DESCRIPTION
The DNR will survey riparian and instream habitat along 2.1 miles of upper Cherry Creek and will utilize cutting-edge, low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) techniques to restore riparian and instream structure and function. The proposed project reach encompasses documented steelhead (O. mykiss) and coho salmon (O. kisutch) spawning and rearing habitat and is mainly a single-thread channel. Initial ground and aerial imagery surveys indicate that the riparian zone is dominated in this reach by invasive reed canarygrass and Himalayan blackberry, preventing succession of native vegetation. The habitat inventory will inform final designs for riparian and instream restoration throughout the reach, including removal of invasive vegetation, installation of native plants, and placement of beaver dam analogs (BDAs) and post-assisted log structures (PALS) to reconnect the floodplain and facilitate large wood accumulation.
The proposed work will result in final design for restoration throughout the 2.1-mile reach. This is an important opportunity to restore over 6 acres of floodplain habitat along Upper Cherry Creek. DNR will also plan and implement a pilot project along the reach to restore at least 0.5 acres of riparian habitat and install at least 6 BDAs/PALS. Cherry Creek is classified as "rural stream: primary restoration" under the Basin's Salmon Conservation Plan.
