Members of the Western Colorado Conservation Corps work on a proeject in the West Gunnison park in 2021.This month, the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) board awarded a $34,700 grant to the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District to address the urgent need to adapting the basin to ongoing drought conditions.
This grant is part of GOCO’s Conservation Service Corps program. GOCO partners with Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) to employ conservation crews across the state on outdoor recreation and stewardship projects. The youth corps represents a statewide coalition that train youth, young adults and veterans to complete land and water conservation work and gain professional skills.
This funding will support the Upper Gunnison through a partnership with Western Colorado Conservation Corps crews for four weeks of stewardship work. Crews will construct beaver dam analogs — man-made structures designed to mimic the form and function of natural beaver dams — and implement other low-tech processes to speed channel recovery and support wetland and river vegetation.
This project is part of the greater Upper Gunnison Basin Wet Meadow and Riparian Restoration Project, which has conducted restoration work in the area for the past decade.
“The partnership between GOCO and CYCA is more important than ever,” Scott Segerstrom, executive director of CYCA, said in a press release. “Colorado’s iconic public and protected lands are being enjoyed by millions of people each year making the stewardship of these resources critical. These investments by GOCO ensure that conservation service corps can rise to this challenge and keep these lands healthy and accessible for everyone.”
To date, GOCO has invested more than $46.8 million in Gunnison County — conserving more than 33,000 acres of land. GOCO funding has supported the Town Park playground renovation project in Crested Butte, the Gunnison County Whitewater and the conservation of Trampe Ranch, among other projects.
(Source: Great Outdoors Colorado.)
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