2022 Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

An ArcGIS Online (AGOL) page containing historical and predictive maps developed by James Hatten of the USGS for the southwestern willow flycatcher habitat across the southwestern United States. The model predicts the probabilities for suitable habitat for SWFL and can be used to guide restoration efforts. 

Use the Habitat Viewer here: https://usgs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b362c94bd7…

 

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Colorado Parks & Wildlife - Wildlife Species Profiles & Habitat Scorecards

The purpose of these profiles is to provide landowners and land managers with easy-to-use guidelines for understanding habitat needs of priority wetland-dependent wildlife. 

Please note that these profiles are limited to birds found in Mesa & Delta Counties.

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Tamarisk biocontrol alters bird community composition in the absence of cottonwood and willow vegetation
Invasive species disturb ecosystems and threaten biodiversity. Invasive species management, such as biological control, can cause additional disturbances, so quantifying how native species respond to invasive control is important to inform best management practices.   Mahoney et al. quantified southwestern bird communities in sites that varied in the amount of the non-native plant tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), before and after biological control efforts.
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Lessons Learned for Successful Watershed Partnerships in the Colorado River Basin

What are the key ingredients of successful collaborative partnerships? What worked well and what did not? If we had to do it all over again, what would we do differently? This document, based on interviews with stakeholders from 11 watershed partnerships in the Colorado River Basin, discusses the successes and challenges encountered from initial partnership formation to maintaining momentum over the years. It informs how RiversEdge West and other partners can continue contributing to the long-term success and viability of watershed partnerships.

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Renewing Our Rivers: Stream Corridor Restoration in Dryland Regions
Our rivers are in crisis and the need for river restoration has never been more urgent. Water security and biodiversity indices for all of the world’s major rivers have declined due to pollution, diversions, impoundments, fragmented flows, introduced and invasive species, and many other abuses.   Developing successful restoration responses are essential. Renewing Our Rivers addresses this need head-on with examples of how to design and implement stream-corridor restoration projects.
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Field Guide for Managing Kochia

Plant guide from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service on managing Kochia. 

Casey, P.A. 2009. Plant guide for kochia (Kochia scoparia). USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kansas Plant Materials Center. Manhattan, KS.

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Low-Water Native Plants for Colorado Gardens - Western Slope: Below 7,000'

Many people have an interest in landscaping with native plants. The purpose of this booklet is to help people make the most successful choices, based on their location in Colorado. 

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Bringing Birds Home

Bringing Birds Home is a manual that describes how to proactively improve riparian habitat for bird species in Mesa County, Colorado.  

This guide was made possible by a grant from the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies and was produced by RiversEdge West, with help from the Grand Valley Audubon Society, Tucson Audubon Society, and Audubon Arizona.

 
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How to Tell the Difference Between Russian Olive and Silverleaf Buffaloberry

This 1-page handout describes the differences between invasive Russian olive and native silverleaf buffaloberry. Photos of distinctive characteristics are provided. 

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Waterjet Stinger
This document describes how to use a stinger, a tool to plant dormant unrooted cuttings of willows, cottonwoods, dogwoods, and other species.
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Riparian Restoration Cost Calculator

This resource developed by RiversEdge West (formerly Tamarisk Coalition) allows users to estimate tamarisk and Russian olive removal and restoration costs based on existing site parameters. 

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Suggested Methodologies for Cottonwood Pole, Willow Whip, and Longstem Plantings

This guide describes techniques for harvesting, storing, and planting various types of plant materials, including dormant cottonwood pole cuttings, willow whip cuttings, and longstem products. This guide was prepared by RiversEdge West (formerly Tamarisk Coalition), based on input provided by Los Lunas Plant Materials Center.  

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Tamarisk Best Management Practices in Colorado Watersheds - Scott Nissen, Andrew Norton, Anna Sher, and Dan Bean
This guide by Drs. Scott Nissen, Andrew Norton, Anna Sher, and Dan Bean offers key options and considerations for tamarisk treatment, including biocontrol, targeted guidance on how to develop management plans, implement various control strategies, and plan restoration for treated sites. Useful resource as an accompaniment to Sher et al. 2010.    Nissen et al. 2010.   
Forestry Best Management Practices to Protect Water Quality in Colorado – 2010
This publication is dedicated to the stewardship of forest land resources – especially clean water. It outlines Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the protection of natural resources. These BMPs apply to all forest management activities, including product harvests, fuels mitigation projects and forest health treatments.
Slash From the Past: Rehabilitating Pile Burn Scars
Working with managers, Rocky Moutain Research Station researchers have evaluated the available treatments for short-term rehabilitation of both smaller, hand-built and larger, machine-built burn piles. For the smaller piles, they found that both soil nitrogen and plant cover recovered to a level similar to that of the surrounding forest within two years, indicating that these scars may not need rehabilitation unless in a sensitive area.
Colorado Forest Road Field Handbook
This handbook discusses the major aspects of forest roads management as it relates to their design, location, inspection, maintenance and repair. Most private and state forest roads are already in existence, thus the primary focus of th  is publication is to assist landowners in the management of these in-place roads.
Colorado Forestry Best Management Practices Forest Stewardship Guidelines for Water Quality Protection 2012: Field Audit Report
In an effort to proactively protect water quality, Colorado has implemented Best Management Practices (BMPs) for forestry activities. BMPs are a set of water-quality protection measures and guidelines that provide direction on planning, roads, Streamside Management Zones (SMZs), timber harvesting, pesticides and fertilizers, stream crossings and fire management.     In September 2012, an interdisciplinary team visited six timber-harvest sites in southwest Colorado to assess Colorado forestry BMP application and effectiveness.
River Restoration Analysis Tool

The River Restoration Analysis Tool, or RiverRAT. River RAT is a river project development and evaluation tool. It was developed to facilitate consistent and thorough evaluation of the potential impacts of proposed projects on river habitat.

Colorado River Section 206 Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Mesa County, Colorado; Appendix B: Engineering Report
In 2012, the Tamarisk Coalition, in coordination with Tetra Tech and the City of Grand Junction, developed restoration recommendations for the Colorado River from Loma to Palisade. The recommendations, which are presented as an engineering appendix, were designed to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effort for developing and evaluation the Colorado River Ecosystem Restoration project, in accordance with Section 206 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1996.    
Land Treatment Digital Library Web Site

The Land Treatment Digital Library (LTDL) was created by the U.S. Geological Survey to catalog legacy land treatment information on Bureau of Land Management lands in the western United States. The LTDL can be used by federal managers and scientists for compiling information for data-calls, producing maps, generating reports, and conducting analyses at varying spatial and temporal scales. The LTDL currently houses 26,621 treatments from BLM lands across 13 states. 

Restoration and Monitoring Plan for Native Fish and Riparian Vegetation on the San Rafael River, Utah

In this report, a restoration and monitoring plan for the San Rafael River, a tributary to the Green River in the upper Colorado River Basin, is presented. The plan is intended to guide restoration and management of the San Rafael River over the next 40-50 years and is developed as an adaptive management plan. The recommended restoration actions are intended to recover and enhance natural river processes, and are based on the best available information regarding the history of hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological changes that have occurred on the river over the last century.

Tamarix - A Case Study of Ecological Change in the American West

Written by 44 of the field's most prominent scholars and scientists, this volume compiles 25 essays on tamarisk--its biology, ecology, politics, management, and the ethical issues involved with designating a particular species as "good" or "bad".