The development team for Miller’s Landing in Castle Rock announced that restoration work is underway to address stream degradation within Miller’s Gulch. 

Miller’s Landing is working with WaterVation to attend to the damage caused by over 63 years of land use changes that have impacted the water channel of Miller’s Gulch. 

“As land upstream is developed and permeable surfaces are installed, it increases the volume and velocity of water going downstream,” said Scott Springer of P3 Advisors. “By doing so, it actually increases the erosion in the stream bed and basically causes that severe degradation of those velocities and volume increases.” 

The stream restoration design plan for Miller’s Gulch is based on the principles of Natural Channel Design, which mimics the natural conditions of the area. 

Currently the gulch is an intermittent sand-bed stream that only flows during rainfall events or during snowmelt. In turn, the gulch has become sensitive to land use disturbances as well as extreme rainfall events.

The design focuses on restoring the natural stream shape, which is proven to efficiently mitigate erosive storm flows. 

“We are putting in drop structures,” said Springer. “Which include grouted and ungrouted boulder fields, sheet piling and we’re amoring the sides of channels with riprap and other boulder structures.” 

The design plan will allow for the channel and floodplain to become hydrologically connected and enable the re-establishment of the corridor.

By working within the naturally occurring environmental amenities, it provides riparian and upland diversity within the watershed. 

Riparian environments are those that include not only the stream and water channel itself, but  the entire ecosystem adjacent to the stream or waterway. Springer said that in Colorado, there’s going to be natural species like willows and other water loving species. 

“It’s reestablishing the method that we’re using to stabilize the stream and to re-channelize the stream based on that natural channel design,” said Springer. “Minimizing any impact of vegetation, existing vegetation and enhancing the riparian zone with semi aquatic species.”