What We’ve Done

2010 has once again been a busy and productive year for the South Platte Enhancement Board (SPEB).  The work to protect the Outstandingly Remarkable Values (ORVs) continues through our efforts to:

  • Provide grant opportunities
  • Protect SPEB’s financial endowment
  • Identify new and emerging issues
  • Develop new tools to enhance understanding of the area
  • Ensure the eligible segments of the South Platte River corridor continues as a vital and healthy ecosystem for all users

Coming off a challenging financial year in 2009, SPEB began 2010 with a diminished corpus.  However, as financial markets recovered SPEB’s corpus also rose, and we ended 2010 with very near $1 million in the endowment fund.  In 2010, the endowment was used to fund two grant requests, for a total of $35,200.  More detail regarding Funded Projects can be located in that drop-down list from the Home Page.

SPEB continues to meet on the third Wednesday of each month.  Per the South Platte Protection Plan (SPPP), we held our annual meeting of the Stream Flow Management Plan on May 19, 2010, and the Denver Water Planning Task Force meeting was held on November 19, 2010.  Minutes of these meeting are available on request to info@southplatte.org.

In 2010, SPEB completed a project to develop a comprehensive map of the South and North forks of the South Platte River corridor.  This project was initiated in 2009 with the Colorado Center for Community Development, and required substantial input from the U.S. Forest Service, board members and other key stakeholders.  The maps were developed using GIS technology and include a detailed inventory of existing land uses, vegetation and soil cover, critical habitat, , hydrologic features, recreational resources and more.  We expect the maps will be useful in identifying potential projects to enhance the South Platte River corridor and any gaps in the management of our ORVs.  One of the goals for 2011 is to make these maps available on SPEB’s website.

In 2010, we also saw a new event that pleased local kayakers – the first annual North Fork Kayak Festival.  The local white water community coordinated with Denver Water to schedule water flows coming through the Robert’s Tunnel to coincide with the celebration on August 14th and 15th.  The celebration was a success, with over 70 kayakers boating the Bailey section and over 50 kayakers boating the Foxton section of the North Fork.