Schneider Draw Enhancement

An eroding stream is stabilized to enhance ecology and improve visitor safety along a new park trail.

City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) developed a new trail north of Boulder, Colorado that follows an aging, abandoned bed for a railroad that was never built. To improve a sensitive drainage area near the trail and ensure safety for visitors, OSMP hired Biohabitats to develop a restoration design and install rock structures to stabilize and raise the water table of 1,750 LF of Schneider Draw, an eroding ephemeral stream that was crossed by the trail.

Biohabitats performed the geomorphic survey and assessed the project site to determine drainage area parameters and peak flows, while also developing web-based and print field maps for data collection. Biohabitats then created a design before proposing treatments and placement recommendations for the rock structures to stabilize the bank and enhance the stream’s ecology. During construction, Biohabitats was on site to help guide Left Hand Excavating’s staff in the implementation of this ecological enhancement.

TAGS

• Design-Build
• Ecological Restoration