Colorado-Big Thompson Headwaters Partnership

Colorado-Big Thompson Headwaters Partnership

Project Summary

Timeline: 2012 - Present

Partners

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District
Bureau of Reclamation
National Park Service
Western Area Power Administration
Colorado State Forest Service
US Forest Service

The Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Headwaters Partnership is a collaboration between various partners with the following goals;

Reduce wildfire risk to protect water supplies
Minimize post-wildfire erosion and sedimentation to reservoirs
Restore areas that are currently recovering from past wildfires

The partnership has been in existence since 2012 and has accomplished more than 550 acres of forest treatments with more than 875 acres under contract to complete in the next year or two. Planned treatments for the next 5 years are expected to be more than 3,000 acres.

Project Actions

Forest/vegetation treatments to reduce wildfire hazard and increase watershed resilience
Location & preliminary design of post-fire sediment basins
Protection of power and communications infrastructure
Review and evaluation of road hazards
Planning to manage wildland fire

Benefits

Protect critical water supplies, infrastructure and natural resources
Mitigate negative effects of wildfire through targeted projects
Create a strong partnership through collaboration

The Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Project collects water on the West Slope and delivers it through a 13-mile tunnel beneath Rocky Mountain National Park to portions of eight Northeastern Colorado counties. Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation jointly operate and maintain the C-BT Project. The CB-T Project includes portions of the Upper Colorado Headwaters, Big Thompson and Cache La Poudre watersheds covering 654,476 acres.