This doesn’t feel like an experiment, you know? I thought it was, like, the pulse experiment, you know? But actually, it feels like a river.

Jeff Moag

Jeff and few others paddled down the Colorado River through its delta to see if they could make it to the ocean. What they found (and experienced) was more than just the average paddling trip. 

Sometimes it seems like the only innovation folks hear about is the next big app coming out of Silicon Valley. But innovation is happening everywhere. 

Check out Keith Lambert, Former Mayor of Rifle, Colorado. He mobilized his entire town to rethink water. We, for one, couldn’t be more on board. 

Want to know more? Swing by the Watershed website to download this powerful documentary about water in the American West. 

This thoughtful young woman has a lot to say about the Colorado River, and how important rivers are to the way we live our lives. 

Terrence Johnson captured her thoughts and experiences as a part of the Raise The River partnership with the American University School of Communication to create PSAs highlight the story of the Colorado River’s Delta, water use issues, and promoting a new water ethic. 

A community gets its river back

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For more than two weeks, the Colorado River has been flowing in its delta, through more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) of recently bone-dry river channel choked with desert scrub.  The flow is all too brief, lasting only eight weeks in all.  The United States and Mexico are demonstrating how a “pulse flow” of water can bring environmental benefits to this long-parched reach of the river.  The last 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the Colorado are a critical link in the Pacific Flyway, and new habitat can help the hundreds of species of birds that depend on it.

But for now, the principal species benefitting from the flow is us.  People love this river!

From the first day the water appeared, the community has come out in droves to see the river.  Some older folks are marveling in a sight they thought they would never see again.  Parents bring their children – there’s a whole generation being introduced to the river for the very first time.

Read more.

Earlier today we posted Jennifer Pitt’s photographs from the area. Read her wonderful article about the impact of the Colorado River on its neighboring communities.