Sand-sucking project
'dismal failure'
Company promised to suck 1,100 cubic yards
from Black Gore Creek, only managed 40
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A crew working in Black Gore
Creek this fall removed only a fraction of the sand it had
planned to dig out of the polluted Vail Pass stream.
Shane Macomber/Daily file photo
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Nicole Frey
November 23, 2005
MINTURN - Who expects sticks in a beaver pond?
During a September project that removed harmful highway sand from
Black Gore Creek, sticks were one of the biggest obstacles that
prevented Streamside Systems from finishing the job.
Even though Streamside Systems planned to dig 1,100 cubic yards of
sand from Black Gore Creek in October, only 40 cubic yards were
removed.
Altitude and cold weather may have
hampered equipment used to remove sand from Black Gore Creek. A
crew should return in July, when the machinery won’t freeze.
Shane Macomber/Vail Daily
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"The watershed council takes full responsibility
for this ... dismal failure," Eagle River Watershed Council director
Caroline Bradford said during a recent Black Gore Creek Steering
Committee meeting. "We don't have too many failures."
But Eagle County's environmental director Ray Merry disagreed, saying
he saw potential for the project.
"You have to try something," he said. "Don't give up on it."
In addition to the sticks, Streamside Systems president Randall Tucker
said the September weather caused his pipes and pumps to freeze. U.S.
Forest Service district ranger Cal Wettstein said the project was
underpowered.
Tucker said he's done similar projects, but has never worked at as
high as altitude, which also hampered his work.
Sand dwellers
Tucker and his team of about six men where supposed to remove a batch
of the sand that is smothering the life out the river. The sand, which
now stands several feet deep in some stretches, is leftover from road
construction, erosion and the de-icing formulas poured on Interstate
70.
De-icing sand spilling from I-70 is
choking off Black Gore Creek, which flows down Vail Pass into Gore
Creek and Vail Village.
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The mass quantities of sand in the water led the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to classify Black Gore Creek an
"impaired" stream in 2002.
if the sand isn't removed, the stream's ecosystem will change,
attracting sand-dwelling bugs and pushing out the gravel beds, said
Bill Carlson, the environmental health officer and planner for the
town of Vail, which has helped fund cleanup projects in recent years.
The sand-resistant bugs may push out the fish that rely on different
insects for food, Carlson said.
Trying to avoid an ecological disaster, the watershed council paid
Streamside Systems half their fee Ð $18,000 Ð for the week they spent
on the pass during the fall. The company will receive the other half
when the project is completed, Bradford said.
Hope for the failure
Although the project didn't go as planned, Bradford and others
involved, like river engineer Jason Carey, remain hopeful.
"A dismal failure would mean it's infeasible, and it's not," said
Carey, a RiverRestoration.org consultant for the watershed council.
"There are kinks that need to be worked out, but I don't think it was
really that bad. It was just an issue of the contractor not living up
to his claims."
Jason Beach and Kevin Beach of
Streamside Systems remove sand from Vail Pass’ Black Gore Creek in
early October.
Shane Macomber/Vail Daily
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And Tucker said he is determined to make good on
his contract, though he debated that 1,100 cubic feet of sand even
exists in the stretch of creek where he's working.
"We're going to get what needs to come out, but I don't know what the
total is going to be," he said. "It didn't go as planned, but now
we're ready to deal with it in the spring."
Bradford said Tucker plans to return in July - when his equipment
won't freeze - with improved technology to handle the sticks.
"They are confident they can deal with these problems, and we have
high hopes that they can fix their problems so they can do what they
were designed to do," Bradford said. "We think it can work."
Staff Writer Nicole Frey can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 14621, or
nfrey@vaildaily.com.
Vail, Colorado
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