watervulnerability

Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Rocky
Mountain Region (R2)
CONNECTIONS TO OTHER ASSESSMENTS, PLANS AND EFFORTS
The WVA used data and results from a previous watershed assessment completed as part of the 2005-
2007 Forest plan revision process, specifically: 1) a summary of past activities that have occurred in each
subwatershed (used as the anthropogenic stressors in the WVA); 2) a summary of intrinsic characteristics
of each subwatershed (i.e. geology, soil types, topography) that indicate how sensitive a given watershed
is to erosion (used as the indicator for erosion and sediment production for the WVA); and 3) a summary
of water uses by subwatershed (used as the water uses values for this WVA). Data and results from the
Forest plan watershed assessment were limited to National Forest System lands. Off-Forest data were
lacking or very limited and were not incorporated into the existing data for the WVA. The WVA will
incorporate consideration of potential effects of predicted climate changes, which was not previously
done.
Results of the WVA will be used as part of a vulnerability assessment for the Upper Gunnison Basin, an
ongoing collaborative effort with The Nature Conservancy (part of its Southwest Climate Change
Initiative), the BLM, National Park Service, Gunnison County, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Colorado
River Conservation Board and the USFS. The Upper Gunnison Basin vulnerability assessment will
incorporate terrestrial resources that the WVA did not, as well as aquatic resources that occur off the
National Forest.
The WVA will also inform additional outcomes from the Upper Gunnison Basin collaborative effort,
which include: 1) developing landscape-scale strategic guidance for climate adaptation and resiliencebuilding
for a set of conservation targets (e.g., Gunnison sage-grouse); 2) developing tools and
information to make current conservation projects climate smart; and 3) developing a climate adaptation
demonstration project.
The WVA and the subsequent vulnerability assessment for the Gunnison Basin will provide a basis for
incorporating climate change considerations into project planning and implementation. When Forest plan
revision efforts resume on the GMUG, identified climate change considerations can also be designed into
Forest plan desired conditions, objectives, standards, and guidelines.
Data gaps and uncertainties in predicting climate changes and potential effects are needs that can be filled
through a variety of monitoring efforts.
In 2011, the GMUG NF completed a Watershed Condition Classification. Information from the WVA,
while not specifically part of the watershed condition classification protocol, can be used to help identify
priority watersheds for future restoration activities.
WATER RESOURCES
This WVA is intended to identify the relative vulnerability of watersheds to potential risks posed by
climate change, by focusing on the potential effects of those changes to water resource values. For the
pilot project, water resource values needed to include floodplain and in-channel infrastructure, water uses,
and aquatic species. Following this direction, the GMUG team initially identified a list of resources in
these three categories. As we worked through the process, lack of available data and time constraints
reduced the list of values that were ultimately evaluated. We also adjusted how several resource values
were grouped so that the final three categories combined values that would respond in similar ways to
predicted climate changes. Modifications made during the process are discussed for each category, below.
69 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change