Keynote: how creative partnerships and locally-driven planning can build resilient watersheds

Wisconsin Wetland Science Conference 2021

In 2013, the Front Range of Colorado was hit with catastrophic floods across the northeast quarter of the state, devastating communities, agriculture, and infrastructure.  While river professionals tend to think of floods as natural processes that the river can use to recover, this attitude is at odds with the objectives of most flood recovery programs.  Forward-thinking and creativity in the development and implementation of several local, state, and federal recovery programs laid the groundwork for significant investment in more ecologically aware and geomorphically appropriate flood recovery work, including floodplain and floodplain wetland restoration. This approach involved both private and public sector partners and sought to identify cost-effective solutions.