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Kerber Creek Restoration Project wins three awards The Kerber Creek Restoration Project and its partners were recently honored with three prestigious awards at the state, regional and national levels. The awards honor the work done to restore the Kerber Creek watershed from historic mining impacts and highlight the collaborative nature of the project’s many partnerships. First, the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Field Service Center in Center, Colorado (NRCS Center FSC), one of the major federal partners of the project, was honored by the Colorado Riparian Association with a 2010 Excellence in Riparian Area Management Award. The NRCS Center FSC was cited for showing “initiative, dedication, and creative management” in its multi-year collaboration with local landowners, private conservation groups and other government agencies on Kerber Creek. NRCS serves the project as the lead agency for in-stream restoration, providing cost-share, technical expertise and project engineering for bank shaping and rock structure installation through its Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. This work is essential to restoring stream health. NRCS has designed and shared the costs of over 170 rock structures and 3660 linear feet of bank shaping. Both practices are essential to the restoration of a healthy stream. Second, the Project’s Bonanza Stakeholders’ Group (BSG), the association of local stakeholders including landowners, private groups and local government agencies, was honored by the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as their 2010 Forest and Grassland Health Partner of the Year. The BSG provides access to private land, local leadership and oversight, community outreach and a strong volunteer base. The USFS award citation makes special note of the over 8400 volunteer hours donated to the Project since 2008- the equivalent of more than two full-time employees added to the project’s workforce. The BSG continues to inspire project partners to work towards restoration of the Kerber Creek watershed. Finally, the Project and its partner Trout Unlimited (TU) were honored at the national level. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) named the Project as one of two recipients of the BLM Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award, which highlights environmental stewardship in the AML community. TU is a national organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of America’s coldwater fisheries, and acts as the lead fiscal agent for the Project. Under TU’s leadership, the Kerber Creek Restoration Project has raised over $1.2 million since 2008, which has gone to approximately 37 acres of soil restoration, outreach in the community, technical characterization of degraded areas, and the development of a long-term plan to manage the watershed in cooperation with all project partners. All three awards will inspire further restoration of Kerber Creek and more fruitful collaborations with local, state and federal stakeholders. For more information please contact:
Brian Devine
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