Fisherman’s Lot, a dirt parking lot at 103 East Street, just upstream from where the Middle Boulder and North Beaver Creeks meet, has been selected and approved as the location for Eldora Mountain Ski Resort’s (EMR) wetlands project. The project aims to restore the arid space, which is mostly used in the summer months by fishermen and families seeking quick access to Barker Reservoir, back into the wetlands it once was, benefitting Nederland’s ecosystem.

In 2019, EMR entered an agreement with the town of Nederland to create a wetlands area as required by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the wetland impact created by EMR’s construction of their Ignite Adaptive Sports building. The 12,000 square foot facility will provide winter sport opportunities to adults and children with disabilities and finally broke ground on May 17, 2023.

On October 1, 2019, the Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) approved Resolution 2019-12, giving the green light for EMR to begin constructing the wetlands on Fisherman’s Lot by 2020. Resolution 2019-12 also provided protection of the wetlands from any future impact through use of a Restrictive Covenant, which was assessed and approved by the Town’s attorney and the USACE.

On May 3, 2022, Ecologist and Botanist Rea Orthner Wrobel and EMR General Manager Brent Tregaskis brought the Fisherman’s Lot Wetlands project back to the BOT after gaining approval from both the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board and Sustainability Advisory Board. At that meeting the BOT approved moving forward with the project at the Fisherman’s Lot location.

The project is estimated to cost $60,000 to $80,000, with Nederland contributing a match of $10,000. Work began on May 31, 2023, and the dry parking lot was excavated by June 8. On June 13 the wetland was seeded with a diverse native seed mix and then hydromulched.

By June 18 the grading, seeding, mulching, and installation of the erosion control blanket were completed, so that four days later on a rainy afternoon the TEENS, Inc. Youth Corps, alongside 35 Singletrack Mountain Bike Adventure (SMBA) athletes, could plant the various species of native plants and shrubs.

“We love that TEENS, Inc. and SMBA are helping with this project,” Tregaskis told The Mountain-Ear before talking to the young workers about the benefits of the restoration. Tregaskis, along with EMR’s Director of Sustainability and Project Development Hunter Wright, handed out gift bags of Eldora, Ignite, and Subaru merchandise as a sign of their appreciation.

“It’s been really cool to see this kind of community involvement. It’s a lot of fun to see it come together because we’ve talked about this project for four years now,” Tregaskis said.

TEENS, Inc. Youth Corps and SMBA weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, digging holes along the sides as well as sporting a pair of gaiters and sinking into knee-deep mud in the wet center of the excavated pit. The work crew planted nursery-grown plugs of beaked sedge around the shallow standing water and saturated soil of the wetland basin. The saturated soil habitat was planted with clustered field sedge, tufted hairgrass, Baltic rush, Torrey’s rush, fowl bluegrass, Forbes large-leaf avens, and Rocky Mountain iris.

“We had this grading plan where we were going to have this smooth bench all the way around, but I didn’t want that; I want it messy looking,” Wrobel told The Mountain-Ear. “With ecology and wetland creation you want it to be messy so you can have a diversity of microhabitats and different plant species in different places.”

Shrubs such as native willows, river birch, alder, golden currant, Woods’ rose, and chokecherry were also planted, as well as “sprigging” willow stems collected from willow shrubs.

“Everyone on the project team has been excellent to work with in terms of being creative and finding where the groundwater is, making deeper pools and higher peninsulas, and making it look more organic,” Wrobel said.

“We also had a soil scientist out here during excavation to make sure we had a good eight to ten inches of topsoil because that’s really your insurance policy to ensure a wetland grows well.”

Wrobel worked alongside the kids as the main supervisor for the project and provided them with an on-the-spot education about how the new wetlands will complement the existing riparian habitats along both creeks and will enhance the ecological function of the ecosystem. The kids learned how the herbaceous and shrubby wetland plants will provide a habitat for local songbirds, chorus frogs, and various small mammals.

Wetlands also provide water cleansing and filtering functions. They can help attenuate flood flows, increase biodiversity and fertile soil production, and can also replenish groundwater basins, helpful during dry seasons and drought conditions.

“Eldora has been a really great partner in this; if they had bought the bank they would’ve paid for it and it would be done,” Wrobel noted that EMR was offered by the USACE the option to invest money into a wetlands bank by buying credits that would’ve most likely affected the creation of a wetlands in South Park.

“This is really a long term commitment that Eldora is getting into for this project,” Wrobel added.

It will take up to five years for the wetlands to become fully established and self-sustaining, and many of the wetland shrubs and trees will likely take decades to achieve their full height. During those five years EMR and Ignite will be responsible for maintaining the land while also providing the USACE with annual monitoring reports.

An ecologist will most likely be hired by EMR to assess the establishment of the wetland plants, as well as evaluate the health and survival of willow cuttings and woody plants, and will note and mitigate any potential problems with hydrology, weeds, erosion, wildlife damage, or human usage.

After the first five years, after EMR and Ignite fulfill their obligations and the USACE is satisfied by the wetland restoration, the Town of Nederland’s Parks Department will be responsible for periodic irrigation, weeding, and other maintenance.

A new parking area, expected to include seven ADA compliant spaces on the western edge of the lot, is currently being planned by the Town of Nederland. The construction of the wetlands is also not expected to interfere with the southwest corner of the lot used by the City of Boulder to access their property for maintenance, nor would it interfere with the potential construction of a second bridge across Middle Boulder Creek.

“We could’ve gone a different route but we felt it would be good to do a project with Nederland and show that we’re part of the town in our own way,” Tregaskis added. “Being a good community partner and a great environmental steward is what Eldora is all about; it’s one of our core values. So we really thought this was the perfect place to do this!”