A Dropcam has been installed at the Dad Clark Gulch East Branch project site to provide live streaming video for the construction of sculpted concrete drop structures and other channel improvements. Click the following link to view.

Dad Clark Gulch Dropcam

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Staff.

When Grant pointed out the fossils, Troy at first didn’t believe what was so obvious to his young son. “I just thought, yeah fossils, it was so hot and the ground was getting so hard to dig, I went ahead and got the electric jack hammer out.” Troy has seen many excavations as a result of his design work in drainage and flood control, but never thought that his own backyard could literally contain a treasure trove of the earth’s history.

Luckily, another ICON engineer, Aaron Bousselot and his wife Jen showed up with beer and the sand box excavation slowed down. Jen has a PhD in Horticulture and formerly served as the Douglas County extenion agent. Jen knows her plants! She and Aaron quickly recognized that the bedrock Troy was trying to blast through just might contain something significant.

At Aaron’s and Jen’s urging, Troy brought a small sampling of the fossils into ICON’s office to show off the hard work from his backyard.  Troy knew that the person that would be the most interested would be ICON’s President, Penn Gildersleeve.  According to Troy, he figured that Penn is the closest thing ICON has to being an actual fossil himself!  In reality, Penn is somewhat of an amateur paleontologist.  When he was much younger, he worked several summers on excavations in both archaeology and paleontology through a museum associated with Idaho State University.  He is currently taking certification classes in Paleontology from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS). 

The next day, Penn took the sampling of fossils to the DMNS for further identification. Penn had been studying the geology and ancient land forms of the Castle Rock area in a class he was taking being taught by Bob Raynolds, PhD, research associate with the DMNS Earth Sciences Department.  Dr. Raynolds showed the fossils to his associates at the museum, and the importance of what Troy had found was quickly recognized.  We were all astounded by the results. 

Troy’s backyard find was attributed to the ancient Castle Rock Rain Forest which thrived in the Denver basin right after an asteroid strike near Cancun, Mexico some 64.1 million years ago. It is believed that this asteroid collision likely resulted in, or at least contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.


Ian Miller, with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, says the find is significant in that it is just up the road from one of the best flora finds ever, which was made at the Wolfensberger exit on I-25 back in 1997. Ian is currently the DMNS Curator of Paleontology and Chair of the Earth Science Department.  The focus of his PhD thesis was in Paleobotany and he has studied the Castle Rock Rain Forest extensively.

Plans were made for the DMNS to visit the Carmann backyard and collect additional fossil samples.  Ian brought Doug Kline, Research Assistant at DMNS with him.  Doug turned out to be a major help with the excavation as he taught the boys with patience and understanding. Along the way, news of the discovery spread, and a local TV Reporter and camera crew showed up to help document the excitement.

As Miller told Jon Bowman, with Denver’s KDVR Fox 31: “The entire Front Range area from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs was part of the Castle Rock Rain Forest, so finding fossils—in this case leaf fossils—is not that uncommon. We will gather about 300 leaves for study so we can find out data relating to how hot the area was and how much water was in the region.”

Troy’s kids had a ball digging in with the scientists and their dad; each had their own shovels and learned the correct way to harvest the ancient treasures. Penn and his son-in-law Brent Kaslon helped out, although Troy insists that Penn mostly just watched.  Brent is an Associate with the Landscape Architect firm of Valerian, and used his horticultural background to relate the fossils to modern day flora.  Although most of the fossils were from an extinct type of Sycamore tree, at least eight other species were identified in the field.  Many fossil leafs, well in excess of the 300 originally hoped for, were excavated and hauled to the museum for further study. However, many more remain underground in the Carmann’s backyard.

There is an interesting engineering lesson to be learned here. Most of the leaf fossils, which varied from about an inch up to several inches in size, are complete, with some showing intricate details. This implies that the portion of the ancient riverbed where the leaves were deposited must have been very tranquil, such as might have been found in an eddy. The lack of turbulence, coupled with a quick burial in sediment contributed to preserving the leaves intact…..Geomorphology 101.

Years from now, Troy’s kids will be able to visit the museum and show off their fossil find to their children, as their names will be on the leaf fossils found on the Carmann homestead. Troy’s wife Minda and Grant have already made the trip to the museum and say that finding the fossils in the museum was almost as exciting as the first time they found them in their future sand box.

ICON and the Carmann family wish to thank all those who made this excavation possible: The Denver Musuem of Nature and Science and particulary Ian Miller, Doug Kline and Bob Raynolds. We also are very appreciative for the excellent reporting and news coverage provided by television reporter Jon Bowman, and the cameraman with Denver’s KDVR Fox 31.

Now is your chance to help make a difference!  The CASFM Board of Directors has endorsed the soliciting of funds that will be used to help reduce the risk from post-wildfire flooding within Larimer and El Paso Counties resulting from the Waldo Canyon and High Park fires.  This fund raising activity will commence at the CASFM 2012 Annual Conference and run for a period of 2-months, after which the accumulated funds will be used to acquire CoCoRaHS Rain Gauges and/or help the 2012 wildfire impacted communities to meet local funding requirements for a State grant.

Please find any of the representatives from ICON Engineering, Inc. at the conference and they can provide more information and assist you in making a greatly appreciated donation.  Simply visit ICON’s booth at this year’s conference.  Not going to the conference?  You can still contact ICON to receive and fill out a pledge card.  Their contact information is provided through the ICON or CASFM websites.

What’s a CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge?  Glad you asked!  The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network is a high density network of volunteers who take daily measurements of rain, hail and snow.  CoCoRaHS came about as a result of the devastating 1997 flood in Fort Collins.  CoCORaHS was born with the intent of doing a better job of mapping and reporting intense storms.  Volunteers post their daily observations on the CoCoRaHS Website www.cocorahs.org.  It is easy to do, practical and the data produced is incredibly useful.

Colorado’s Governor approved $200,000 for Colorado Post-Wildfire Flooding Early Warning Grants to be administered through the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.  This funding will support local early warning systems in areas impacted by the Waldo Canyon and High Park wildfires which have greatly increased risk from post-wildfire flooding.  Grants can be used for a number of early flood warning measures, including establishing stream gauges, rain gauges and warning sirens.  These grants are for up to $25,000 and require a 25% local match.  Your donation to CASFM will go to help offset the local match requirement.

Want More Information? Visit the ICON booth at the CASFM 2012 Annual Conference!

See our holiday video message below:

In lieu of traditional cards, we have made a donation to the Denver Rescue Mission.

Branter Bridge Project Rendering

The Branter Gulch Pedestrian Bridge Project began as an idea of the Wright Farms Metropolitan District (the “District”) to serve as a solution to the safety problem arising from the students crossing Brantner Gulch and Holly Street while walking to and from school. To help study the feasibility of a pedestrian bridge across the gulch, the District submitted the project to the Colorado School of Mines for use as a senior project for graduating engineering students. Because the results of the senior project were positive and showed a real benefit to the community, the District hired ICON Engineering to prepare preliminary plans and sought open space grant funding from Adams County. Impressed with the project and recognizing the need to solve the safety concerns, the Adams County Board of County Commissioners awarded over $250,000 in open space funds to the District to help build the bridge.

To date, ICON and the District have been working diligently to finalize design plans, obtain the necessary permits, ensure the wetlands in the gulch are protected, and to create a bridge that is an asset to the local community and all users of the Adams County and City of Thornton regional trail system.

Currently, the District expects to complete construction in the Spring of 2012. If you have any questions, please contact the Wright Farms Metropolitan District at (720) 560-1984 or visit the District’s webpage at http://wrightfarmsmetropolitandistrict.com.

More Information to follow…….