Board hears Healthy Rivers grant presentations on Grizzly Reservoir contamination, watershed education and Crystal River protection

At its June 2 work session the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners heard three Healthy Rivers and Streams grant presentations from university researchers and valley conservation organizations.

Diane McNite, a University of Colorado scientist affiliated with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, described sediment‑core and benthic invertebrate analyses at Grizzly Reservoir and in the Lincoln Creek inflow that show elevated metal concentrations. McNite said the reservoir “looks blue here and that's because the copper concentration is so high it makes the reservoir blue and when it's that high that can kill fish,” and she outlined plans to analyze recent sediment layers, invertebrate metal loads and biological impacts to help managers decide on mitigation steps.

Lisa McDonald, Healthy Rivers Program manager, told commissioners the riverboard has recommended three grants over the $15,000 threshold for BOCC information and review; the program’s 2026 grant budget is $200,000.

Megan Dean of Roaring Fork Conservancy described the education programs the organization runs for K–12 students — roughly 304 programs last year that reached nearly 7,000 contacts — and said those activities will be used to raise public understanding of watershed issues and to broaden outreach around research results. Dean offered the conservancy’s teaching resources and augmented‑reality sand‑table programming as tools to extend school engagement and to host public lectures tied to the research.

Wilderness Workshop representatives said their organization is asking the county to support a $35,000 grant to advance two complementary protection strategies for the Crystal River: an instream‑flow proposal (a state process that can take two years to move from scientific documentation to appropriation and, later, water court), and a Wild and Scenic study that the group plans to package as a report with draft legislative language for handoff to delegation. Wilderness Workshop emphasized that the recently signed intergovernmental agreement among local governments is an important interim protection but that the instream-flow and Wild & Scenic tracks provide different and complementary legal durability.

Commissioners asked technical and outreach questions, including whether copper, lead and zinc are being measured (presenters confirmed they are), how sediment cores are dated, and how the groups plan to engage schools and the public. Staff said the riverboard recommendations will be included in upcoming meetings and any grant awards will return to the board for formal action where required.

Next procedural steps include placing the recommended grant items on an upcoming BOCC agenda for information and possible action consistent with the Healthy Rivers grant process.