Author Archives: Curtis Wackerle

The day of reckoning came and went, with no concrete plan from the states to cut 2-4 million acre-feet of Colorado River basin water use, and no federal action to force those cuts. The can was officially kicked down the road, beyond the initial 60-day window Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton put the seven […]

Hello again from our newsroom on the banks of the upper Roaring Fork River. We hope these warm, late-summer days have been treating you well as you enjoy clean air and abundant moisture (if you need to see the receipts on that, check out our regular Data Dashboard updates).  We are excited this week to […]

Grizzly Reservoir to be drained next summer for rehab work Repairs planned for dam, tunnel, outlet works By Heather Sackett | August 14, 2022 During next year’s rehabilitation work most of the creeks — Lost Man, New York, Brooklyn and Tabor — will be allowed to flow downstream instead of being collected by a canal […]

A wrap-up of our conversation with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Aspen Journalism, and ACES in Aspen, CO.

Crystal River Wild & Scenic designation efforts, Aspen and Roaring Fork Valley COVID-19 data, and Aspen airport precipitation compared to average.

Data mining reveals a drop in the bucket: what caused Lake Powell to shrink overnight, plus an innovative water savings strategy

Utah oil railway has ignited Colorado concerns, plus updates to the state water plan and COVID-19 data.

Record-low water storage levels at lakes Mead and Powell after more than two decades of drought conditions are among the chief indicators that the basin is “facing the growing reality that water supplies for agriculture, fisheries, ecosystems, industry and cities are no longer stable due to climate change.”

As Powell drops, invasive fish will enter lower Colorado River Basin, threatening progress.

All that’s fresh from our water and data desks, plus a summer event announcement with Thomas L. Friedman