Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Above-average precipitation isn't enough to stymie Western megadrought
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Monday, January 23, 2023
Blizzard in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Credit: Greg Younger, Wikimedia ([link removed])

The West is receiving more precipitation than normal this year, but it's not enough ([link removed]) to pull the region out of a megadrought that is straining the Colorado River. Increased snowpack in the Rocky Mountains could lead to rising Colorado River reservoirs, as more than two-thirds ([link removed]) of the river begins as snow in Colorado. But scientists say it's too soon to tell whether this will come to pass.

“Everybody is so eager to make an early call on this,” Brad Udall, a water and climate researcher at Colorado State University, told KUNC ([link removed]) . “Invariably, you'll get caught with your pants down if you think you know what's going to happen.”

Even if the wet winter continues, it won't be enough to offset 23 years of drought in the West, and a string of similarly wet years is unlikely because of rising temperatures due to climate change, according to ([link removed]) Udall ([link removed]) . Since 1970, temperatures in the Colorado River Basin have gone up by three degrees Fahrenheit ([link removed]) , and those higher temperatures have caused a 15 percent drop in streamflows across the region.

Finally, one wet winter could actually make matters worse ([link removed]) by delaying water-saving action. The federal government is asking states that rely on the Colorado River to stop using at least 2 million acre-feet of water this year in order to stabilize the river, and it's harder for states to make those cuts when reservoirs are rising.

“Wet years buy us time, and that makes it easy to kick the can—which if we’re honest, is what basin states have been doing for years,” Joanna Allhands wrote in the Arizona Republic ([link removed]) .


** Colorado photographer donates life's work to state archive
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Nationally renowned photographer, publisher, teacher, and environmentalist John Fielder is donating more than 5,000 photos ([link removed]) of Colorado distilled from 200,000 made since 1973 to History Colorado, the state’s historical preservation arm.

This spring, History Colorado will make Fielder's photographs available for anyone to search ([link removed]) and download for personal and commercial use, as well as host ongoing exhibitions featuring his work. The first exhibition will open in the summer of 2023 at the History Colorado Center in Denver.
Quick hits


** Utah lawmakers blame trees for water shortage
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Editorial: BLM needs direction, bold action on conservation
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Durango Herald ([link removed])


** White House aims to reflect the environment in economic data
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New York Times ([link removed])


** Feds send $930 million to curb Western wildfire crisis
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | Source NM ([link removed])


** Opinion: Zinke, Rosendale plan to transfer public lands
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Missoulian ([link removed])


** Pro-oil candidates lost New Mexico elections, as environment took center stage
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])


** Lithium miner cited for violating endangered flower habitat
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** The lurid demise and dire environmental legacy of a Montana coal plant
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New York Times ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” My images represent the sublimeness of the place that I think is the most beautiful on Earth …Colorado. They are both documentary and artistic... However, they represent something else, perhaps even more important than their sense of place: they are a record of Nature as of 2022.”
— Photographer John Fielder ([link removed]) , Denver Post
Picture this


** @CanyonlandsNPS ([link removed])
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Nothing can freeze plans like a winter storm! So far this week, the park has received over 13 inches of snow! Though the white layer on red rock can be beautiful to witness, it can also create hazardous conditions. Visit [link removed] ([link removed]) for current conditions.
📸 A. Burke

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