By Monica Nigon
San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) has been engaged in youth watershed stewardship programming over the spring and summer, beginning with Pagosa Springs Middle School students contributing to the Pagosa Gateway Project.
The Pagosa Gateway Project, spearheaded by the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership (WEP) and the Town of Pagosa Springs, worked to restore portions of the San Juan River by replanting and caging plants along riverbanks damaged by last year’s flood, ultimately assisting in erosion prevention, an improved boat launch, enhancing fish and wildlife habitat, and creating a more resilient river for boaters, anglers, and the community.
In June, SJMA’s East Region Program Coordinator, Brooks Letchworth, partnered with Audubon Rockies Community Naturalist Keith Bruno to launch a River Stewardship Camp for middle school students to learn fly fishing, understand how to protect watersheds, and place the final touches on the Gateway Project. The programming also featured lessons in low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) from the San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership’s Monica Nigon.
Other collaborators included Five Rivers Trout Unlimited, Pagosa Community Initiative, Confluence Collective, Pagosa Outside, and sponsorship from the Community Foundation of Southwest Colorado.
In July, several of these same partners worked together on SJMA’s Junior Naturalist Field Camp where younger kids could experience firsthand how the ecological web supports our precious natural resources and the vital role played by a river’s riparian zone. The young river stewards learned how to fly fish from Trout Unlimited volunteers, got to know the flora and fauna of Piedra Falls as well as principles of Leave No Trace, and modeled their own small-scale LTPBR structures on the banks of the San Juan River.
For those interested in the Gateway Project, WEP is hosting a free film event on August 19 premiering Reviving Our River: The Pagosa Gateway Project, a short documentary celebrating the significant river restoration effort completed on the Upper San Juan River through Pagosa Springs. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the film begins promptly at 7:00pm, and attendees are invited to stay afterward for an interactive question-and-answer session with members of the Pagosa Gateway Project team, including the engineer, stream management specialists, and WEP project committee members who helped bring the vision to life.
Reserve your tickets at pagosamovies.com.
Monica Nigon is Coordinator for the San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership.