Meeting Notes: Big Thompson River Restoration Coalition: Inter-Agency Meeting
Febraury 13, 2014
500 E. 3 rd St., Loveland
John Giordanengo (Wildlands Restoration Volunteers) opened the meeting by thanking those who helped with the selection process for the Master Plan consultant. Ayres Associates was chosen from the
5 proposals reviewed. John Hunt of Ayres introduced himself and the partners of the Ayres team which include Logan Simpson Design, Andy Herb (Alpine Eco), Bill Miller (aquatics & fish specialist), and Bill
Spitz (geomorphologist). Logan Simpson Design will be in charge of the public engagement portion. They will use SMAP as the online GIS mapping tool. The first step will be aggregating data and combining that with their own assessments, identifying sites that need protection and overlaying that with exigent projects being done by others such as CDOT and the City of Loveland. They will bring their recommendations to the Coalition. The deliverable will be a report of recommendations based on risk.
During Phase 1, Logan Simpson Design will devise a schedule for outreach events. Larimer County will serve as the hub for GIS data. At the end of the meeting, anyone who has data to exchange can do so.
Steve Yochum has a shapefile with exigent sites. Amy Gage will provide the SVAP results and selected basedata. Permission needs to be acquired in order to share the aerial imagery that WRV has been using, as well as full understanding of the data use restrictions.
Larimer County will use Dropbox for data sharing. Anyone can download the data, but only selected people will be able to upload data.
WRV has started a materials exchange database. It will be hosted on the Big Thompson Coalition website.
John Andrews (State Conservation Engineer, NRCS) reported that there have been 61 damage survey reports in the Big Thompson watershed. A cost estimate for 16 of the Big Thompson projects came to
$2.2 million. The projects will begin next month once the designs and permitting process are completed.
The Damage Survey Report process will be completed on 2/14/2014. The cut-off date for that process is
March 1 st . They hope to have some placeholder damage reports for the Master Plan process.
There was discussion about how the EWP process is for recovery and not restoration, to protect life and property at risk from watershed impairment.
Scott Ellis (CDOT) reported that Keiwit is still at work. They are looking to protect for spring runoff by armoring banks and removing debris, and are looking to have that completed by the end of March.
Everything in place now is temporary. The permanent design project should be in line by the fall of 2014.
CWCB has new estimates on the hydrology. They will have new estimates of the peak flows in the near future.

John Giordanengo (WRV) introduced the unified application process for non-exigent work for landowners. We will be organizing the various groups to work on these projects. John brought up that the unified application process will ensure that the work is prioritized in an equitable manner.
Zane Strange (Serve 6.8) offered that his group has heavy equipment operators and a large volunteer base. We will try to multiply our resources through partnering.
There was a reminder that FEMA floodplain work needs to be permitted, and requires more than just a
404 permit. John Hunt (Ayres Assoc.) is on the Larimer County Flood Review board, and is aware of the need for modeling the new floodplain. There is a lack of recent LiDAR data to do so right now. There is still the ability to do emergency work under an emergency permit, but that work might need to be removed if it is found to be in floodway violation. The CWCB wants the new hydrology for CDOT to be approved by FEMA. Most of the work done under the EWP will be found to be a part of existing conditions, but there is no guarantee.
There was a clarification stating that we are currently out of the emergency period. The Larimer County
Floodplain Permitting process is much faster now, and is a requirement for work in the floodplain.
Omar Herrera (Town of Milliken) gave an update that the CWCB and Icon Engineering are doing preliminary floodplain mapping. There is a meeting on the 20 th . They will be mapping the 100 year and
500 year floodplain, and Ayres Associates is welcome to the data.
Johnstown is not engaging in discussions with anyone.
Ayres Associates is also working for Weld County on 9 sites. 5 are Big Thompson sites. They are designing exigent work on roads and bridges.
Meegan Flenniken (Larimer County Parks Department) discussed that the county acquired 60 parcels from the last flood in 1976. Four of these turned into recreation sites. They are awaiting word on a
GOCO grant, and should know by April. Logan Simpson Design is helping with a Master Plan for them.
The County is interested in a list of suggested acquisitions from Ayres, with a prioritization of the acquisitions for floodplain improvement.
Kevin Atchley (USFS) reported that the USFS is continuing to do assessments of USFS land. James White is their Community Liason. Dan Cenderelli is their hydrologist. The roads are still closed in some places.
The closures are being continually modified. They anticipate having some upcoming public meetings.
Ayres is also working for CDOT and looking for dam breaks and debris jams that could be problems in the spring. Many places are now covered in snow.
The S. Platte watershed currently has high snowpack. The CWCB does outlook meetings towards the end of March. They work with NRCS to predict spring run-off.
Monica Griffin (Bureau of Reclamation) reported that they are done with emergency repairs. The Big
Thompson Power Plant has not been operational since the flood. There is approximately 15-20 thousand

cubic yards of fill to remove. A cost/benefit analysis determined it to be beneficial to open the plant, but with a tight margin. If costs increase, the plant may stay off-line.
Gordon Gilstrap (Big Thompson Water Conservation District) reported that the Little Thompson has two working committees. A grant from the CWCB should be approved next week. Three different mountain communities rely on the Little Thompson for drinking water. There is a lot of aggradation and large trees. There is a strong desire to remove the wood before spring runoff.