Dispatches From The River

Colorado River Near Moab
Maeve Conran on the Colorado River near Moab

KGNU News Director Maeve Conran is on the Colorado River this week with the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, meeting people impacted by changes in water flows due to water diversions to the Front Range and climate change. We’re featuring these stories in this series Dispatches From The River.

Dispatches

  • Dispatches from the River: Pine Beetles and the Watershed
    July 31, 2017Dispatches from the River: Pine Beetles and the Watershed
    “…the dynamics in the forest have changed dramatically.” The headwaters of the Colorado River begin in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Here the stunning landscape is dotted with dull brown trees…remnants of the almost 20 year Pine Beetle epidemic which ravaged the forests in Colorado between 1996 and 2013. The 2015 aerial survey conducted by The ...
  • Dispatches from the River: Learning from the Ancestral Puebloans
    July 27, 2017Dispatches from the River: Learning from the Ancestral Puebloans
    The Dolores river, one of the tributaries of the Colorado River, flows through the Four Corners region of South West Colorado, and many farmers rely on it for irrigation. But centuries ago, another form of agriculture thrived in this region. The Ancestral Pueblo people a thousand years ago, grew many varieties of corn relying only ...
  • Dispatches from the River: Improving Wetlands along the Colorado River in Utah
    July 27, 2017Dispatches from the River: Improving Wetlands along the Colorado River in Utah
    “We’re trying to recreate something man-made that was originally part of nature.” The Colorado River flows out of the state of Colorado into Utah, our neighbor to the west.  Here in Moab the water is an economic giant for the town, with thousands of rafters floating downstream every year. But the river along this stretch is experiencing problems. Changes ...
  • Dispatches From The River: Concerns About Water in Colorado’s Fruit Basket
    July 26, 2017Dispatches From The River: Concerns About Water in Colorado's Fruit Basket
    “Water does not always flow downhill, it flows towards money…” Brant Harrison of Kokepelli farms in Palisade has been growing peaches for more than 3 decades. He has been fully organic since 1991. In his giant walk in freezer, he keeps his prime peaches at just the right temperature. “The peaches are stored at 34 degrees. There’s ...
  • Dispatches From The River: Tourism Tied to the River in Colorado
    July 25, 2017Dispatches From The River: Tourism Tied to the River in Colorado
    Tourism tied to the Colorado River has a huge economic impact for Glenwood Springs and other mountain towns. Glenwood has a trick up its sleeve as it is down stream from the Shoshone Hydro Electric Power Plant. That has one of the oldest water rights on this stretch of river, that means that even in ...
  • Dispatches From The River: Impact of Colorado River Diversions on the Western Slope
    July 24, 2017Dispatches From The River: Impact of Colorado River Diversions on the Western Slope
    “We’re just kind of hanging out here trying to stay in business as long as we can ma’am.” Bill Thompson is a rancher outside of Kremmling in Grand County on Colorado’s Western Slope. The Colorado River runs through his property and he relies on that water for irrigation. This stretch of river has experienced 60 percent ...