Projects & Programs

Working Watersheds: Building a Sustainable Forest Industry in Colorado

A strong connection exists between sustainable forestry, ecosystem diversity, carbon emissions, job creation, wildfire risk reduction, and other social and environmental benefits. In Colorado, however, there are tremendous hurdles to overcome. Colorado has suffered from nearly two centuries of wildfire suppression, which has caused unhealthy watersheds at high risk of severe wildfire. At the same time, Colorado’s timber industry has lost the capacity to employ sustainable forestry practices to restore our watersheds to a healthier state. To learn more about this wonderfully complex issue, read this Eco-Nomic Insights article.

Our Working Watersheds program addresses systemic challenges to Colorado’s forestry and timber products industry. Working with a diversity of state and local agencies, foundations, non-profit organizations, and others, Working Watersheds employs economic drivers to watershed health and wildfire risk reduction.

The Promise of Eudora: Melding Economic & Ecological Restoration in the Mississippi Delta of Arkansas. (Under Consideration)

Rural communities like Eudora have been shattered by shifting global trade patterns, technology, and historical forces that eliminated critical businesses and jobs in cotton gins, catfish farms, and other key businesses. But those forces have not destroyed Eudora’s spirit. Today, this community has united around a common purpose: melding ecological and economic restoration to forge a sustainable future. This community-led project began when restoration planners David Bidelspach and Lee Frobes employed nature-based design to address chronic flooding in Eudora. Through the design process, a collaborative vision was born for Economic Restoration.

John Giordanengo of ERI had worked with David and Lee for many years in stream restoration, and was invited to bring the concept of economic restoration to the table during community meetings in Eudora. A restoration strategy is desired to generate new business opportunities and jobs, build food security and restore landscapes through regenerative agriculture, rebuild local manufacturing, and something more profound: to build a sustainable economic future that is much different than the past. Mayor Tomeka Butler shared a vision that resonated with over 30 local, regional, and state planners and partners at the fall meeting: “The Promise of Eudora.” As this project advances, ERI is evaluating how we can bring economic restoration value to this beautiful region, where the deep spirit of the land melds with the roots of the people to sow economic seeds of hope.

Dryland Agricultural Restoration Research: 2023-2024, Boulder, CO

Thanks to a grant from the City of Boulder, we worked with AloTerra Restoration Services to evaluate no-till dryland crops capable of competing with pioneer weeds in an abandoned agricultural plot in the plains of Boulder, CO. Following guiding principles of ecological restoration, such as the intermediate disturbance hypothesis and succession science, three seed mixes were designed and sown with no-till methods in 2023. Project goals included increasing soil fertility, minimizing exogenous inputs, raising farm profitability, and diversifying agricultural plant communities. Plant community responses were assessed using the line-point intercept method, and data was analyzed in Fall 2023. Three crops showed promise fo.r dryland intercropping: common oats, safflower, and canola oil. For full results please reach out to ERI on our contact page.

Yoder Agricultural Restoration: 2023-2024, Yoder, WY

Similar to many homogenized farmlands, the Yoder Farm is a monoculture of annual crops for export markets, an economic system rendering soils and plant communities impoverished, with trickledown affects to our human communities. Following principles of ecological restoration, such as the intermediate disturbance hypothesis and succession science, we developed an agricultural restoration masterplan for 320 acres of this arid farmland near Yoder, WY. Project goals included increasing soil fertility, minimizing exogenous inputs, raising farm profitability, diversifying the agricultural landscape, and connecting farm products to regional markets.