The shotgun section of Gore Creek was straightened to accommodate Interstate 70 through Vail.
Town of Vail/Courtesy photo
A group of about 70 hacks and sticks gathered at the Vail Golf Club Tuesday to see a series of plans that could alter the design of the course.
The suggestions to alter the golf course originated through discussions of maintenance challenges at the Vail Golf Club amid the backdrop of the town’s goal to see Gore Creek removed from the state’s 303(d) list of impaired waterways, said Pete Wadden, the town’s watershed health specialist.
The town has passed new ordinances to help improve stream health, including mandatory 10-foot setbacks from the creek, but the 15th hole on the golf course — which is not set back 10 feet from the creek — has been allowed to remain situated as is, in violation of the new code. That’s one of the issues the town would like to correct, along with measures to reduce algae proliferation in the pond, address erosion along the 11th fairway, and relocate the 15th green farther from the creek to expand the riparian buffer zone.
Wadden said the town’s goal is to “reestablish continuous riparian habitat along the creek,” allowing the growth of plants, which “filter pollution, prevent erosion and provide habitat and nutrients to the stream.”
Pete Wadden, the town of Vail’s watershed health specialist, details the possibilities laid out under the newly unveiled Vail Golf Club Gore Creek Enhancement Plan.John LaConte/Vail Daily
Wadden also said the town would like to correct the issue of certain holes being closed during flood season, but he was corrected by attendees who said that parts of the fairways are sometimes restricted, but the holes are not closed.
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Nevertheless, holes 7 and 8 are in the creek’s two-year flood line, and the town would like to see the course adapted to address that issue, Wadden said.
The relocation of holes 7 and 8 would create additional floodplain space, allowing Gore Creek to meander — bending and curving naturally — which helps regulate water flow, reduce erosion, and create diverse habitats that support aquatic life, Wadden said.
Restoring Gore Creek to as close to its original stream channel as possible is among the suggestions on the table, Wadden said, but it would involve undoing a portion of the creek that was straightened to accommodate Interstate 70, called the shotgun section.
Wadden told attendees the shotgun section is now hundreds of feet shorter than it was originally, later clarifying that the straightening of Gore Creek removed, in total, 1,500 feet of original riverbank. The work had unintended consequences, including faster flows, which carry debris and boulders downstream, impacting a section of the creek near the Ford Amphitheater that Wadden said is now among the most impacted sections of Gore Creek in Vail Village.
A map showing Gore Creek’s original path through what is now the town of Vail. The dark blue line in the lower image shows Gore Creek’s current course after the creek was straightened during the construction of Interstate 70. Courtesy image
“It used to be meandering and that has changed,” Wadden said. “Now it’s steeper, it carries more energy, it carries more sediment that affects the trout habitat.”
Golf course architect Kevin Atkinson has been retained by the town of Vail to work on the project. Atkinson has worked on other golf course master planning projects for the town of Vail, and through that work was able to find pictures of the original watercourse through the Gore Creek Valley. He said the idea to put the creek back to its original course could make for a better golf course.
“If I had my choice … going back to the original alignment, as a golf architect, is what I would choose,” Atkinson said. “I think it has the ability to enhance the golf.”
