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Water Resources and Stakeholder Engagement Summer Internship Program

Presented to the Board of County Commissioners

08/25/2026

Owen Richardson

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Summer Internship Program�Agenda

  • Personal Information

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  • Why I chose to participate in Grand County Summer Intern Program

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  • Specifics on my individual internship experience
    • Photos, videos, specific discussion points, etc.

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  • Lessons Learned from my Experience

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  • Future career (education, career path, etc.)

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Summer Internship Program�Personal Information

  • Owen Richardson
  • From Weld County, Colorado (Mead High School)
  • B.A., Earth Sciences — Dartmouth College, 2024
  • M.S., Geosciences — Colorado State University, 2026
  • Past roles: City of Boulder Public Works (Watershed Crew); National Weather Service, Guam
  • Contract GIS and geomorphology work for small water consulting firms
  • Certified as a Geologist-in-Training (GIT) in Wyoming

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Summer Internship Program�Personal Information

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Summer Internship Program�Why I Chose To Participate In This Program

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  • Between my M.S. and Ph.D., seeking hands-on experience applying river science to real watershed management
  • Deepen my knowledge of the Upper Colorado River
  • Build professional connections in Colorado
  • Drawn to the mission and mindset of public service

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

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  • Learning By Doing (LBD): a Grand County partnership with East and West Slope water stakeholders
  • Created by Inter-Governmental Agreements from Denver Water’s Moffat Project and Northern Water’s Windy Gap Firming Project
  • Built on cooperation over conflict, with a shared vision of river health
  • I collaborated with LBD partners: Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado River District, Denver Water, Grand County, Northern Water, Middle Park Water Conservancy District, Trout Unlimited, consultants

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

  • Background: LBD Sediment Monitoring Goals
    • Collect data as needed to evaluate flushing flows; 
    • Report on physical conditions; 
    • Assess sediment conditions in trout spawning habitat in a manner that is compliant with the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission Narrative Sediment Policy 98-1;
    • Monitor changes in sediment distribution, including the accumulation of fine sediment in between larger rocks;
    • Evaluate algal conditions within the streambeds; 
    • Monitor sediment conditions within restoration projects. 

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

  • My job: evaluate existing sediment monitoring procedures and recommend ways to fill data gaps

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  • Method: Used large disturbances with clear consequences (wildfire, beaver activity) as test cases
    • If monitoring misses or mutes those signals, we are missing information needed to explain them

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

  • Sediment reports from GEI Consultants are thorough but long, dense, and text-heavy
  • Used R and Python to build graphics that make the existing results easier to interpret

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Before

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After

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Missing Habitat Context

  • Shallow, fast water
  • Easier to transport sediment

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  • Slow, deep water
  • Fine sediment deposits here

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Riffle

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Pool

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Pool Sediment Sampling (V*)

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Bunte & Abt (2001)

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

  • Delivered a sediment findings report to the LBD and Wild & Scenic Monitoring Subcommittees; implementation set for 2027
  • Renegotiating the 2026 Scope of Work with GEI Consultants
  • Automated stream temperature report generation and presented weekly results to the LBD Operations Subcommittee
  • Attended Grand Lake Adaptive Management, Historic Users Pool, and Drought Committee calls
  • KFFR/KWTR radio water reports

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Summer Internship Program�Individual Experience

  • Developed a county-wide, high-resolution (1-meter horizontal resolution) LiDAR-derived digital elevation model

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  • Could be useful for Planning, Assessor’s, Road and Bridge, and Emergency Manager’s departments; Grand County Wildfire Council

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Summer Internship Program�Life Lessons Learned

  • Show up ready to learn and take things on
  • Don’t let your disciplinary lens limit how you see the problem
  • Watershed management is about more than science—it’s also people, communication, and constraints
  • Build relationships early and intentionally

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Summer Internship Program�Future Career Path/Goals

  • Fully funded Ph.D.
    • Earth and Planetary Sciences (Hydrology) at Dartmouth College (2026-?)
  • Continue building professional network and relationships in Colorado
  • Hopefully find my way back to local, state, or federal government

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Summer Internship Program�

  • Questions?

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  • Thank you!

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