Estes Valley Watershed Coalition
Flood recovery, wildfire mitigation and wildlife outreach for the upper Big Thompson watershed
- (970) 290-1829
- evwatershed.org
- 1191 Woodstock Dr Ste 5, Estes Park
- Open now · closes 4pm
About
The September 2013 flood is where this group starts. Residents came together to help one another and to chase down recovery projects and grants, and by 2018 the coalition had finished 14 flood restoration projects. It is a grassroots nonprofit, and it now covers the upper Big Thompson watershed, which is to say the Estes Valley.
Water was the first job. Forests came next: in 2019 the board took on wildfire risk reduction, working with public and private partners to thin the odds of a catastrophic fire. Wildlife is the third leg, mostly outreach and education aimed at residents and visitors alike. The real skill here is getting landowners and local, state and federal agencies to agree on the same project.
The office is on Woodstock Drive near the fairgrounds, next to the Estes Valley Land Trust. If you own land here and worry about fire or high water, the newsletter and the living-with-fire video are good places to start, and memberships, volunteers and donations keep the work going.
