The Quarterly Newsletter of the
August 16, 2000..                                                                                                         Volume 1 Issue 3
 
Stream System Dynamics Workshop
If you want to fix a problem in the river, you’d better look at the whole watershed. That was the adamant message delivered to about 45 participants attending the workshop entitled "Understanding Stream System Dynamics" on Saturday July 15th in Loveland. The workshop, presented by the Big Thompson Watershed Forum and Friends of the Poudre, offered lectures and discussions led by a number of local experts in addition to a picnic lunch and field tour.

 An introduction to watersheds and stream corridors was presented by Mr. Paul Cawood Hellmund from Colorado State University, followed by a look at hydrology with Mr. Carl Chambers of the US Forest Service in Fort Collins. Geomorphic processes were addressed by Dr. Kirk Vincent of the US Geological Survey in Boulder. The physical and chemical characteristics of water were presented by Ms. Sheila Murphy of the Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network (BASIN) in Boulder, and biological community characteristics were addressed by Dr. Alan Carpenter of Land Stewardship Consulting in Boulder. Mr. Paul Hellmund closed out the morning with functions and dynamic equilibrium. A delightful, air-conditioned bus took participants to Namaqua Park for lunch, followed by an afternoon of field visits to numerous locations along the Big Thompson River and a lot of animated discussion.

Workshop participants discuss
turbidity in the Big Thompson River.

Watch for upcoming workshop announcements. We’d like to hear from you if you have suggestions for future workshop topics, or if you have a particular water quality related interest you’d like to learn more about. Workshops are open to anyone who would like to attend.