Colorado River Update: BOONDOGGLE ON THE COLORADO RIVER?

Hi Friends of the Colorado River!

First, we’re thrilled to see our op-ed placed in dozens of newspapers across the Southwest U.S. over the past week. From the Salt Lake Tribune, to the Las Vegas Sun, to the Greeley Tribune, our “Boondoggle on the Colorado River” opinion received extremely wide coverage. Syndicated by the “Writers on the Range” news service (read the column here), we make the point — loud and clear — that the recent “agreement” announced by the Bureau of Reclamation doesn’t “save” the Colorado River at all.

Further, the agreement fails — ONCE AGAIN — to address the long-term environmental problems on the river including the endangered fish, proliferation of more and more dams, and the dry Colorado River Delta. Finally — and BIGLY — the agreement completely fails to deal with the elephant in the room, that Glen Canyon Dam should’ve never been built in the first place and continues to drag the entire system down with it.  Until the Feds face the fact that Glen Canyon Dam needs to be decommissioned, these agreements mostly kick the can down the road and are temporary window dressing.

We advocate for long-term, consequential, systemic change — that’s our niche and that’s what needs to happen on the Colorado River. Our “solutions” — described here — have been ignored by the federal and state decision-makers, but we will continue to hammer them forward aggressively, focusedly, and joyfully. A BIG THANK YOU to Writers on the Range!

Second, we continue to speak out for wild nature, including reminding everyone that RIVERS ARE ALIVE. The Colorado Sun recently posted a story about how high flows in Grand County, Colorado, have washed out and damaged a structure being built to create fish passage around the Windy Gap Dam. We’ve been skeptical of this bypass structure from the get-go, but we hope they can fix the problem.

As the climate changes, extreme drought coupled with occasional extreme flooding appears to be the new normal, and the physical concrete structures that humans have built in the past, and are building right now, are not prepared to handle the extremes. Indeed, Rivers Are Alive, and the human impulse to control them is facing more examination and scrutiny all the time.

We say, Let The Rivers Run, and get out of the way! While our policies may run against the grain of the mainstream narrative, we strongly believe that challenging the “networked algorithm” is more important now than ever.

Thank you for your support! It keeps us working hard, speaking the truth, and holding the powerful accountable.

YOU CAN DONATE ONLINE BY CLICKING HERE

Gary Wockner, Director, Save The Colorado.