In these times when water rights can be very politicized, reporter Regan Mertz sat down with Kate Collins, Executive Director of the Middle Colorado Watershed Council.
The council works to evaluate, protect and enhance the health of the middle Colorado River watershed.
As Collins told Aspen Public Radio, it is such a special place here because the Roaring Fork Valley is at the headwaters of this river that goes to 40 million people, 35 tribes and seven states.
They talked about the future of water rights on the river.
They also discussed the pending appointment of the new head of the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that oversees water resource management.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Regan Mertz: The Colorado River runs through some purple areas politically here in Colorado. So how does the watershed council work with local and state governments, as well as community members, that may not share the same goals that the council has?
Kate Collins: Sure. I think that's an excellent question, and I think it's probably a relevant question for almost anywhere in the nation right now. I mean, we have so many different stakeholders, right? We have industry, we have recreation and tourism. We have, like I said, the consumptive use and municipal water uses, drinking water. We have agriculture and, you know, and everything in between. But essentially, anybody who lives in or even visits that region of the Colorado River is frankly, a watershed stakeholder, right? It has to drill down to an area where there's just purely consensus around a resource that's essential to all of us. And so if you can kind of strip away the labels and all of those things you can find, I think, a place of consensus with disparate stakeholders.
Mertz: As President Donald Trump makes more decisions about the future of the Colorado River, particularly right now he's preparing to announce his pick to head the Bureau of Reclamation, how has the watershed council's job, approaches and relationships changed in that time under this new administration?
Collins: I mean I think every time there's an administration change, there are going to be changes in the way things are done right. My own personal observation is that our chief executive doesn't necessarily look at history or study history and let it inform his decisions today. And so it appears to me often that he's, you know, making decisions without the benefit of the historical precedent. That being said, we have one project that's largely funded by the Bureau of Reclamation, and that grant was frozen in January, and then it was unfrozen in March. I don't know why it all seemed a little bit arbitrary, but we were pretty happy that it happened. It's about a million dollar project that is high on Roan Creek, and we're building a fish barrier to keep the native cutthroat trout population there safe.
Mertz: The seven states that rely on the Colorado River are stuck in a debate about the future of the river. The current guidelines for its management will expire at the end of 2026 and new guidelines need to be in place by that August. So what is the status of that debate?
Collins: There are five different actions that they're currently looking at, and it's as if the Bureau of Reclamation is like the facilitator of these discussions between these groups. And really, they range from no action to federal authorities bringing down an edict to a basin hybrid, to cooperative conservation, or a federal authorities hybrid. But I think in the end, anytime that we can be in charge of our own fate and making decisions and giving a little and getting a little, and compromising and talking and coming up with the best and highest solution, that's going to be the best way to go. With water can be considered a gift that's here for all of us, right? And no life can exist without it. It can be considered a commodity that you want to get as much of it as you can and try and control it, or it could be considered a resource that needs to be thoughtfully managed and shared. And so probably people think of it somewhere on that spectrum, right?
Mertz: I really appreciate you coming down. Thank you so much for being here.
Collins: You're so welcome. It was really, really fun to chat with you.
Support for this Nonprofit Spotlight series comes from the Aspen Community Foundation.
