Anne Castle expected to be asked to leave her position representing the federal government in Colorado River policy planning. She just didn’t know how long it would take to be shown the door.
The answer? Seven days from President Donald Trump’s inauguration to her official resignation.
Castle has helped guide Colorado River policy alongside four state officials on an interstate commission representing the Upper Basin — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Former President Joe Biden appointed her to the position in 2022. The request for her resignation came as the Trump administration makes broad moves to replace key leaders and reshape the federal government.
“This is an existential time for the river,” Castle wrote in her resignation letter. “We are on the brink of putting in place an operating regime that will govern our lives and our economies for decades.”
This Fresh Water News story is a collaboration between The Colorado Sun and Water Education Colorado. It also appears at wateredco.org.
Historically, representatives in federal positions, like Castle, have helped push the states to reach agreements when they were at an impasse over how to manage the river’s future. These federal leaders could play a similar role in current negotiations, which must decide how the river will be managed for years to come before a deadline in 2026.
Castle’s departure leaves another gap in the federal leadership lineup at a time when state negotiations are, again, stalled.
Many vacant federal positions tied to Colorado River management are in the Department of the Interior. Congress voted Jan. 30 to name former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as the department’s top official.
Colorado water experts are still waiting to see who will hold other key positions — like the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner and Interior’s assistant secretary for water and science — and whether they will have the necessary expertise on the Colorado River and other struggling river basins in the West.
The federal commissioner on the Upper Colorado River Commission is a relatively low priority appointment.
After other deputy and assistant secretary positions are filled “then they might get around to the UCRC appointment,” said Andy Mueller, general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, which aims to protect water resources on the Western Slope. “It would not be unusual for this position to be open for a while.”
The vacant federal seat will not affect the pace of basin-state decisions or negotiations, said Chuck Cullom, the commission’s executive director. At some points, the seat has been vacant for years, like between 2019 and 2022.
Losing a voice in Upper Basin policy
In her resignation letter, effective Jan. 27, Castle condemned the Trump administration’s decision to change the terms of employment for federal workers, saying it was designed to result in a wave of resignations.
“Despite being vilified by the very administration they serve, these federal employees continue to strive to fulfill the mission of their agencies,” she wrote. “This broad brush, unfocused purge in furtherance of the stated goal of liberating large corporations from regulation they do not care for will result in attrition of expertise, damage to the American public, and specifically, a more disordered and chaotic Colorado River system.”
She also criticized Trump’s order to release water from two California reservoirs to provide relief to fire-devastated Los Angeles even though the systems don’t deliver water to the city. “Edicts based on an inadequate understanding of the plumbing and motivated by political retaliation upend carefully crafted compromises,” Castle wrote.
The river’s operations should be managed by those who best understand the complexities of Western water management, i.e., states, tribes, offices within the Interior Department and other impacted water users, she wrote.
In her work on the Upper Colorado River Commission, Castle represented the federal government in Colorado River decision-making as the commission negotiated historic agreements to include tribal nations, managed water savings programs and navigated high-stakes negotiations over the river’s future.
Castle previously served as the assistant secretary for water and science at the Department of the Interior. She has been a senior fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado and is an attorney in Colorado.
Other water officials said they appreciated the expertise Castle brought to the commission and her advocacy for inclusion and transparency.
“Anne is a tireless champion of a very balanced approach and a sensible approach to the Colorado River,” Mueller said. “She devoted a tremendous amount of time to the Upper Colorado River Commission.”