Surveying Wetlands of the San Luis Valley

Setting up a vegetation plot in a wet meadow on the San Luis Valley floor within the old floodplain of the Rio Grande River.

Here is a field update from Joanna on her Statewide Strategies for Colorado Wetlands project:

The second summer of field data collection in the Rio Grande Headwaters river basin (San Luis Valley and surrounding mountains) is nearly complete. We have surveyed about 150 different wetlands to assess their condition and to create a wetland landscape profile of the basin. The profile is an estimate of the total wetland acreage across the basin, and the proportion of wetland acres by wetland type and by overall condition. The final report for this project should be completed by the end of 2010.

Anne Maurer and Conor Flynn collecting data from a plot in a large and unusual fen and wet meadow complex at the base of Blanca Peak.