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

Environmental release flows into the El Chausse restoration site photo

Water-starved Colorado River Delta gets another shot of life from the river’s flows

Despite water shortages along the drought-stressed Colorado River, experimental flows resumed in Mexico to revive trees and provide habitat.

Voters overwhelmingly pass Colorado River District tax hike

Western Slope voters have overwhelmingly passed a proposal by the Colorado River Water Conservation District to raise property taxes across its 15-county region.
Grand Canyon National Park photo

Proposed Tusayan development threatens Grand Canyon National Park

As a developer seeks an easement in the Kaibab National Forest, the character of surrounding towns and parks could drastically change.

Special Report: Colorado, New Mexico struggle to save the blistered Rio Grande, with lessons...

Cities in New Mexico and Colorado are juggling water scarcity concerns over the Rio Grande.

At Phoenix’s far edge, a housing boom grasps for water

BUCKEYE, Ariz. – Beneath the exhausting Sonoran sun, an hour’s drive west of Phoenix, heavy machines are methodically scraping the desert bare. Where mesquite and saguaro once stood, the former...

Pitkin County aims to bring back beavers

Pitkin County is making beavers a top priority, funding measures that may eventually restore North America’s largest rodent to the Roaring Fork watershed.
Old cottonwoods line the banks and trails of the historic Denver Highline Canal

Denver’s High Line Canal a study in using something old to solve new problem

Infrastructure built more than a century ago still endures, but some of Colorado’s old irrigation ditches have been repurposed to meet the moment. The High Line Canal—a 71-mile-long former irrigation conveyance turned greenway and stormwater filtration tool—winds its way through the Denver metro area as an artery of infrastructure boasting a story of adaptation.

Photos: Front Range aerials, May 2019

This photo gallery features images shot during a Lighthawk aerial tour of water-related sites along Colorado's Front Range. After departing from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, the flight...

Less federal pressure, worsening drought, and more interstate tension loom over Colorado River talks

The Colorado River Basin is in crisis.  Climate change is reducing its flow and its biggest reservoirs are shrinking. The seven U.S. states that use the river are negotiating cutbacks...

Photos: Roosevelt Lake and Dam, Arizona, February 2021

This page features photos of Theodore Roosevelt Lake and Theodore Roosevelt Dam, along the Salt River east of Phoenix. Roosevelt Dam, which rises 357 feet, was the first structure completed...