Grand Valley Floodplain Resilience – Orchard Mesa
Tyler Folkmann1*, Clara Henckler-Davis2*, Conrad Kallwick3*, Juliana Landefeld4*, Sabina Nachtigal5*, Maya MacDonald6*, Lola Martin7, Tara Lindgren8
1Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; tylerfolkmann@mines.edu
2Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; chencklerdavis@mines.edu
3Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; conrad_kallwick@mines.edu
4Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; juliana_landefeld@mines.edu
5Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; sabinanachtigal@mines.edu
6Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; mayajmacdonald@mines.edu
7Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; lmmartin@mines.edu
8Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA; taralindgren@mines.edu
The Colorado and Gunnison Rivers flow through the Grand Valley in Mesa County. These river corridors support key industries locally like agriculture, recreation, and tourism, which rely on a healthy river ecosystem. Over time, river migration creates habitat for endangered species including the Colorado Pike Minnow and the Yellow-Billed Cuckoo. This natural migration can come into conflict with infrastructure, utilities, and development. A recent Floodplain and Riparian Restoration Action Plan sponsored by RiversEdge West and its partner, the Grand Valley River Corridor Initiative, identified parcels within the river corridor that could benefit from restoration. One parcel was then assigned to a group of Colorado School of Mines students as a senior design project.
The senior design team is in the process of designing 30 percent construction drawings to provide RiversEdge West with an alternative for that parcel. The parcel assigned is on the Colorado River near Orchard Mesa in Grand Junction, Colorado, starting at the 29 Road bridge and spanning roughly three-quarters of a mile upriver. A primary goal for this parcel is to improve safety by reducing forces on the 29 Road bridge and the nearby dike. This team aims to do so by cutting through an island in the Colorado River to direct flow away from the dike and 29 Road and upgrading or removing obsolete bank armoring. Additionally, the project includes connecting ponds on the northern end of the project site into a series of wetlands that flow back into the Colorado River. These solutions could reduce velocity and force on the dike as well as improving water quality, reducing flood hazards, removing obsolete bank armoring, restoring habitat and gravel ponds, facilitating recreational access and improving environmental health for the area.