Steamboat Pilot & Today
The Yampa River basin has experienced calls for senior water rights for two of the past three dry summers, and the Colorado Division of Water Resources currently is reviewing a formal request to declare the lower basin over-appropriated as is the case across most of Colorado.
In mid-March, as part of a 30-day public comment period, Moffat County commissioners submitted a letter to the Division of Water Resources state engineer asking for a two-year extension before the start of the over-appropriation status.
“This feels like a fast-paced decision, without time being allowed to thoughtfully develop localized solutions to really address the issues at hand,” the commissioners’ letter stated. “The number one comment coming from our water users and landowners is a desire to understand what the impacts of the Yampa over-appropriation means.”
Aspen Journalism
A herd of bighorn sheep graze along the Crystal River near Penny Hot Springs on Tuesday. Local groups are restarting a push for a federal Wild & Scenic designation on the upper portion of the river.
Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism
REDSTONE After a four-year hiatus, residents of the Crystal River valley are reviving efforts to protect the upper portion of the river through a federal designation.
The Crystal River Caucus, Pitkin County, the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association and others are once again discussing designating the upper 39 miles of the river from the two branches of its headwaters in the Snowmass-Maroon Bells Wilderness to the first major downstream irrigation diversion, the Sweet Jessup Canal as Wild & Scenic.
Heather Sackett / Aspen Journalism
Colorado River Water Conservation District officials have laid out a framework for how they will spend their new tax revenue with an emphasis on equity across water sectors and gaining the support of local government.
At a Dec. 3 board meeting, River District General Manager Andy Mueller presented a framework for the organization’s new Partnership Project Funding Program, which creates a system for how entities can apply for funding and how River District staff and board members will evaluate those applications.
In November, an overwhelming 72% of voters approved ballot measure 7A, which raises property taxes across the district and will add about $5 million annually to the River District’s coffers. Eighty-six percent, or $4.2 million, of that will go toward funding water projects.
Aspen Journalism
The dam that forms Windy Gap Reservoir on the Colorado River, just below its confluence with the Fraser River in Grand County. A project to build a connectivity channel for the Colorado River is included in the River District’s fiscal implementation plan and could be on the short list for funding through the organization’s new Partnership Project Funding Program.
Colorado River Water Conservation District officials have laid out a framework for how they will spend their new tax revenue with an emphasis on equity across water sectors and gaining the support of local government.
At a Dec. 3 board meeting, River District General Manager Andy Mueller presented a framework for the organization’s new Partnership Project Funding Program, which creates a system for how entities can apply for funding and how River District staff and board members will evaluate those applications.