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Save The Colorado 2017 End Note: “We’re a guard dog, not a lap dog.”

Hi Friends of the Colorado River!

As 2017 comes to a close, we found out the threats to the Colorado River and its tributaries are intensifying and even worse than we thought.

First, last week a Wyoming news publication revealed an effort by the State of Wyoming to put a new 280 foot-tall dam in the headwater tributaries of the Yampa River. The Yampa River is one of the least dammed in the Colorado River basin, and flows into the Green River which flows into the Colorado. In a news story published in WyoFile on Dec. 19, 2017,  even some locals called the project “pork” and said it was “not a good expense for the state of Wyoming”. We issued a press release, along with environmental group colleagues, titled: “BOONDOGGLE ALERT: 280 FOOT-TALL DAM PROPOSED IN WYOMING’S LITTLE SNAKE RIVER DRAINAGE, A MAJOR TRIBUTARY TO THE YAMPA RIVER“. 

Second, at the very bottom of the Colorado River basin, we found out what many people have suspected for decades, that the complete draining of the Colorado River is having an extreme negative impact on the Sea of Cortez. Before the massive Colorado River dams were built, about 5 trillion gallons of water/year would flow into the Sea. Now, ZERO water flows into the Sea, not one drop.  Two weeks ago, UCLA published research titled, “Colorado River delta fish risk extinction through interbreeding due to lack of freshwater“. The study describes how fish and crabs are declining, interbreeding, and facing extinction because the Colorado River has been completely drained and destroyed.

We know these are not happy stories! And we appreciate you staying abrest of the news, even if it’s bad. Please know that we will continue our work in 2018, just as we have in 2017 — Save The Colorado is a guard dog, not a lap dog — and we will do whatever we can to fight the proposed new dams/diversions and protect the river.

All best, and Happy Holidays from the Save The Colorado Team.

Thank you for your support!

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