** Colorado River crisis could affect 12% of Americans
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Thursday, February 11, 2021
Seven southwestern states are heavily reliant on the Colorado River Basin | Matthew Miller, USGS ([link removed])

The headlines are starting to add up: the Colorado River Basin is in a crisis, and that crisis is a national one ([link removed]) . The Colorado River supports ([link removed]) 40 million people in seven southwestern states, 29 tribal nations, and Mexico, in addition to irrigating about 5.5 million acres of agricultural land. However, the region is in the middle of an extended drought as flows in the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers weaken as a result of climate change and rapid snowmelt.

The question is, what impact is the drought having on Westerners, and what do we do about it?

Across the West, cities and states are working to try and cut water delivery costs, although solutions may disrupt natural ecosystems and exacerbate climate change. At the same time, tribes are working to get a fair share of water. Although a report in 2018 ([link removed]) found that tribes technically hold rights to 20 percent of all water in the Colorado River watershed, tribes receive far less than that, and in many states settlements have been drafted to prevent tribes from selling water rights.

In Arizona, as water declines farmers are turning to groundwater to support their land, large corporations are drawing disproportionate amounts of water due to lack of regulation ([link removed]) . Meanwhile, Wall Street investors are getting ready to enter the fray ([link removed]) , planning to capitalize on water scarcity as an economic tool for self-benefit. Millions of other people have their own stories related to the Colorado River Basin.

A data-driven look at the Colorado River Basin reveals that agriculture consumes the vast majority of the water supply: roughly 70 percent as of 2013 ([link removed]) . Much of that goes to irrigate alfalfa ([link removed]) , a water-guzzling crop that goes to feed cattle and horses, often abroad. In simple terms, alfalfa fields make up one of the biggest water sinks in the West, straining the imperiled water system to produce cheeseburgers worldwide. Researchers have highlighted ways to reduce water usage ([link removed]) , such as switching fields into sorghum production or using targeted irrigation.

It's time to bring the Colorado River into the national climate conversation and pursue creative approaches to irrigation, agriculture, and water use in the Southwest so communities don't pay the price.
Quick hits


** Bears Ears is just the beginning of hearing Indigenous voices in public land management
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High Country News ([link removed])


** Grijalva hopes to work with Haaland to repair Interior
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The Hill ([link removed])


** Wyoming faces a reckoning, wrestles with transition away from fossil fuels
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National Public Radio ([link removed])


** How the national mask order may affect your visit to Zion and other national parks
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KSL ([link removed])


** Oil and gas companies likely to pay negative Alaska corporate income taxes
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Anchorage Daily News ([link removed])


** Standing Rock youth urge Biden to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline with 93-mile run in frigid weather
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Grand Forks Herald ([link removed])


** Opinion: Failure to act on diversification is Wyoming's biggest threat, not federal oil and gas leasing pause
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])


** Opinion: We need action on environmental equity — not just words
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The Hill ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Change has always challenged the status quo. So we need to do our best to try to steward that and try to direct the change in a way that helps people to make the shift."

—Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock on a Wyoming energy transition, National Public Radio ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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Stealing the show with cuteness! A rare look into a sweet family moment with a mamma bobcat and her two kittens at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Pic courtesy of Larry Armer #Texas ([link removed])

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