Project Summary:

The Russell Gulch Watershed is a watershed near Black Hawk, Colorado that has been heavily impacted by mining operations. The gulch contributes higher than natural levels of sediments to the downstream Clear Creek. These sediments contain heavy metals and other contaminants that are detrimental to the health of aquatic environments. The project team was tasked with evaluating the Russell Gulch watershed to identify and prioritize sediment sources. The results of this study are summarized and a ranked list of potential projects was developed to improve the health of the watershed. Mitigating these areas will likely reducethe quantity of sediments moving through the watershed and into the receiving waters of the downstream Clear Creek. To evaluate the source of the sediments in the Russell Gulch System the project team looked at two likely sources of sediment: hillslope and channel sources.

To evaluate hillslope erosion the team reviewed aerial imagery, created a digital elevation model to view and identify potential sediment sources within the basin. The team used the elevation data and other data to create a non-calibrated Universal Soil Loss Equation model. The Universal Soil Loss Equation is a predictive model for predicting long term annual soil loss from an area. The team also created a sediment run out model. This model was used to predict where sediments will travel from their source locations.

To evaluate sediments generated from channel processes the project team reviewed aerial imagery; a hillshade raster, developed from the digital elevation model; conducted a BANCS assessment, developed a model to predict stream bank erosion rates; and made field observations. While the models used to evaluate the health of the Russell Gulch Basin were not calibrated to the basin itself, they provide relative ratings for the contributing sources. Being that uncalibrated predictive models were used to estimate both hillslope and channel processes for quantifying sediment input into Russell Gulch the project team did not rank the hillslope and channel processes against each other.

Russell Gulch Sediment Study Story Map

Project Location:

Gilpin County, Colorado

Project Budget:

$10,000 - $20,000