Advisor: Ellen Wohl
Email: owen.richardson@colostate.edu
Previous Education: B.A. Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, 2024.
About me: I grew up in Weld County, Colorado, spending much of my childhood exploring the St. Vrain River and Boulder Creek, catching crayfish and swimming—or venturing deeper into the mountains. These early experiences, along with witnessing the impacts of hydraulic fracturing, agriculture, and the 2013 floods, fostered a strong connection to the natural resources around me and sparked a desire to understand how human activities shape the landscape and vice versa.
My academic journey in geosciences began at Dartmouth College, where I developed an interest in hydrology and geomorphology. For my undergraduate thesis, I worked on climate-driven changes in flood hydrology in the Northeastern U.S., using data science and GIS to investigate how watershed characteristics influence changes to the flood regime. I also pursued a flood hydrology project in Guam with NOAA, focusing on the diurnal cyclicity of flash floods. However, it was in a fluvial geomorphology course that I first became curious about sediment transport and the physical processes of river systems.
Research Focus:
Now, back in Colorado, my current research at the Southern Plains Land Trust focuses on evaluating Low-Tech Process Based Restoration (LTPBR) structures designed to improve surface water retention, subsurface recharge, erosion control, and revegetation in degraded shortgrass prairies. Situated in the semiarid Arkansas River Valley, I will primarily study two intermittent channels, Mud Creek and Rule Creek, and their tributaries, which are characterized by “flashy” hydrology. LTPBR structures have been built in these catchments in phases since 2019, presenting a unique opportunity to study how geomorphic and hydrologic factors contribute to long-term restoration success or failure. By monitoring these interventions, I aim to provide insights that support sustainable land management and contribute to the recovery of channels impacted by historic grazing and other land use changes.