Denver Water has invested years of work and millions of dollars protecting the forests that capture, store and filter the water that makes its way to faucets across the region.

Now, the utility Is turning the same attention to the role high-country grasslands and rangeland play in safeguarding our water supply.

An emerging program dubbed “Forage to Faucets” ― which nods to Denver Water’s long-running “From Forests to Faucets” partnership ― focuses on the stewardship of some 10,000 acres of grazing land the utility leases to local ranchers.

Image

“While Forest to Faucets’ priority is the management of the timberland within Denver Water’s watersheds, Forage to Faucets’ emphasis is on the agricultural producer’s role in managing grazing and natural resources to promote soil and forage health,” explained James Long, who leads the effort from within Denver Water’s property management group.

In short, the idea is to manage livestock grazing and agricultural resources in a way that ensures protection of soil and vegetation. Grazing and ranching done right can benefit the landscape and build resilient ecosystems.

That, in turn, ensures water is filtered by healthy grasses, soils and streams, and finds its way to rivers and reservoirs without carrying off sediment, damaging streamside environments and degrading water quality.

Join the team serving the community since 1918, at denverwater.org/Careers.

Long, who recently published an in-depth article on Forage to Faucets for the Western Landowners Alliance, notes that good grazing management ― like wise forest stewardship ― can assist in reducing the risk of damaging wildfires that pose grave risk to water supplies.

“Thinning timber, sometimes in combination with grazing, can be used to reduce woody shrubs and invasive species in the forest understory, keeping grasslands and forests healthy,” Long said.

“Grazing operations can play a role in decreasing large wildfires by increasing landscape resiliency, improving soil and grassland health, while creating fuel breaks that can slow fires down and decrease their intensity,” he added.

Work on grazing lands within the utility’s watersheds dates to 2019, when Denver Water began a closer partnership with the ranchers leasing its acreage to improve grazing practices.

Then, in the summer of 2020, Colorado State University professors, researchers, and students from the university’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Forest and Rangeland Stewardship program, and its Department of Animal Sciences came together to construct a more detailed plan of action.

Initial work has unfolded on 854 acres north of Golden, in an area of long-operating ranchland known as Leyden Gulch, that was purchased by Denver Water in the mid-1950s.

Jefferson County Open Space has recently joined the partnership, to continue collaboration on “improving soil conservation, riparian stabilization, increasing forage quality, native grass populations and grazing efficiency,” Long said.

Image

In addition, the team was joined by multi-generational rancher Charles McKay, who has been a long-term tenant renting the land from Denver Water for a 150-head commercial cattle grazing operation.

In coming years, Denver Water hopes to extend this work to more grazing lands that are part of its water collection area. These leased areas range in size from 800 to 2,000 acres and include a wide mix of ecosystems.

“Some are pure rangeland, some are high-altitude grasslands and meadows. Many include sage shrubland or forests,” Long wrote in his extensive article. “A single grazing lease may include a mixture of ecologies comprised of alpine meadows, mixed coniferous forests and both rich and semi-arid grassland.”

The new partnership with Jefferson County Open Space at Leyden Gulch includes the county’s adjacent 300-acre property, which has not been grazed for several years. It shares similar native grass and plant species that will allow for ― and benefit from ― grazing opportunities, research and monitoring.

Image

At Leyden Gulch, Denver Water has constructed small, simple natural dams in small waterways to prevent erosion, hold back sediment and encourage regrowth of riparian vegetation. It’s work that could be replicated in other watershed grazing leases in future Forage to Faucets work.

“Leyden Gulch provides a living-laboratory for the Forage to Faucets program goals and provides a template for future efforts in other Denver Water grazing leases,” Long wrote.

The new effort marks a significant shift in land management philosophy for the utility, its partners and ranchers.

“Until recently Denver Water’s approach to managing these leases had been passive with the responsibility of land stewardship being left to the tenant-rancher,” Long wrote.

“However, with its newfound priorities, Denver Water is taking a more proactive role in grazing management and in the care of the natural resources found in its watersheds.”