Southmoor Drive Channel & Floodplain Restoration Project

Pueblo County, Colorado

Project Details

  • Project Channel Length: 230,000 linear feet
  • Project Cost: $7.2 Million
  • Completion: July 2025
  • Funding Partners: City of Fountain $600,000 and CWCB Water Plan Grant Award $700,000
A group of people stand on a dirt path, cutting a blue ribbon, celebrating the completion of the Fountain Creek restoration project in 2025
Ribbon cutting event celebrating project completion and the re-opening of the Fountain Creek Regional Trail (June 30).
A group of people walking along a dirt path beside a river with trees and a grassy slope under a clear blue sky.
A walking tour of the completed project during the ribbon cutting celebration (June 30)
A riverbank with planted rows, green slope in background, clear sky, and some trees.
View of the completed project from western bank across Fountain Creek (June 30).
Southmoor Drive Proposed Project Area
Southmoor Drive proposed project area.
Snow-covered landscape with rocks, a river, and a bulldozer on a slope; clear blue sky and trees in the background.
View of the Southmoor Drive project eastern side.
A snowy slope with a river, rocks, and a construction vehicle; trees and a house on a cliff above.
View of the Southmoor Drive project eastern embankment.
A vast dirt landscape with tire tracks, mountains in the background, and a clear blue sky.
Two bulldozers moving fill at the project site.
View of eastern bank of Southmoor Drive, includes rocks and dirt covered in some snow.
Additional view of the Southmoor Drive project.
A construction site with an excavator and piles of rocks under a clear blue sky.
Excavator moving fill at the Southmoor Drive project.
Person in protective vest and helmet measuring diameter of tree trunk
Measuring toe wood diameter.
A person in a safety vest measures logs with a tape measure on a grassy field next to a truck.
Measuring toe wood length.
An excavator digging in muddy water with shadows of people on the ground.
Excavator digging in muddy water.
View of cleared embankment area at Southmoor Drive, includes dirt and overlook of creek to the west
View from eastern bank across Fountain Creek.
A person with safety gear examines a rocky excavation site with layered soil and stone rubble.
Person walking around construction on Southmoor Drive project site.
A group of people stand on a dirt path, cutting a blue ribbon, celebrating the completion of the Fountain Creek restoration project in 2025
A group of people walking along a dirt path beside a river with trees and a grassy slope under a clear blue sky.
A riverbank with planted rows, green slope in background, clear sky, and some trees.
Southmoor Drive Proposed Project Area
Snow-covered landscape with rocks, a river, and a bulldozer on a slope; clear blue sky and trees in the background.
A snowy slope with a river, rocks, and a construction vehicle; trees and a house on a cliff above.
A vast dirt landscape with tire tracks, mountains in the background, and a clear blue sky.
View of eastern bank of Southmoor Drive, includes rocks and dirt covered in some snow.
A construction site with an excavator and piles of rocks under a clear blue sky.
Person in protective vest and helmet measuring diameter of tree trunk
A person in a safety vest measures logs with a tape measure on a grassy field next to a truck.
An excavator digging in muddy water with shadows of people on the ground.
View of cleared embankment area at Southmoor Drive, includes dirt and overlook of creek to the west
A person with safety gear examines a rocky excavation site with layered soil and stone rubble.

Summary

The Southmoor Drive Channel & Floodplain Restoration Project restored a high-priority section of Fountain Creek in Fountain, Colorado to reduce erosion, stabilize the channel, protect nearby infrastructure, and improve floodplain function.

The project was identified as a priority through the Fountain Creek Watershed Assessment for River Stability and Sediment Supply (WARSSS), which found that this reach contributed significant sediment to Fountain Creek and posed risks to nearby infrastructure, including Southmoor Drive and adjacent properties. The restoration was designed to stabilize the channel, reduce bed erosion, and prevent continued upstream migration of channel instability.

Construction began in November 2024 with Total Terrain as the contractor following completion of final design by Matrix Design Group. Project improvements included channel realignment, installation of grade-control structures, floodplain restoration, and stabilization of eroding banks using a combination of rock and wood elements designed to withstand high-flow events.

Completed in July 2025, the project successfully stabilized the site despite weather-related delays during construction. Restoration efforts included approximately 190,000 pounds of bank fill, more than 21,000 willow stakes, 50 cottonwood trees, and hundreds of pounds of native seed to restore the riparian corridor, reduce erosion, and improve long-term watershed resilience.

The project was celebrated with the reopening of the Fountain Creek Regional Trail and a ribbon-cutting ceremony in June 2025, bringing together project partners, community members, and local leaders to recognize the collaborative effort behind the restoration.

Why This Project? 

The Southmoor Drive reach was identified as a high-priority restoration area due to significant sediment loading, channel instability, and erosion threatening nearby infrastructure. Previous channel conditions caused Fountain Creek to migrate toward the Southmoor Drive roadway and adjacent properties, increasing the risk of continued bank loss and infrastructure damage. As shown in the Venetucci Farm Focus Area, the Fountain Creek Watershed Assessment for River Stability and Sediment Supply Study (WARSSS) identified this reach of the creek as high priority due to the amount of sediment being contributed to the creek and the destruction of adjacent infrastructure on Southmoor Drive in Fountain, Colorado contributing to the urgency for completion. This project includes a grade-control structure, project 1-2-3 located approximately at river reach 2450+00 and project 1-2-3 located at approximately river reach 2440+00 in the Venetucci Farm Focus Area (Table 5 and Figure 3), (FMO, 2019)*. The grade-control structure will stabilize the channel and reduce channel bed erosion preventing head cuts from migrating upstream. At this site a constricted channel, again the result of anthropogenic influence upstream, flows normal to the cliff face eroding the friable shale unit at the base of the escarpment. Realignment of the channel will restore a significant portion of the bank that has threatened the adjacent Southmoor Drive roadway and building and stabilizing the embankment adjacent to Southmoor Drive will provide protection for local infrastructure.

Benefits of the Southmoor Drive project are consistent with Monetary Mitigation Fund (MMF) project requirements per condition six of the Permit by reducing sediment input to the main channel of Fountain Creek and the protection of infrastructure. Preliminary project costs are estimated to be a total of $6,000,000 with $600,000 provided by the City of Fountain and $700,000 expected to be received from grant funds (Table 6). The additional funds will be provided by the Fountain Creek Watershed District. Updated November 2024.

Colorado College Southmoor Drive Storyboard

In the Spring of 2024, FCWD partnered with a Colorado College Landscape Processes and Evaluation class and their professor Dr. Sarah Schanz. FCWD Executive Director Alli Schuch provided an introduction to FCWD, its work, and an overview of the Fountain Creek Watershed. Students spent time in the field observing and measuring some of FCWD's projects and developed three storyboards. These storyboards provide an overview and evaluation of FCWD's work around erosion control, the erratic nature of the creek, and thoughts on future projects.  Access the CC Southmoor Drive StoryMap

Other Resources