Blue Elements Collective makes way for young stewards in the Gunnison valley

Blue Elements Collective, a woman-led water conservation organization based in the Upper Arkansas Valley,is dedicated to protecting and restoring Colorado’s watersheds. Through their Watershed Stewards AmeriCorps Program, Blue Elements partners with local agencies and nonprofits to create internship opportunities in the areas of watershed stewardship, watershed education and water quality monitoring.

The past few weeks have been dedicated to orientation and training for the 2026 Watershed Stewards AmeriCorps cohort serving in the Gunnison and Arkansas River Basins.. At the end of April, Sheena O’Hara, the Blue Elements Watershed Stewards AmeriCorps director, made her way to Gunnison. 

“I love Gunnison because of the college, it brings such a unique atmosphere of caring, conscious people about the environment and community. Also it's a hot spot for public lands and recreation,” said O’Hara. “Because of the public lands and the access, there are so many stewardship opportunities here.” 

This year’s cohort in Gunnison includes four graduate students from Western Colorado University and one undergraduate student from Colorado Mountain College. 

AmeriCorps  members serve  at Arkansas River Headwaters Recreation Area, the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association, Mt Shavano Fish Hatchery and Leadville National Fish Hatchery, Central Colorado Conservancy, Center for Public Lands and BLM, Lake Fork Valley Conservancy, Western Slope Conservation Center, Coldharbour Institute and of course Blue Elements. 

The newest wave of Americorps members have been trained for the season ahead in specific river monitoring and stewardship practices, and have been disbursed by Blue Elements to the water stewardship groups throughout the Gunnison and Arkansas River Basins.  

“Blue Elements serves these important organizations by providing them with trained and service-ready members who are keen to become the next generation of water keepers in the state and beyond,” said Blue Elements new executive director Diane French. 

The orientation was a five day event, making sure the stewards were  equipped for the   service ahead of them. AmeriCorps, which defines itself as a service opportunity, provides members with living allowances and housing stipends to make the programs more sustainable and accessible to everyone. 

The Watershed Stewards Cohort took over Gunnison’s Wanderlust Hostel for the week, accessing all Gunnison has to offer from its downtown location. 

The cohort took part in a two day River Watch training Intensive, taught in cooperation by Blue Elements, River Watch and Coldharbour Institute. Utilizing the Gunnison Whitewater Park to collect field samples and the Western Environmental Sciences Lab for lab space, the members learned all about water quality sampling testing parameters of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, hardness, alkalinity, metals and nutrients. 

Many of the partner organizations which the Watershed Stewards AmeriCorps members serve participate in River Watch. This statewide citizen science provides high quality data to educate communities and inform decision makers state wide. “The data this year is critical, in this historic low water year, to track impacts of low water and temperature on aquatic populations. It’s going to be really interesting,” O’Hara said. “Low water leads to higher water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen. Low flows can lead to higher concentrations of metals.”  O’Hara stressed that this year’s data collection will be more important than ever.

Intuition Consulting trained the cohort in CPR and Intro to Wilderness First Aid, and then the Coldharbour Institute team took over for a two day intensive on “Leave No Trace for the Outdoor Workplace,” Field Planning and Risk Management Protocols. These skills provide readiness for leadership of volunteer and community events.