In This Issue:                                                          

* River Restoration Grant

* Well Testing Program

* Pros and Cons of Electric Fence

* Rangeland Monitoring Workshop

* Monthly Precip Chart 

* Forest Service Warns of Falling Trees

A quarterly publication of the Laramie Rivers Conservation District

* Kids in Motion

* Kids Page

* Conservation Kids Camp & Discovery Programs

* NRCS Offers Sign-Up for Conservation Practices

* Don’t Move a Mussel

Upcoming Events:

* July 29th-July 30th Natural Science Workshop

Wyoming Analytical Laboratories, Inc.

Laramie Rivers Conservation District

 

 

$40.00 Full screening on your

private spring or well

2009 Community

Well Testing Program

Get Signed Up– Space is Limited!

Call-742-7995 or 721-0072

LRCD SECURES

RIVER RESTORATION GRANT

 

By Tony Hoch

 

Working with the City of Laramie, Wyoming Game and Fish, and the Laramie Beautification Committee, the Laramie Rivers Conservation District was awarded $172,000 from the Wyoming Natural Resources Trust Fund for the first phase of the restoration work on the Laramie River in Laramie.  This million dollar, three year, project will repair banks, slow erosion, and improve fish and wildlife habitat in and along the river from I-80 north to the Union Pacific rail bridge near the waste water treatment plant.

 

Repairing the banks has been a major concern of the Laramie Parks and Recreation Department, because every spring the river encroaches closer to the bike path.  As of this July, a temporary fence has been erected for safety on the bike path, since the river has cut to within a few feet of the path near the Bighorn Lumber site.  The Department of Environmental Quality supports the project because increased fine sediment from the bank erosion is degrading fish habitat.  Tom Wesche, principle scientist at Habitech, the firm who wrote the technical plan for restoration, says the river has been shortened by about 40% in reach, due to straightening and encroaching development.  Since the river still drops the same elevation over this distance, it has more erosive power and the soft, sandy sediment of the banks is swallowed by the river during high runoff.  Game and Fish Biologists have also observed lower fish counts in this reach, due to degraded habitat.

 

Phase 1 (year 1) would address erosion problems at seven sites where there is greatest threat to infrastructure, namely, the bike path and a trailer park.  Work in Years 2 and 3 would focus on another 46 sites in the 3 mile long stretch and develop ponds

for wildlife and recreation.  In the end, the river will host more vital fish population on a more course gravel stream bed and the river will be lined with thick stands of willows for birds and other terrestrial wildlife.

 

There has been a tremendous cooperative effort that would not be possible without cooperation and financial contributions from the University of Wyoming, the Albany County Commissioners, Western Water Consultants, our state legislators, local service clubs, state and local non-profit organizations, and local businesses.

Important information for any home or land owner,

test the water quality of your private well or spring.