Historic water release brings surge of joy to Colorado River Delta ALONG THE RIO COLORADO – They came to see the river return, a half-century after U.S. dams kept it from flowing into Mexico. “Since I was a kid, my father told me that long ago there was water, but I do not remember that,”… Read more »
Posts Tagged: restoration
Restoring a once mighty river that has slowed to a trickle
Restoring a once mighty river that has slowed to a trickle Can you name the river that rises in a US state at the western edge of the Great Plains and travels 1,400 miles, passes through five US states and Mexico, and is being celebrated for an agreement between the two countries that includes environmental… Read more »
Colorado River: Hope for the Hopeless?
When I first became director for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program, quite a few folks told me I was crazy. “The Colorado River is a lost cause,” they said. As I did my assessment of potential strategies and places to work, the Colorado River Delta stood out as a place that might meet this description…. Read more »
The pulse flow is hitting its peak today, but water has been creeping its way down toward the delta since Sunday. This little bit of water has been going a long way. Just watch as children splash around in a river bed that was bone dry only a week ago. If all goes well, the… Read more »
The Case for Reconnecting the Colorado River to the Sea
Nearly two decades ago, when I first visited the delta of the Colorado River in northwestern Mexico, I became obsessed with the idea that major rivers like the Colorado were running dry. I knew what the Colorado Delta had once been—a 2-million-acre expanse of wetlands, lagoons, braided channels, and towering riverside cottonwoods and willows that… Read more »