An initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder

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Lake Powell is draining away from Bullfrog Marina. Now it has to move

For Dave and Gaye Babcock, Lake Powell is like part of the family.  The couple from Helper, Utah, have been coming for nearly 50 years. They got engaged at the...

Just add water: West Texas wetlands project brings new life to ancient riverbed

EL PASO, Texas — The wild waters of the Rio Grande have not flowed freely through the Rio Bosque wetland since 1943. After being left to run dry for most...

‘It’s a different lake now’: As Lake Powell drops, an iconic marina chases deeper...

Titus Crawford spent four days calling Lake Powell boaters this spring. After a record low snowpack and off-the-charts March heat, the reservoir was on track to dip so low...

Fish out of water on the Colorado River

With drought and high temperatures putting unprecedented pressure on water users throughout Colorado, from cities to agriculture, there’s one segment that can be affected first — and maybe worst...

Glen Canyon Dam faces its existential moment

PAGE, Ariz. – In the span of U.S. history certain years are turning points, milestones in the nation’s story. 1776. 1865. 1929. 1968. Circumstance and consequence conspire to make...

Colorado River emergency actions leave root causes of crisis unaddressed

On April 17, the federal government ordered emergency measures to prevent water levels at Lake Powell from falling so low that Glen Canyon Dam, which created the reservoir, could...

The driest year revisited: Five takeaways from 2002 for today’s Colorado River

The Colorado River basin has been here before.  This year’s historic winter of low snow might feel novel. But recent years give some insight into just how dry the West’s...

As the West’s scant snowpack melts, Coloradans brace for a lean water year

Call it the winter that wasn’t. Throughout Colorado a record-warm and dry winter has come to a close. Attention now pivots to spring and the potential for additional snow to...

A record warm winter could send Lake Powell to a historic low. Flaming Gorge...

A cream-colored band lines the orange sandstone walls that rise above the blue-green waters of Lake Powell. The so-called “bathtub rings,” these chalky layers remind boaters zooming across the...

Aspen activist wants ‘rights of nature’ for the Roaring Fork River

Movement reimagines humans’ relationship to local waterways