153 square miles of its 704 square miles in Tennessee, and it drains into the Pigeon River (Pigeon). The Lower French Broad River Watershed is made up of 796 square miles, and it drains into the French Broad River (Lower).

“Only communities located downstream in a watershed need to be concerned about how the water resources are managed in the watershed.”

Historically, this region was host to communities of Native Americans (East West Gateway Council of Governments, 2007, Leland, 1953). The abundance of freshwater and navigable rivers has attracted communities of people, and subsequently, commerce (Foley, 2000). Naturally, resources throughout the land have been extracted and utilized to further build these communities and attract prospective businesses. In the 19th century, this watershed was impacted by mining, logging, and grazing practices. In the early 20th century, logging dominated resource extraction (East West Gateway Council of Governments, 2007) which swiftly impacted the landscape. Ultimately, as logging stressed this region’s resources, state legislation allowed the federal government to purchase large tracts of land to establish national forest. Soon after, the national mobilization of the Civilian Conservation Corps, during the height

The Silver Bow Creek watershed in southwest Montana encompasses approximately 474 square miles and forms a portion of the headwaters of the Clark Fork River and ultimately, the Columbia River (Montana Natural Resource Damage Program, 2009). The site covers about 26 miles of stream and stream side habitat. Silver Bow Creek was used as a conduit for mining, smelting, industrial and municipal wastes for more than a hundred years (Weitz, Luxenberg). Rather large amounts of mine tailings deposits are found along the creek. These deposits contain elevated levels of metals and have been dispersed over the entire flood plain (Weitz, Luxenberg).

The San Luis Rey River Watershed in southern California encompasses 562 square miles of land and is the third largest watershed in the San Diego region. San Luis Rey river is a small tidal wetland where fresh river water meets the coastal salt water. The San Luis Rey River Watershed is located in northern San Diego Country and is bordered to the north by the Santa Margarita River Water and to the south by the Carlsbad and San Dieguito River Watersheds. Major water bodies in the watershed is Lake Henshaw and the San Luis Rey River.

A mass curve and double mass curve were created for the Red Deer basin at Drumheller in 1964. Precipitation data was collected from the city of Drumheller, which is approximately 0.6 km from the river measurement. On average the greatest amount of precipitation occurred in May, June, and July, but there was a large spike in precipitation in the month of September. The lowest amount of precipitation occurred in January, February and October. The double mass curve for this basin has a large gradual increase. Runoff for this basin is always greater than precipitation, but there is an area of large run off and storage during the end of the curve. This could be due to the large amount of precipitation that occurred in September, and storage

Now that the definition of stream has been defined and a few of its key characteristics discussed, the specific geographical characteristics of Plaster Creek

The Colorado River Basin is also home to a range of habitats and ecosystems from mountain to desert to

Watershed is a novel written by Fabiene Bayet-Charlton published in 2005 about people dealing with death, drought, and love in the Riverland of South Australia. Characters in the book have to deal with grief and a declining relationship and are reflective of people in Australian society. The themes in Watershed of relationships and connection to land help develop the characters throughout the narrative structured plot.

The Little Blue River Watershed Management Plan started back in 2004 when the Shelby and Rush Counties Soil and Water Conservation District conducted a diagnostic study on the watershed. The findings lead to a grant from the Indian Department of Environmental Management to be used to develop a watershed management plan. (Little Blue River Watershed Management Plan, 2007, p.8) Starting in 2006 two public meetings was held to discuss the development of the watershed management plan which leads to a wide range of issues brought up by the public. (Little Blue River Watershed

Even though the dams provide immense water storage at a cost of the Colorado River ecosystem, the thirst of the southwest continues to increase. Conservation will help to slow the thirst, but the ever increasing demanded requires more water in the system. The three fastest-growing US states (Nevada, Arizona and Utah) are located within the Colorado River basin and all seven states within the basin outpace the national average. Four of the ten fastest growing metro areas: St. George and Provo in Utah, Las Vegas in Nevada and Greenly in Colorado.