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Philanthropists Donate $170,000 to Save The Colorado River in 2011

October 6, 2011
Fort Immediate Release
Save the Colorado River Campaign: 
www.SaveTheColorado.org
Contact:  Gary Wockner, Campaign Coordinator, gary@savethecolorado.newmedia1.net 

$170,000 Donated to Save the Colorado River
Funding focuses on water conservation throughout the basin

Fort Collins, CO – For the second year, the Save the Colorado River Campaign Fund has made donations to 15 environmental groups up and down the basin – from Denver to Las Vegas to San Diego – to help protect and restore the Colorado River.  This year’s funding mostly focuses on efforts to promote and enhance water conservation in municipalities throughout the basin.  The river’s water supplies are being stretched thin, and the river itself has been stretched beyond the breaking point – although 2011 was a historic year for the amount of runoff in the basin, the Colorado River’s 5 trillion gallons of water were once again drained completely out and never reached the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.  (Here’s a photo of the bone dry Colorado River Delta where it no longer meets the Sea.)

“Everyone in the Colorado River basin needs to conserve more water,” said Gary Wockner, Coordinator for the Save the Colorado River Campaign.  “These environmental groups are doing an excellent job at educating the public and policymakers about the need for more water conservation so that people and businesses, as well as the river itself, can thrive in the future.”

Environmental groups that received grants included the groups below in the geographic area noted:

  • Bonneville Environmental Foundation (Basin-wide)
  • Aspen Global Change Institute/Pete McBride (Basin-wide)
  • Citizens for Dixie’s Future (Southern Utah)
  • Colorado Environmental Coalition (Colorado)
  • Living Rivers (Moab, Utah)
  • Great Basin Water Network (Las Vegas, Nevada)
  • San Diego Coastkeeper (San Diego, California)
  • Sonoran Institute (Colorado River Delta/Mexico)
  • Earthjustice (Basin-wide)
  • Sheep Mountain Alliance (Southwest Colorado)
  • Gila Conservation Coalition (New Mexico)
  • Grand Canyon Youth (Grand Canyon Area of Utah/Arizona)
  • Trout Unlimited (Colorado)
  • Glen Canyon Institute (Glen Canyon Area of Utah/Arizona)
  • Grand Canyon Trust (Grand Canyon Area of Utah/Arizona)

Of note, renowned filmmaker Pete McBride received support to promote his new documentary film about the Colorado River, “Chasing Water,” (see trailer) which in the last few weeks has received awards including “Best Documentary” at The Clearwater Film Festival and “Best in Category” at the CINE International Film Festival as well as being a finalist in several upcoming film festivals.  (To request a showing of the film at a group or meeting, contact Pete at PeteMcBride.com.)

The Save the Colorado River Campaign is led by New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colorado. The Campaign Fund is further supported by donations from Patagonia, Clif Bar & Company, Kenney Brothers Foundation, Teva, National Geographic, Environment Now, and The Environment Foundation. Save the Colorado is a Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, a 501c3 charitable organization.

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