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MHFD’s Management and Planning Philosophy

Cherry Creek at Stroh Road

Gaining a More Holistic Understanding of Urban Streams Before Implementing Stream Improvement Projects

To do so, Mile High Flood District created our Urban Stream Framework, which helps us deliver higher-functioning, lower-maintenance stream projects. We’ve taken what we’ve learned over the last 50 years and applied it to this framework, working to preserve and sustain the 3,200 miles of vital multi-use stream corridors we manage in the Denver area. It’s our goal to protect people, property, and the environment, as well as provide value to the community, and we do so by understanding the physical, social, economic, and political contexts in which management decisions are made. This context is conceptualized through the lens of the Five Elements – Community Values, Hydrology, Hydraulics, Geomorphology, and Vegetation – and quantified via Urban Stream Assessments and Urban Stream Studies.

Our Philosophy

The Mile High Flood District believes Urban Stream Systems are uniquely complex and require different management strategies than those in a natural setting. To address this complexity, MHFD is constantly evolving our approach to urban stream management.

Along with our partners, we’ve learned that understanding watershed context is critically important to successfully managing urban streams. The goal of urban stream management is not simply to create systems that move the most water in the shortest amount of time (imagine a concrete ditch), but to create dynamic systems that maximize a wide variety of human and environmental functions, work holistically, and minimize long-term maintenance needs. The ideal stream corridor – the highest-functioning, lowest-maintenance stream system – may look very different from one part of the city to another, and in an urban setting versus a rural or wilderness setting.

 

MHFD has boiled this philosophy down to several key concepts and practices for urban stream management – collectively known as the Urban Stream Framework.

The goal of the Urban Stream Framework: To help ensure that we are executing the right projects to reduce flood risk and improve stream function in a given watershed context.

Photo of Weir Gulch

Evolution of The Traditional Engineering Approach

In the past, MHFD managed urban streams to address flood impacts and routine maintenance needs. That approach focused on planning, design, and maintenance of urban streams, emphasizing flood control and reducing risk to flood hazards, which often required extensive, consistent active management and maintenance to sustain stream functions.

While these approaches may still be necessary in certain instances, we’re transitioning towards engineering approaches that mimic natural processes and forms (e.g., nature-based solutions) that generally require less management and long-term maintenance to sustain high functionality.

Planning and Management

Planning and Management are the more practical aspects of the Urban Stream Framework – they feed into each other in an endless cycle. The goal of planning is to understand the system using tools like Urban Stream Studies and USAP to identify problems as well as actions to ultimately solve those problems. The goal of management is to implement the actions identified in the planning stage and then maintain and monitor those improvements until the need is eventually identified for another more detailed planning study (hopefully many years in the future!). The Urban Stream Framework provides a consistent conceptual and data framework to perform all these activities throughout the entire life cycle of urban stream planning and management.

Tools

MHFD is constantly adding tools to our toolbox in order to efficiently and accurately support the Urban Stream Framework. The tools vary depending on whether the project is in the planning or management phase. Some tools are pdf-based criteria or monitoring plans while others are digital platforms accessible through Confluence. See below for a list of tools* and a link to their location.

*Note some tools are still in development. Check back later for an update on their status.

Featured Resources

Urban Stream Framework: Terms and Definitions

Download PDF

The Five Elements of Urban Streams

Read More

Urban Stream Assessment Procedure

The USAP is a comprehensive tool for evaluating stream conditions across the MHFD service area and communicating those conditions to MHFD and local government staff, consultants, community leaders, and citizens.

USAP

Confluence

MHFD Confluence is a new web application from the Mile High Flood District. It combines GIS Mapping, Project Creation, Budgeting, Project Management, Master Plans, Stream Assessments, and more into a single interface.

Confluence Web App

Watershed Explorer

The Watershed Explorer is an upcoming module of MHFD Confluence that will provide curated access to many urban stream planning and management tools in one location.

In development.

GIS-Based Planning Deliverables

As part of expanding Confluence functionality, MHFD is developing standards for GIS-based deliverables such as assessment data and hydrology and hydrologic models. The deliverables include Problems and Proposed Actions that will be mapped in Confluence.

In development.

The Five Elements of Urban Streams

MHFD determined a series of five core elements at play in the urban setting to assess: community values, hydrology, hydraulics, geomorphology, and vegetation. These core elements provide insights into the processes occurring along the stream, and the stressors and social aspects influencing the physical condition of the stream.

The Five Elements of Urban Streams

Problems and Proposed Actions

Problems are derived during the Planning process and include examples such as undersized culverts, eroding banks, failing drop structures, and increased runoff volume. Proposed Actions address the Problems identified during planning. Proposed Actions are the building blocks for Improvement Projects in the Work Request module of Confluence. It may take more than one Proposed Action to fully address a Problem.

In development.

Stream Typology

Typological naming (i.reach types) has implications for the meaning that is conveyed, and the geomorphic interpretations that result in specific management actions. In the case of urban streams, defining typologies is useful for informing watershed-scale studies of urban environments that are influenced by community values.

In development.

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