Upland Soil Erosion
While the majority of the water that flows in our rivers comes from snowmelt throughout the San Juan Mountains, pinyon juniper upland forests and canyonlands are a major catchment basin of all the stormwater that maneuvers its way to our rivers. Sandy arroyos are fluid ephemeral channels that change after every storm and naturally web their way throughout rangelands, oil and gas roads, trails, and sandstone based biomes.
Partners such as the San Juan SWCD, Bureau of Land Management, State Land Office, the San Juan Basin Roads Committee, and local ranchers strive to remove invasive species, manage upland infrastructure, and support grasslands that retain sediment and improve soil health and biodiversity.
An example of such a project is the 2011 Kiffen Creek Sediment Fence project spearheaded by the San Juan Watershed Group in partnership with a local rancher. Years of stormwater events increased erosion putting excess sediment into the Animas River and imperiled a major upland pasture. To improve sediment retention, support riparian habitat, and save infrastructure, the SJWG installed a set of sediment fences to slow down stormwater flow enough to encourage deposition and rebuild a vertically carved bank along the pasture. Over the past 10 years, this project area is now stable with a native cottonwood microbiome that absorbs the force of flow during the monsoon season.