The last time Colorado’s river basins swelled with above-average spring snowpacks in 2019, 12 people died in Colorado’s rivers and creeks.
Gunnison River
Posted inWater
Colorado may have its best boating season in over a decade thanks to this winter’s large snowfall
But if the deep snow melts too fast, the rafting season that might have been could end in a rush of dangerous water and debris.
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outsider
A 120-year-old water tunnel beneath the mountains is the Uncompahgre Valley’s lifeline. We went inside.
MONTROSE — After more than a half-hour splashing through the dank dark of one of the world’s longest irrigation tunnels, Dennis Veo grins in the sunshine showering the cliffs of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. “The guys who did this were dang sharp,” says Veo, the operations manager of the Uncompahgre Valley Water […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
Water releases from an already low Blue Mesa Reservoir will prop up Lake Powell
By Heather Sackett, Aspen Journalism BLUE MESA RESERVOIR — In an effort to prop up water levels at the declining Lake Powell, federal water managers are negatively impacting recreation on Colorado’s biggest man-made lake. That’s the message from Colorado water managers and marina operators at Blue Mesa Reservoir in Gunnison County. On Aug. 1, the […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, Water
It wasn’t just I-70 that suffered after Glenwood Canyon slides. The Colorado River took a blow, too.
When a mud and rock slide buried one of the more important highways in the West on July 29, the dramatic gridlock became a statewide spectator sport. That same historic rock slide, at the same moment, blocked off the most important river in the West. After decades of fierce arguments over damming up more of […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado’s major snowstorm only made a dent in the drought. These maps and graphs explain what’s going on.
Despite what multiple feet of snow on the ground might suggest to many Coloradans, the state’s long-term drought remains persistent. And water forecasters are worried that even if the state receives decent spring moisture, Colorado and the greater American Southwest will need lots more to emerge from this drought. The record-breaking storms that buried Front […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
Colorado researchers spent decades trying to save disappearing rainbow trout. Finally, they’re making progress.
Eric Gardunio had fished this stretch of the Gunnison River throughout his youth, filling the seasons with short expeditions to the river gorge’s East Portal near Delta. There, his father handed down skills passed to him from his grandfather, and Eric took their passion even further while learning every rock and riffle. By the summer […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Rafting season is ready to launch, but coronavirus worries are running high in Colorado
By Dean Krakel, Fresh Water News With warming temperatures in Colorado’s mountains and spring runoff in full swing, the whitewater boating season should be off to a roaring start. But Colorado’s stringent COVID-19 travel and recreation restrictions are forcing commercial rafting companies to create social distance on unruly rivers and face the potential for smaller […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
2 women die Friday in Gunnison Basin, bringing Colorado’s spring runoff death toll to at least 5
Two women died in separate accidents Friday in the Gunnison River Basin, bringing the death toll amid spring runoff to at least five people as Colorado waterways rage after a winter of deep snowfall. A Colorado Springs woman, Roberta Sophia Rodriguez, is also missing in the South Fork of the Rio Grande. Authorities say she […]