Columns

Categories

Archives

A Colorado reservoir gets ready for an epic snowmelt

By Dave Marston

Reservoir manager Ken Beck says wryly that he has lots of water coming his way, “and I need a hole…

Ken Beck at the Pine River Irrigation headquarters

More

Colorado is conflicted about cutting its water use

By Dave Marston

In Colorado, farmers must enroll in a four-state program by March 1, if they want to get paid for fallowing…

Tom Kay in front of his John Deere tractor, image: Dave Marston

More

It’s do or die for the Great Salt Lake

By Stephen Trimble

Last November, the Great Salt Lake, iconic landmark of the Great Basin Desert, fell to its lowest surface elevation ever…

Antelope Island Looking Over Great Salt Lake, photo courtesy of Michael Shoemaker

More

Atmospheric rivers endanger the West

By Dave Marston

Moab, Utah, gets just eight inches of rain per year, yet rainwater flooded John Weisheit’s basement last summer. Extremes are…

Glen Canyon Dam under construction 1960-63, courtesy USBR

More

What also counts is where the snow falls

By Dave Marston

This week Writers on the Range explores the possibility of dangerous flooding in the Colorado River Basin. But there’s something…

A girl and her dog sledding at Durango’s off-leash dog park Jan. 20, photo courtesy Dave Marston

More

What a long strange trip to kill four dams

By Rocky Barker

Finally, after a 50-year effort, four massive dams on the Klamath River in northern California and Oregon will start coming…

Copco No. 1 dam Photo Credit Michael Wier

More

New Mexico court upholds public access

By Reed Benson

Every state in the West has some type of law declaring that its waters belong to the public. But what this…

The Los Alamos and Rio Grande in NM, courtesy of Jonah Saleh via Unsplash

More

The Colorado River comes alive even as it ebbs

By Char Miller

The Colorado River is revealing its secrets. For decades a World War II landing craft lay submerged 200 feet beneath…

More

Hard choices for the Colorado River

By Quinn Harper Mark Squillace

The seven Colorado River states – Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming – face a daunting mid-August…

More

Ditches are a vanishing paradise

By Dave Marston

Annette Choszczyk lives in rural western Colorado these days, but when she was a kid, the Highline Canal in Denver…

Photo of North Fork Valley, Co, courtesy of Kenita Burns Moore

More

The Colorado River Compact Hasn’t Aged Well

By George Sibley

The Colorado River Compact turns 100 this year, but any celebration is damped down by the drying-up of the big…

The public launch ramp at Antelope Point, late March, 2021

More

A water-stressed valley needs to curb development  

By Rebecca Lawton

In my drought- and fire-plagued home valley, 40 miles north of San Francisco, a debate has been simmering for decades…

More

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Once a week you’ll receive an email with a link to our weekly column along with profiles of our writers, beside quirky photos submitted from folks like you. Don’t worry we won’t sell our list or bombard you with daily mail.