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Tag: Colorado River

Western Slope river channel tests positive for invasive and ‘devastating’ zebra mussels—again
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

Western Slope river channel tests positive for invasive and ‘devastating’ zebra mussels—again

By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun New rounds of samples for the voracious creatures keep turning up positive, complicating containment The Colorado River is now officially “positive” for invasive zebra mussels in the latest failure of containment for the voracious species, after three new samples came up with larvae July 3, from between Glenwood Springs and Silt. The main stem Colorado River discoveries piled on top of a confirmed “large number” of adult zebra mussels in a private body of water in western Eagle County, and two more positive larvae tests, at Highline Lake and Mack Mesa Lake, both near the Utah border, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said Wednesday. Sampling was redoubled throughout June after tests found a single zebra mussel larvae, or veliger, in the Colorado...
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State board to hear Front Range concerns over Western Slope’s $99M Shoshone river deal
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

State board to hear Front Range concerns over Western Slope’s $99M Shoshone river deal

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun Front Range providers and others will voice their concerns in September about the Western Slope’s plan to purchase the historic and highly coveted water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant Colorado’s top water board unanimously agreed Tuesday to hear out Front Range water operators’ concerns about a Western Slope plan to purchase historic Colorado River water rights. The Colorado River Water Conservation District, which represents 15 Western Slope counties, negotiated a $99 million deal to purchase water rights tied to the century-old Shoshone Power Plant, owned by a subsidiary of Xcel Energy.  The River District and the Front Range groups — Aurora Water, Denver Water, Colorado Springs Utilities and Northern Water — all want to maintain th...
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Colorado River Basin states inch toward fragile water compromise as federal deadlines approach
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, National

Colorado River Basin states inch toward fragile water compromise as federal deadlines approach

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun The federal government laid out firm deadlines for the process to decide how to manage the river’s future. As the negotiations continue, environmental conditions in the basin worsen. Colorado River Basin states are almost, sort of, close to a small compromise in their negotiations that focuses on matching reservoir releases more closely to the river’s actual flow. Colorado water watchers seem to be rolling with it — so far.  Top negotiators in Colorado and six basin states offered a glimpse into the high-stakes talks for the first time in months during several water meetings this week. The states are negotiating how to manage the future water supply for 40 million people once the existing rules expire in 2026.  The opposing sides in the ne...
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Western Slope pushes $99M deal for historic Shoshone water rights—Front Range says not so fast
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Western Slope pushes $99M deal for historic Shoshone water rights—Front Range says not so fast

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun Western Slope communities, led by the Colorado River District, want to buy the historic Shoshone Power Plant water rights to support their economies. Front Range water providers worry their water supplies could be harmed. Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Northern Water voiced opposition Wednesday to the Western Slope’s proposal to spend $99 million to buy historic water rights on the Colorado River from Xcel Energy. The Colorado River Water Conservation District has been working for years to buy the water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant, a small, easy-to-miss hydropower plant off Interstate 70 east of Glenwood Springs. The highly coveted water rights are some of the largest and oldest on the Colorado River in Colorado. The Front Range p...
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Walcher: The “sky is falling” water narrative doesn’t hold water
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Approved, GregWalcher.com, National, State

Walcher: The “sky is falling” water narrative doesn’t hold water

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com Every year for the past 25, at least, negotiating teams for the seven states on the Colorado River have worked to overcome a new crisis, invariably driven by two entities: the State of California and the federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). For a quarter-century, those teams have responded to federal pressure based on the dubious theory that an ongoing drought, and a resulting decline in the river’s flow, somehow changed the law and gave BOR authority to ignore the Interstate Compact. Not once has the federal agency ever acknowledged the government’s own role in reducing the river’s flow, by neglecting to manage thirsty invasive species like tamarisk, and especially by allowing national forests to become so overgrown that much of...
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CPW releases results of additional testing after invasive species discovery in Colorado River
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Approved, Out There Colorado, State

CPW releases results of additional testing after invasive species discovery in Colorado River

By Spencer McKee | Out There Colorado On Tuesday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that the agency has concluded samplings effort related to the discovery of zebra mussel veligers in the Colorado River for 2024. Zebra mussels are an invasive species in Colorado and are known to be devastating to aquatic ecosystems and infrastructure. The testing period included collecting 450 water samples from the Colorado River, Government Highline Canal, James M. Robb State Park, and Highline Lake State Park. Additional testing also took place throughout the Grand Valley region. READ THE FULL STORY AT OUT THERE COLORADO
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Colorado River management proposals receive mixed reactions, with hints of possible legal battle
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado River management proposals receive mixed reactions, with hints of possible legal battle

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The U.S. Department of the Interior's alternative proposals to guide the management of the Colorado River received mixed reactions from key negotiators and officials whose support is crucial in the river's successful operation in the years to come. Several reiterated they don't want litigation, which would tie up any plans in the court systems for years, but they also acknowledged — or at least hinted — that a legal battle is a plausible outcome. "We don't want a legal fight," said Tom Buschatzke, the Arizona Department of Water Resources director. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado River Basin’s largest users look to conservation strategies, while negotiators work on future
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Approved, Law Week Colorado, Local

Colorado River Basin’s largest users look to conservation strategies, while negotiators work on future

By Michael Rummel | Law Week Colorado While water may cover 71% of the Earth’s surface, it’s frequently been in short supply in Colorado and across the West. As the climate changes and the Colorado River Basin sees dry days ahead, negotiators from the states that share its water and the Native Americans who have used it for centuries are hard at work to create a sustainable framework for the basin’s future.  As the negotiators try to close the distance between the many competing demands for one of the most precious resources in the West, representatives from some of the basin’s largest water users, agriculture, ranching and municipalities, met at the 2024 Getches-Wilkinson Center and the Water & Tribes Initiative’s Conference on the Colorado River to disc...
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Invasive, fast-reproducing zebra mussels found in Colorado River near Grand Junction
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Invasive, fast-reproducing zebra mussels found in Colorado River near Grand Junction

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Voracious zebra mussels appear to be spreading into the Colorado River near Grand Junction and infesting the Government Highline canal watering Mesa County farms, less than two years after the invasive species first appeared in a Western Slope lake, wildlife officials said Tuesday.  Western Slope officials called the news “devastating,” and are warning downstream water conservation partners beginning with Utah that the fast-reproducing mussels are likely on the way. Colorado Parks and Wildlife had led the charge to combat zebra mussels after finding the first lake infestation at nearby Highline Lake State Park in September 2022.  The zebra mussels strip plankton from the water en masse, depriving native species of vital food. The ...
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Palisade High School releases its thousandth endangered razorback into the Colorado River
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Palisade High School releases its thousandth endangered razorback into the Colorado River

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun With squeals, shrieks and plenty of peer pressure, Palisade High School students lined up to release endangered razorback suckers — with a kiss for good luck — into the Colorado River. “Grab a fish, kiss it, put it in the river,” Charlotte Allen, 18, a senior at the high school, told amped up students as they prepared to hold the slippery fish.  The school’s endangered fish hatchery, which began in 2020, released its thousandth razorback sucker Friday during its annual release celebration. The program is part of a greater effort to restore populations of the native fish — an effort that helps pull water west in Colorado to benefit ecosystems, farmers, communities and industries along the Colorado River.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLO...
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