The Lower Willow Creek Restoration Project
The Lower Willow Creek Restoration Project was created to address the floodplain below the City of Creede. The site was contaminated by heavy metals from upstream sediment from the Creede Mining District and from onsite storage of mill tailings. The storage of tailings occurred from the 1900s to the 1960's. The site was left untouched until 1988 when the site's mine waste was consolidated into a tailings pile on the east side of the creek. This created the site's fomer conditions of cobbley soil devoid of vegetation. In 2011 the Lower Willow Creek Restoration Company was formed to manage the Lower Willow Creek Restoration Project. In 2013, the LWCRCo completed the first phase of the project, to create a new channel that delivered water to diversions, slowed the energy of the creek and created backwater areas to rehabilitate the riparian zone.
Subsequent work done in Phase II and Phase III will cap the site with clean soil and plant native plant species, and create passive recreational opportunities for residents and visitors of Creede. The LWCRCo was awarded an EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant in 2015 to cap the site with clean soil from Airport Corner. This funding is matched by a Colorado Water Conservation Board Water Supply Reserve Account Grant. Construction is anticipated to begin Fall/Winter 2015.
The slideshow below shows the transformation of the floodplain over time, beginning in the 1900's and ending in 2015. The tall pointy cliffs behind Creede serve as a reference point.
Subsequent work done in Phase II and Phase III will cap the site with clean soil and plant native plant species, and create passive recreational opportunities for residents and visitors of Creede. The LWCRCo was awarded an EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant in 2015 to cap the site with clean soil from Airport Corner. This funding is matched by a Colorado Water Conservation Board Water Supply Reserve Account Grant. Construction is anticipated to begin Fall/Winter 2015.
The slideshow below shows the transformation of the floodplain over time, beginning in the 1900's and ending in 2015. The tall pointy cliffs behind Creede serve as a reference point.