Residents and river lovers may have noticed weeks of river cleanup and streambank restoration work that took place this fall along the Yampa River in south Steamboat Springs at the site of a former concrete batch plant of decades past.

For about five weeks this fall, workers removed dozens of dump truck loads of concrete, rebar, debris and an old concrete truck, said Mitch Clark, owner of Snow County Nursery, who purchased the 10-acre site located off Dougherty Road just south of the current southern end of the Yampa River Core Trail.

Heavy machinery could be seen in the river this fall moving huge boulders.

“We pulled out 350 yards of concrete and debris and put 700 tons of boulders back in the river for bank stabilization and stream improvement,” Clark said. “In spring we will complete the riparian work.”

Clark purchased the land on either side of the Yampa River adjacent to his existing nursery, garden center and landscape company. The business owner received a floodplain development permit to clean up the river bank, stabilize the bank, prevent erosion, increase sediment transport and provide habitat, according to Alan Goldich with Routt County Planning. The river work was designed by Landmark Consultants in Steamboat.

“The floodplain permit does allow for that type of activity, and he did receive an Army Corps permit as well,” Goldich noted.

Clark received significant grant support for the restoration project through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services EQIP program, or Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers, said Vance Fulton, NRCS engineering tech in Steamboat.

“It was kind of a mess — there were large chunks of old concrete in the river channel,” Fulton said of the site prior to restoration work. “It was probably providing some armor, but it wasn’t very good, just random pieces throughout.”

Fulton said the Yampa River through the property was too wide and too shallow, so material was being deposited in that section of the river during high water runoff in the spring.

“Getting the channel back to the correct width, the stream is now able to pass its sediment load like it is supposed to,” Fulton noted.

Craig Robinson, Steamboat Springs parks, open space and trails manager, is positive about the river restoration project.

“There was a lot of debris in the river in that area. Anything done to improve the health and natural function of the river, the parks and recreation department supports,” Robinson said.

Robinson said a Core Trail easement agreement was signed in mid-October between Clark and the city after many months of discussions. Routt County officials approved Clark’s submitted Planned Unit Development Plan to develop a single 5-acre residential lot on the west side of the river and to extend the adjacent nursery business to more than 4 acres of land on the east side of the river.

Per the agreement, in the future if the city gains additional easements for property to the south of Clark’s property, then the popular trail could pass the approximately 550 feet through Clark’s property.

Robinson said the city has no timeline in place to extend the Core Trail the additional 2,600 linear feet, which has long been a part of master planning. The vision calls for the trail extension to Legacy Ranch, where the trail would loop around. To get to Legacy Ranch, the trail would need to pass through Mount Werner Water and Sanitation District property and another private landowner’s property, Robinson said.

“There’s no funding in place at this time and no further easement past this (Snow Country) property at this time,” Robinson said. “The question is still how do we get there — that’s something that staff will be working on.”

Robinson said a backlog of deferred maintenance projects are taking precedence over the southern Core Trail extension. He said the extension of the trail to the west of Steamboat is the higher priority due to the proposed Brown Ranch development. On the west side of town, the Core Trail currently ends at Bear River Skateboard Park. From there, a sidewalk runs to U.S. Highway 40 and then west to Snow Bowl Plaza. The next section proposed for completion of the Core Trail west would extend to the Steamboat Springs KOA, Robinson said.