Trout Habitat Restoration Design & Results for a Dreamy Stream
John Giordanengo, MS
AloTerra Restoration Services
Fort Collins, CO
Authors:
Matt Kondratieff, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Denver, CO
John Giordanengo, AloTerra Restoration Services, LLC, Fort Collins
David Bidelspach, Five Smooth Stones Restoration, LLC, Livermore, CO
Amazing trout require equally amazing habitat, beyond water and cobble. Welcome Dream Stream, a colloquialism known to locals and travelling anglers alike. Only, this mile-long reach of the South Platte River, nestled away in Colorado’s famous South Park, has become degraded from years of land and water management activities. Impacts included over-widening, loss of pool habitat, channel straightening, riparian habitat loss, and reduction in sediment supply. A primary purpose of this restoration project was to improve habitat for trout, in one of Colorado’s highest priority streams. CPW, AloTerra, and 5SSR worked closely together to provide design, value engineering and construction of toe wood structures, J-hooks with log vanes, channel narrowing, sod mat transplants, riffle enhancement, pocket boulders, pool excavation, willow joint planting, and upland seeding. While the cost was lower than most projects of similar length, was it worth it? This talk will summarize key design elements, and describe the likely trout responses based on CPWs nearby Badger Basin project. For example, toe wood-treated pools maintained residual pool depths that were 1.5 feet deeper, contained up to 19 times more quality-sized Brown Trout (Salmo trutta), and held over 8 times greater Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) biomass than pools without wood. If you love trout, or just building trouthy streams, we look forward to seeing you here!
About John Giordanengo, MS
John brings more than 24 years of experience in ecological restoration to AloTerra’s clients, and more than 200 completed projects in grassland, riparian, wetland, alpine, forest, and sagebrush ecosystems throughout Colorado, Wyoming, California, and Washington. His restoration strategies are driven not simply from a passion for accomplishing successful ecological results, but also from a deep understanding of soils, ecology, botany, hydrology, and the integration of these disciplines in a restoration setting. John’s dedication to excellence earned him the Colorado Riparian Association Excellence in Riparian Management Award in 2010.
John has developed native seed mixes and plant palettes for federal and state projects, as well as for numerous municipalities and private clients whose interest in the best ecological outcomes continues to press John to refine his knowledge and skills, as well as the skills of AloTerra’s staff. In addition to creating seeding BMP’s for Colorado State Parks and developing 157 seed mixes for all of Colorado’s State Parks, John also managed a team of Federal and local practitioners and scientists to implement a Stream Visual Assessment Protocol for 45 miles of the Big Thompson River and North Fork Big Thompson following the flood.
John has worked with regional, state, and local agencies to develop training curricula for willow restoration and riparian restoration, ecological restoration for the Colorado Outdoor Training Initiative and Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, and an Alpine Restoration Manual for the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. In 2016, in support of Rocky Mountain Flycasters and the Colorado Conservation Board, John lead a team of authors and a Technical Advisory Committee to develop Living Streambanks, a Manual to Bioengineering Treatments for Colorado Streams.
