Recreation

Work underway in the Roaring Fork River will make for a smoother ride for boaters beginning this spring.

A monitoring program is trying to ensure that Aspen Skiing Co.’s increased water use for snowmaking won’t harm area creeks.

Drought, growth, climate change, budget cuts, wildfires and competing demands for water are among the challenges facing the Colorado Water Plan.

Pitkin County is warming, the number of frost-free days is increasing and snowpack is declining—all of which have myriad impacts on life in the Aspen area.

Many streams that people count on for fishing, water and recreation are warming as global temperatures rise. But they aren’t all heating up in the same way.

Colorado’s virus-related restrictions are forcing commercial rafting companies to create social distance on unruly rivers and face the potential for smaller crowds.

With drought continuing to grip the American West, Colorado is declaring one of its last, mostly free-flowing rivers as over-appropriated.

Though many agricultural interests and water utilities support the new Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, as it is known, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Patrick Pfaltzgraff, director of the state’s Water Quality Control Division, said they will take legal action to protect streams that are no longer subject to federal oversight.

Three conservation groups in Colorado are working on a revision to a state law that would allow natural river features to get a water right.

A warming climate has been linked to human activity around the world, and has affected the Colorado River System as well. The impacts are substantial, from reduced water flows, threats to indigenous species and the influx of new invasive species along the river system.