Fort Collins Natural Areas
ERC provided consulting services, design, permitting and construction services to the City of Ft. Collin’s natural areas program. As part of ERC’s services we reclaimed upland habitat, riparian zones, created wetlands and stabilized river and lake shore property. Full design/build restoration services were provided at Arapaho Bend, McMurray, Salyer, Bobcat Ridge and Rivers Edge Natural Areas. Work focused on restoring impacted areas to their natural setting. As part of our services we developed wildlife habitat, created shallow water ponds for waterfowl production, reclaimed a gravel pit, created wetlands, reestablished a riparian forest and addressed deficiencies in soil chemistry to promote natural revegetation evolution.
Udall Treatment Wetland
The City of Ft. Collins was concerned about the water quality from developed land that runs off directly into the Poudre River. Nuisance or low flow conditions were of particular concern. ERC designed and constructed a 2-acre treatment wetland to intercept and filter flows before their release to the river. The wetland system included a staged hydraulic control feature that routes lower flows through the treatment wetland while allowing peak storm flows to bypass the wetland. ERC’s design included a soil matrix and natural vegetation for biofiltering, fine sediment removal and uptake of pollutants. The wetland provided the secondary benefit of creating wildlife habitat along the river corridor.