Colorado River
Forty million people across seven states rely on the Colorado River, but population growth and drought have stretched the river to its limits. In addition to supplying water to hundreds of communities within the watershed, the Colorado River is the foundation of riverine ecosystems that are the central focus of the watershed’s great national parks. It also provides critical habitat for dozens of endangered species. As people continue using the river to supply their communities and grow their crops, the need for reliable information about the river system is greater than ever so management decisions about the Colorado River and its water supply can be based on sound climate, watershed, and river science.
The USU Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air has partnered with the Center for Colorado River Studies and S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources to expand USU’s position as a central nexus for science and policy in critical natural resource issues, like that of the Colorado River, that directly informs local, state, and national decision-makers and policy development of key issues regarding the future of this enormously valuable and challenged resource.
Center for Colorado River Studies
The Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University is a nexus for innovative research, teaching, and outreach that informs management of the Colorado River and other major rivers of the American Southwest. The Center undertakes critical studies that inform how different parts of the Colorado River and its tributaries can be effectively managed, train future researchers and managers who will be responsible for tomorrow's Colorado River, and provide education and training to stakeholders to support informed and focused decision making. Because the water available to restore the Colorado River ecosystem is increasingly limited, the Center is especially interested in research and outreach to inform the very difficult decisions about priority locations and actions that provide the best opportunity for significant restoration success.
Colorado River Collaborative
The Colorado River Collaborative is a statewide media group created to help train, inform, and support news organizations in telling solutions-focused, local-perspective news stories on the Colorado River. The group’s mission aims to significantly expand Utah-based coverage of this critical water basin.
This new collaborative is based on the previous success of the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, which has been responsible for much of the local and shared coverage of Great Salt Lake in the past two years. The GSL Collaborative’s work resulted in more than 600 stories and articles over the past two years and received national recognition.