This week the Swan River Restoration Project is officially entering a winter shutdown period. Summit County’s design-build team of Ecological Resource Consultants/Tezak Heavy Equipment (ERC/Tezak) is completely demobilized from the site.The onsite gravel crushing operation is wrapping up as well. Crews anticipate completing their work and demobilizing from the site over the next several days leaving behind a pile of road base material for the State Highway 9 (SH 9) Iron Springs Realignment project contractor to retrieve next year.
Last week, crews from Western States Reclamation installed the final soil amendments, seed, and erosion control practices just in time for the snow to fly. With any luck, as well a more seasonal weather pattern, the newly placed seed will remain dormant under a blanket of snow in preparation for germination next spring.
Looking towards spring/summer 2017, the ERC/Tezak team will complete installation of potted and larger plant materials. In addition to contracted plant installation, the Summit County Open Space and Trails Department has ordered several hundred smaller potted and tube planting
from the Colorado State Forest Service Nursery (CSFSN) to be installed by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps crews and/or volunteers during the 2017 field season. CSFSN planting installation will be overseen by Open Space and Trails staff, as well as members of the design-build team, to ensure proper installation.
As 2017 project planning advances, project updates will be presented to the Summit County Board of County Commissioners for their input and feedback. Notice of this future meeting will be announced once scheduled, but likely during early 2017.
We sincerely hope that the this, as well as the previous 22 Swan River Restoration Project blog posts published over the last several months, have been informative and useful to those following this exciting project. This will be the last blog post for 2016, but we will resume posting updates in 2017 as the project begins to ramp back up. Additional information about Swan River Restoration Project is available at RestoreTheSwanRiver.com as well as on the Open Space and Trails Special Projects web page. If you have additional questions about the restoration project, you can contact Summit County Open Space and Trails Director Brian Lorch, or Open Space and Trails Resource Specialist Jason Lederer, or call 970.668.4060.