Conservation

As climate change brings warmer weather, Westerners are looking for ways to protect the region’s rivers and streams. In a special report for the Water Desk, Jerd Smith of Fresh Water News explains a strategy for safeguarding Colorado’s Yampa River.

Some fear perceived harm to downstream water users could prompt push for water rights

State officials are hoping dire climate predictions and water shortages will convince Coloradans to get involved in planning how to share a dwindling resource.

Tree rings can tell a story. Wide bands signal a wet period, while narrow ones show a drought. Whole ecosystems can be encoded in...

Carbondale and the Roaring Fork Conservancy are finalizing funding to restore a half-mile stretch of the Crystal River and 18 acres of riparian habitat.

The razorback sucker has survived in the river for more than 3 million years. Climate change could end that.

Colorado joins three other states in approving a new rule that clears the way for drinking treated wastewater.

As drought and climate change sap the Colorado River, even the water in the Upper Basin’s high-elevation reservoirs isn’t enough to protect the larger system.

As climate change and overuse reduce water supplies, the gap between “paper water” (the legal right to use water) and “actual water” (what’s available) is widening.

Experts warn that climate change has rendered old assumptions outdated about what the Colorado River can provide, leaving painful water cuts as the only way forward.