COMEBACK TRAIL
The river is on the comeback trail, but it will take time.

“It’s just going to take time and the flow of the river to move the sediment down the corridor,” Spohn said. He also noted that there are many environments on the Platte that complicate the matter.

“You have to remember that we really have two complete systems going on here,” he said.

There is the stretch of river from below the dam down to the town of Trumbull where the gradient is pretty high and the sediment moves through very well. At Trumbull, however, the gradient in the river drops out completely, and water will take longer to move through that area. There are not a lot of big rocks or enough gradient to keep the big holes scoured out, said the biologist.

However, time does heal, and the Platte is beginning to re-awaken. Vegetation and undergrowth are on the rise and taking hold along the once-infertile hillsides.

Dorsey has an intimate knowledge of the Platte and its ecosystem. He spends a majority of his time guiding anglers on the Platte, and he has noticed small changes that indicate an upward trend in the recovery process.

“The grass and wildflowers inside the canyon, not to mention what is going on in the burn area, are the heaviest and most plentiful that I have seen in years.”

It’s green, it’s lush, and the flowers and underbrush are thick.

“Everything looks really good,” said Dorsey. “I think we are on the backside of the real devastating floods and washouts that have dumped into the river.”

With a decreasing amount of sediment and decomposed granite washing into the river with each rainfall, the process of scouring the riverbed with the natural flow of the river becomes easier.

“The good news is that we have had some really substantial rains up there this past summer, and the water really didn’t discolor more than it should,” said Dorsey.

“I can remember a few good rains this past June where the river dirtied up as would be expected. Then it was gin-clear again by morning.”