Restoring a river requires a crowd

By Paul Bruchez

The Colorado River runs through the heart of my family’s ranch near Kremmling, where I live and work, so we have first-hand knowledge of the importance of water. Our family’s irrigated meadows and livestock operation depend on it, and it’s the common currency of both our local agriculture and recreation economy.

That’s why, over the years, it’s been so hard for me to see the river sharply decline. For decades, water utilities on the Front Range have been pumping water from the Upper Colorado, leading to devastating impacts on the health of the river. Lower flows spiked water temperature and silted in the river bottom. This smothered insect life, damaging the river ecosystem and what had been a world-class trout fishery.

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