Photos by Chris Cohen
Rocky Mountain Science Center
Sliding her shovel deep into the spongy earth, ecologist Delia Malone explained that a fen is a special kind of wetland, formed over thousands of years. Prone to freezing and lacking aeration, the decomposition of organic matter in a fen is limited, generating around four centimeters of nutrient-rich peat soil every 1,000 years. She flips up a dense, wet block estimated to be some 10,000 years old, with vegetation on the bottom still identifiable and intact.
On a beautiful Saturday, July 8, over 40 people of all ages gathered in the White River National Forest for the second-annual bilingual bioblitz in Homestake Valley, near Redcliff. The event was organized by Wilderness Workshop and the Eagle River Watershed Council, with attendance from Wildearth Guardians’ wild rivers team and experts from Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Walking Mountains Science Center and Roaring Fork Audubon.
Participants were divided into three groups to avoid disturbing the nesting Wilson’s snipes and delicate orchids, then spread out to record data using the iNaturalist app on their smartphones. Of special interest were rare and endangered species of “high conservation value.”
The impetus for this outing, besides enjoying Colorado’s natural beauty, is a possibility that this very location could be flooded by a new reservoir feeding a trans-basin diversion if it’s not actively protected. The cities of Colorado Springs and Aurora, forecasting significant growth in the next few decades, hold water rights in the Upper Eagle River Basin and a 1998 agreement to use them via a joint water project. In 2021, the Forest Service approved the drilling of test wells to “help the cities determine whether the Homestake Valley is a feasible location for a potential reservoir,” announced a press release.
Opposition blocked such a project in the ‘80s, and conservationists are getting ahead of another potential fight to protect this rare ecosystem. As Michael Gorman with Wilderness Workshop put it, “the more we know, the better advocates we can be.”
Fens make up 1% of wetlands, Malone told the group of citizen scientists, and wetlands make up fewer than 2% of all the land in Colorado. Yet, wetlands are among the most important of habitats, supporting 80% of wildlife according to The State of Colorado’s Biodiversity report (2011). Fens especially are host to unique species of plant, avian and insect life, and store both water and carbon. Without them, runoff from melting snow would be much less gradual.
The species count is ongoing and began with last year’s event. Together, citizen scientists have uploaded over 500 observations representing 138 different species. For more details about this initiative and how to join, visit: www.inaturalist.org/projects/homestake-valley-bioblitz
