Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Interior department makes progress toward plan to conserve Colorado River water
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Friday, October 20, 2023
Colorado River as it flows through the Grand Canyon. David Denicolò, Flickr ([link removed])
In a report released Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Interior catalogued public comments ([link removed]) collected for the first stage of its multiyear process to come up with a long-term plan to conserve Colorado River water.
The nearly 400-page report ([link removed]) demonstrates that the Biden administration is making progress toward establishing a post-2026 plan for conserving water in the West. According to the report, the new operating plan is expected to guide the next 20 years of water allocations in the Colorado River basin, which serves 40 million people across the West.
Comments included concerns over climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, diminished air quality as a result of drying lake beds, and protecting cultural and Tribal resources, including honoring Tribal water rights. Commenters also applauded President Biden's designation ([link removed]) of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni–Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, and encouraged future land protections along the Colorado River.
Though the report seeks to create a reliable long-term plan, it also leaves room for adjustments to be made along the way—the Interior department will continue to identify scenarios in which Secretary Deb Haaland or her successors might adjust the amount of water available for consumption from Lake Mead, which provides Colorado River water for the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada.
The Interior department is expected to produce a draft environmental impact statement by late 2024.
** Quick hits
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A museum takes a new, unvarnished look at the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre
New York Times ([link removed])
Lawmakers ask GAO to find out if coal companies are dodging cleanup
E&E News ([link removed])
What the past’s extreme wildfires can tell us about the West’s wildfire future
High Country News ([link removed])
Colorado River task force slowly grapples with drought response as deadline nears
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Opinion: American dams are being demolished. And nature is pushing that along
Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
Birds nesting in agricultural lands more vulnerable to extreme heat, study finds
Associated Press ([link removed])
Forest Service says Denver Water is taking down too many trees, rushing requests to change plan to raise Gross Dam
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
New refuge provides hope for critically endangered toad
High Country News ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” Even with this bad thing that happened, there’s a word in Arapaho, that says, ‘nih’oniitowoo.’ And it’s to be strong and keep going, or to persevere. And to me, I think that word kind of expressed the feeling of all the tribes.”
—Fred Mosqueda, Arapaho coordinator for the Language and Culture Program of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a descendant of survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre, New York Times ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@KatmaiNPS ([link removed])
So 128 Grazer, after eating all that salmon & winning #FatBearWeek ([link removed]) what will you do? “I’m going to the den!”
What do the winners of #FatBearWeek ([link removed]) get at the end of the competition? 6 months of restful solitude & a successful hibernation. Enjoy your well deserved nap, bears!
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