In November 2014, ACES, in partnership with the City of Aspen, installed a gauge on the Roaring Fork River adjacent to the bridge connecting the old Powerhouse site with the John Denver Sanctuary. A real-time data dashboard is hosted on the ACES website. The dashboard not only displays the data collected by the gauge, but also features photos that are taken twice a day at the gauge site. The photos collected at the gauge site allow us to see the visual story of the data unfold.

The data and photos will help us tell the ecological story of the valley and will be highlighted throughout ACES’ Forest Health, Naturalist, and Education programs. The dashboard makes the information accessible to the public, and we hope it will become a community resource to assess river conditions as they relate to a variety of interests.

There will be many stories to tell in the coming years, drawing from the gauge data and photos. Forest health, diversion activity, timing of runoff, water accountability, and dust on snow events are just a few of those stories we look forward to exploring. We hope the gauge brings the river to life for our community and that the accessibility of the data will help us all pay attention to its flow and its health.