Happy Colorado River Day!

Hello Friends of the Colorado River!

Yesterday, July 25th, was the 2nd annual celebration of “Colorado River Day,” which marks the day in 1921 that Congress named it the Colorado River. In collaboration with the National Young Farmers Coalition and Nuestro Rio, we helped support events in five Southwest U.S. cities to mark the day and set a new path forward for water conservation.  In Santa Fe, Denver, Grand Junction, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, elected leaders joined together with farmers to express support for the water conservation in cities and farms as one strategy to supply water to cities and protect and restore the river. The show of support was in the context of the U.S. Department of Interior’s Colorado River Basin Study, which indicated that up to three million acre feet of water can be conserved in cities and farms across the region.  Signing on to the Colorado River Day support letter were Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Santa Fe Mayor David Cross, and San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria among others.  The National Young Farmers Coalition is a new and emerging voice in Colorado River issues — representing smaller farms and younger farmers, the Coalition strives to lead a path forward that works to sustainably grow crops as well as conserve water and protect the river.  Colorado River Day was covered in a range of media, including the Santa Fe newspaper, the Denver Post, a Grand Junction TV station, and the Public News Service in California.

As part of the Colorado River Day celebration, The Nature Conservancy teamed up with Whole Foods to raise money and awareness in Whole Foods stores in the Southwest.  In addition, the two organizations produced three videos about healthy food production that also focuses on water conservation and river protection.  Click here to see the video from New Mexico, here for the video from Colorado, and here for the video from Utah. In addition, you can learn more about the use of water across the Southwest to grow crops by visiting Western Resource Advocates’ website here that focuses on Colorado River Day.  A range of crops are grown throughout the Southwest U.S. with Colorado River water.  By all working together, we have to find a way to help farmers more efficiently use water while protecting and restore the river.

Happy Colorado River Day, and thank you for your support!