Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership - focused on watershed restoration and preservation in Ouray County

2025 RiverFest Sponsor Form

Please fill out this form to provide your contact information, select your sponsorship level, and set up payment.

You can find information about sponsorships at https://ridgwayriverfest.org/sponsor-resources/ at the 2025 Ridgway RiverFest Sponsorship Level Information link.

You can make your sponsorship donation by credit card or PayPal after clicking on submit at the bottom of the form below. (We actually prefer if you can mail a check so we can avoid credit card processing fees.) If you so choose, you can mail your check made payable to UWP to: Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership, P.O. Box 392, Ridgway, CO 81432.

Questions? Please contact RiverFest Assistant Coordinator Joanna Weaver (joanna@uncompahgrewatershed.org), RiverFest Coordinator Tanya Ishikawa (tanya@uncompahgrewatershed.org), or call and leave a message at 970-325-3010.

Thank you so much for considering support of this important community celebration and activities to protect and improve our watershed resources.

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Name *

First

Last

Company or Organization

Mailing Address (of company, organization or individual making the donation)

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

City

— Select state —AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingState

Zip Code

Last four digits of tax id # or social security # from donors of $100 or more who want to receive a Colo. state income tax credit

This tax credit is currently not available. If UWP is able to renew authorization for the tax credit before June 2023, the tax credits will be offered again.

Email *

Phone *

Please select your sponsorship level. *

Class VI: $4,000 – ALREADY TAKEN FOR 2025
Class V: $2,500 (financial contribution)
Class IV: $1,000 (financial contribution)
Class III: $500 (financial contribution)
Rubber Ducky Race Prize (products/services)
Junk of the Unc Race Prize (products/services)
Class II: $250 (financial contribution)
Class I: $125 (financial contribution)
Silent Auction Donation (products/services)
Festival Service/Product Discount
Friend of the River: $5 to $120 (financial contribution)

Silent Auction Donations or In-Kind Contributions, Trades & Discounts: If you are donating these, please list the services or products and their values.

5th Annual Uncompahgre River Classic

The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership (UWP) is raising awareness about the importance of understanding streamflows and peak flows through an annual contest – the Uncompahgre River Classic. Keep up with the Classic updates to learn about how important river flows are to our watershed. Plus, you can enter the contest with your prediction of the date and time that the Uncompahgre River above the Ridgway Reservoir will hit its peak flow this May and June to win great prizes!

One FREE entry per person!
Entry Period: April 1 to May 31, 2024.
The winner of the Uncompahgre River Classic will be announced at the Uncompahgre Rubber Ducky Race on July 31.
Only people who are 13 years old and up may enter, but we encourage families to make predictions together with their children.

What do you know about streamflows and the peak flow of the Uncompahgre River?

The staff and board of UWP hope you will take this opportunity learn more about the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed by checking out our streamflow blog posts, where you can read about how and why monitoring streamflows and annual peak flows are important. See past streamflow blog posts.

For resources of streamflow data in the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed, check out this watershed page.
You can also check out information about the 2024 peak flow*, 2023 peak flow, 2022 peak flow, and the 2021 peak flow.

*The peak flow from runoff from snowpack combined with a storm event happened in late June in 2024, but a major storm event later summer actually created a larger peak flow on Aug. 16. (The Uncompahgre River Classic picks winners based on the peak flow from runoff, which can only happen before August.)

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2025 Prizes

ANNOUNCEMENT COMING ON MAY 20!

Winning entrants will receive gear, hats or shirts worth between $30 and $300.

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OFFICIAL 2025 UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER CLASSIC ENTRY FORM

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PEAK FLOW PREDICTION *

Date

Time

Please ONLY select a date between May 1 (12:00 a.m.) and July 30 (11:45 p.m.). Then, pick a time to the nearest 15 minutes i.e. 12:00, 12:15, 12:30 or 12:45.

Peak Flow Rate (optional, used for a tie breaker)

You can type in a number (you don’t have to use the arrows in the box). This answer is not required. However, in the case that more than two people make similar correct or closest predictions, the person who fills in this blank with the closest correct flow rate will be the prize winner. The volume of river flows are estimated by cubic feet per second (cfs). Over the past 10 years, the peak flow measured at the selected location of the Uncompahgre River has ranged from 288 cfs to 1,460 cfs.

Name *

First

Last

Phone *

Email *

Mailing Address *

City or Town *

State *

Zip Code *

Entry Date *

Please fill in the date when you make your entry with your prediction. In the case that more than one person makes the correct or closest prediction to the peak flow date and time as well as the cubic feet per second, the person who purchased an entry first will be the winner.

Please consider donating to UWP to help support the creation of this contest and the streamflow information campaign that goes along with it. You can donate by clicking on the water droplet on the right margin of this page (or at the link in your entry confirmation email)! We recommend $10 to $20 but any amount is appreciated! Thank you.

Note: If your entry is successfully submitted, you will get an email confirmation from Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership with a record of your prediction(s) and contact information.

If you do not see an email confirmation in your inbox, please check your spam/junk folder. If a confirmation is not there, your entry was not submitted successfully. Typically, the issue is accidentally not entering required information or not adequately clicking on the submit button. You may retry your entry or email Tanya at tanya@uncompahgrewatershed.org for help.

RULES & GUIDELINES

Price: One FREE entry per person. Donations are much appreciated to help support UWP’s education activities about streamflow science.

Guess/Entry Purchase Period: April 1 through May 31, 2025

Peak Flow Predictions: Entrants must predict the date and the time of the Uncompahgre River’s peak flow from spring runoff between May 1 (12:00 a.m.) through July 30 (11:45 p.m.), 2025. Predictions will be in increments of 15 minutes i.e. 12:00, 12:15, 12:30, and 12:45.

Winner Announcement: July 31, 2025 (at Uncompahgre Rubber Ducky Race). You do not have to be present to win. Winners will also be notified by email and phone.

Peak Flow Determination: The correct prediction will be based on the peak flow of the Uncompahgre River, above the Ridgway Reservoir, that results primarily from snowmelt between May 1 and July 30, 2025. UWP will use measurements from the U.S. Geological Survey gage at County Road 24 to determine the top three predictions.

Winner Determination: The winner of the Uncompahgre River Classic will be the entrant who predicted the closest date and time to the actual date and time of the peak flow. If more than one entrant is equally close to predicting the correct date and time, the entrant who paid for their entry first will be the winner. If more than one entrant is equally close or correct in their prediction and paid for their entries at the same time, the entrant who also predicts the flow rate (cubic feet per second) closest to the actual peak flow will be the winner. The second through fifth place winners will be determined similarly. Each entrant may only win one prize. If entrants have more than one of closest prediction among the top five, they may not win a second prize. The entrant with the next closest prediction will be selected to win the next prize.

Disclaimers: Flows outside the designated peak flow period outlined in the contest rules, and in locations other than the designated U.S.G.S. gage will not be considered in this contest.

Eligibility: Only people who are 13 years old and up may enter the contest (families with children under 13 are encouraged to make their predictions together and enter under the parent/guardian name). Board members and contracted staff of the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership as well as immediate family members living in their household are not eligible to win prizes in the Uncompahgre River Classic.

Prize Pickup: Winners must pick up their prizes in Ridgway, Colo. UWP will not ship prizes, unless winners pay shipping costs.

Entrant Agreement: By entering a prediction in the Uncompahgre River Classic, the entrant agrees to receive emails from UWP through the period of the contest: April 1 to July 31, 2025. Emails will primarily give updates on the contest, educational information about peak flows/streamflows and related UWP activities. Afterwards, entrants will only continue to receive emails from UWP if they subscribe to updates on the form in the top right margin of UWP’s website or at the link in the thank you confirmation for each purchase. UWP may also send one mailing to entrants’ mailing addresses annually related to our nonprofit’s membership drive. Please email info@uncompahgrewatershed.org if you wish to be taken off the membership drive list. UWP will only give entrant contact information to the contest sponsors, who may contact you but must request your permission to be added to any regular mailing lists.

If you have any questions about the Uncompahgre River Classic, please contact UWP Communications Director Tanya Ishikawa at info@uncompahgrewatershed.org or 970-325-3010.

Colorado River Watch

The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership organizes six volunteers to sample water at six key sites selected in the Upper Uncompahgre Watershed as part of the Colorado River Watch program. The data collected by these volunteers is crucial in understanding water quality in the watershed, and helping to plan restoration projects.

Check out the 10-minute video about River Watch in the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed

You can download the documents from the video here: Meet Your Watershed Figures

Arlen Huggins is the River Watch liaison to the UWP Board, who helps troubleshoot and report on sampling activities and administration. Our volunteers are: Arlen Huggins, Amy Relnick, John Hulburd, Ronna Edgett-Underwood, Ali Dahl, and Brian Mueller. Thank you to past volunteers, Taylor Poyner, Diane Spooner, Leslie Kaminski, Dudley Case, and Sharon Case. UWP receives funding from Ouray County and the Town of Ridgway to support our water quality monitoring activities.

In March 2025, Virginia Weiskopf joined UWP to serve as a River Corps member for the year. Virginia will do important work in streamflow measurement to complement our water quality monitoring work, as well as assisting with related education.

In the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed, other River Watch volunteers include Ethan Funk and Eric Funk who sample from just below the City of Ouray to up Red Mountain Pass, as well as one site along CR 361. Also, Steven, the Parks Supervisor for the Town of Ridgway, contributes to River Watch data with water samples from Beaver Creek at Ridgway Ditch where it crosses CR 5A near the entrance to Elk Meadows.

Huggins produces periodic reports on past River Watch data within the upper watershed. The reports can be viewed and downloaded here:

monthly River Watch reports

2020 UWP River Watch Report

RW Data Summary (2019-21) and Review of WQCC 2022 Reg. 93 – 303(d) List of Impaired Waters

Sampling sites are called River Watch stations, and UWP’s is responsible for the following stations, from south to north:

Uncompahgre River at County Road 3

Uncompahgre River near Charles Street in Ridgway

Dallas Creek

Uncompahgre River at County Road 24 bridge

Uncompahgre River at the Pa-co-chu-puk area of Ridgway State Park

Cow Creek

In summer 2021, UWP’s River Watch team will also begin sampling at Blue Lakes in the Sneffels Wilderness Area and three high alpine locations up Red Mountain Pass.

Read about River Watch in the Jan. 2019 article in The Watch newspaper

You can find out information at: https://coloradoriverwatch.org/

Riparian & River Habitat Restoration

UWP is involved and has initiated a variety of projects to restore and protect riparian areas including fish and wildlife habitat along the Uncompahgre River and throughout the upper watershed. Current activities include maintaining plants and picking up litter and debris in riparian areas, monitoring water quality monthly, offering river and watershed ecology education, and providing scientific and community stakeholder input for stormwater, stream and public land management planning.

Current Restoration Projects:

South Ouray Erosion Control Project, funded by CDPHE Non-Point Source Program Grant

Rollans Park Adopt-A-Park Annual Cleanup- along Uncompahgre River in Ridgway, annually in May or June

Love Your Gorge- annual volunteer day in collaboration with the Ouray Ice Park at the Uncompahgre River Gorge in the fall

Ridgway Reservoir Cleanup, annually in October in collaboration with Colorado Parks & Wildlife in Ridgway State Park

Billy Creek Fish Habitat Restoration

Past Restoration Projects:

Participation in the Town of Ridgway’s Uncompahgre River Assessment

Billy Creek & Cow Creek tire cleanup 2016

June 2018 Arizona Youth Service Project– Ridgway

Idarado Public Update

March 29, 2013April 19, 2018

Thanks to Camille Price from the Colorado Division of Mining Reclamation and Safety, speakers from a variety of involved parties came to the Ouray Community Center to give a public update on the Idarado Mine…

UWP Highlighted by the Colorado Watershed Assembly

February 27, 2013

The UWP is proud to announce that or organization was chosen to be highlighted by the Colorado Watershed Assembly this week! Thank you to Erika Shioya and the rest of the folks at CWA for…

Perfect Weather for the Winter Mine Tour!

February 5, 2013

Due to uncooperative weather, the UWP and Don Paulson decided to postpone the Mine Tour one week — and good thing we did! The weather was fantastic on our warm Saturday morning on February 2….

Watershed Movie a hit!

December 7, 2012December 12, 2012 2 Comments

On Thursday, November 29, the Sherbino Theater hosted the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership in their screening of “Watershed”, a Robert Redford film. The movie discusses issues within the Colorado River Basin, such as issues with water…