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The latest video postcard in the Center for Western Priorities' Road to 30 series takes us to the Dolores River Canyon in Southwest Colorado.
The Dolores River Canyon is a contiguous, diverse landscape that is part of a broader region known as the Colorado Plateau, and an important tributary of the Colorado River system, which provides water for 40 million people living in the Southwest. The river starts in the mountains of Colorado and flows through red rock canyons and Ponderosa pine forests before entering an arid desert habitat where it’s one of the only water sources in the region, making the river corridor a hotspot for wildlife.
The river anchors a broader landscape of vulnerable public lands threatened by uranium mining, oil and gas development, and unmanaged recreation. Drought and overuse pose an existential threat to this fragile riparian corridor, and more protection is needed to sustain the Dolores River landscape into the future. Local groups like the Dolores River Boating Advocates, the Colorado Wildlands Project and others are working to find collaborative solutions to protect the Dolores River and surrounding landscape.
Watch the short 5-minute film to hear from people who know this region intimately, including a native fish biologist, a local county commissioner, and a healthy rivers advocate as they share what makes this landscape and river corridor so special, and why it needs greater protection.
Slur removed from federal place names
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced on Thursday that the Interior Department has finished removing a slur for Native American women from federal place names, less than a year after launching a review. A new interactive map shows the new place names across the country.
“I feel a deep obligation to use my platform to ensure that our public lands and waters are accessible and welcoming,” Haaland said. “That starts with removing racist and derogatory names that have graced federal locations for far too long.”
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It's unfortunately not hard to imagine a scenario where portions of this river essentially dry up. And I don't think we, as a society, should allow that to happen. I don't think this river deserves to be a sacrifice zone.”
