We spent the morning in the field with one of our advisers, Cyndy Hines. We took a bit of a botanical tour of our reach along the creek. We focused on identifying the primary species and the different microenvironments that exist in the area. We found a surprising amount of plant diversity, and ended up leaving with a large handful of mystery species which we hope to run by someone with more experience with botany.

The afternoon brought us to Casco Construction, a local Colorado Springs company who has built a large portion of the newest controlling features in Monument Creek and the surrounding watershed. We sat down with Mike Casimiro, the founder and owner. He was very friendly and a trove of good information. Mike gave us a much better idea of what strategies for flood mitigation and water control are already in place, as well as possible future implementations. His area of experience was on concrete drop structures and the use of concrete (rather than boulders and grout) in chronically wet environments. Going forward he will definitely be a great resource as we enter the design phase of the project. As if all that wasn’t enough, Will and I stopped at a farmers market north of town after our meeting. We picked up some produce and honey to end the day on a sweet note.