Colorado Parks and Wildlife Stream Management Plan for West Plum Creek Barbecue at Sandstone Ranch
Matt Haworth, Platte River Basin Native Aquatic Species Biologist, holding native snapping turtle
I’ve been honored to be the landowner member of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) West Plum Creek Stream Management Plan (SMP) team for the last three years. On June 7, we held a community event at Sandstone Ranch in Douglas County. CPW staff and experts from River Network and Douglas County Open Space presented information about the effort to date. The first round of assessments will be available soon and we’re all eager to learn what the quantitative evaluations will show about our beloved piece of Colorado. Phase two of the project is getting started and it will be exciting to find out how we can actually improve this unique riparian habitat.
Boyd Wright and Andy Hough, presenting West Plum Creel SMP at Sandstone Ranch
Rock formations at Sandstone Ranch, Douglas County
If you’d like to know more about the Stream Management Plan, below is an excerpt from the grant proposal.
“West Plum Creek is the last relatively unaltered transition zone stream in the South Platte Basin and is perhaps the best example of a nearly intact fish assemblage along Colorado’s Front Range. It is home to important plains fish species including Northern Redbelly Dace (State Endangered), Common Shiner (State Threatened), and Iowa Darter (Species of Special Concern), as well as the Northern Leopard Frog (Species of Special Concern) and the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse (federally Threatened Species). West Plum Creek has long been identified as an important conservation priority; as early as 1996 the Colorado Natural Heritage Program identified “an extraordinary number of rare or imperiled species, demonstrating that this (West Plum Creek) macrosite represents a significant proportion of Douglas County’s biological diversity.”
And here is the link to the project website: 13m.pdf (state.co.us)
