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mountain studies institute

CLIMATE CHALLENGE: HYDROLOGICAL CHANGES

GRANT AWARD: $249,854; YEAR AWARDED: 2020

Southwest Colorado’s Mancos River supports cold and warm water fisheries, riparian and wetland ecosystems, irrigation for 11,300 acres, and the livelihoods and Indigenous lands of over 4,000 people. However, this river is highly vulnerable to future climate challenges, specifically drought due to loss of snowpack. Mountain Studies Institute, along with partners including the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT), aims to slow down water, improve fish habitat connectivity, restore riparian areas, and build community and cultural resilience. The project team will implement four pilot projects that include designing and installing fish-friendly diversion infrastructure, installing swales and infiltration structures to increase soil moisture, and restoring cottonwood and willow carrs through climate-smart and Tribal-led revegetation. These actions will connect native warm water fish to future habitat, improve river flows, and restore culturally and ecologically important riparian and fish species.

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The WCS Climate Adaptation Fund: proudly supporting innovative actions to address the impacts of climate change since 2011

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