A hiking trail that would run along an old railroad from San Francisco to Humboldt County deep in the redwood forest is gettting closer to becoming a reality. Photo courtesy of MSN.
How important is water to Colorado?
It’s the state’s lifeblood—it’s vital to agriculture and industry, and it is, quite literally, at the heart of Colorado’s $28 billion annual recreation economy.
Sadly, the state is in the throes of yet another drought. This is the new normal. How to address this challenge is a top-of-mind issue in Colorado these days. That’s why TU’s Drew Peternell, Fishpond’s Johnny Le Coq and the Nature Conservancy’s Carlos Fernandez penned this letter to the state’s two gubernatorial candidates.
The future of Colorado’s vibrant and diverse economy is tied directly to how the state meets its water challenges, today and well into the future. The three authors of the letter offer some sage counsel to both Jared Polis and Walker Stapleton: stop and look around at Colorado, and you’ll see just how vital water is to nearly every aspect of life in the Centennial State.
And, frankly, that’s true for much of the arid West, where droughts are more common than not, and where water is increasingly short supply. How the West grows and how its collective economy evolves over the next few decades will depend greatly on how politicians and bureaucrats handle its water challenges.
Here’s what else is happening in the TU universe:
- Speaking of water, check out this story featuring TU’s Ty Churchwell about the Animas River, dubbed recently as the “unluckiest river in the West.”
- In keeping with the Colorado theme for a bit longer, there’s this story about a rediscovered strain of Colorado River cutthroat trout that is now faced with relocation challenges thanks to wildfire in the state’s southwest corner. Of course, TU is front and center in the effort to restore the native San Juan cutthroat trout.
- TU’s Chris Wood writes about losing a big fish during last year’s One-fly Tournament based in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and how he hopes to redeem himself this weekend at the event. And, he writes, the One-fly event has helped inspire TU’s great work in the Snake River headwaters region of western Wyoming.
- In Montana, industry opponents of a ballot initiative that would require new mining projects to clean up after themselves are outrising the initiative’s proponents. So far, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, industry opponents of the initiative have raised more the $750,000, as opposed to the $580,000 raised by the Yes for Responsible Mining campaign. TU in Montana is supporting the initiative as a way to protect water quality in the state.
- How’s this for a great TU fundraising idea? A TU chili cook-off. It’s happening this fall in Georgia.
- Dreams of a hiking trail from San Francisco, through the storied wine country all the way to the redwoods of Humboldt County are closer than ever to becoming a reality. And TU in California loves the idea.
- TU and our partners across the country are working hard to see that the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund is renewed and funded. The kicker? It’s funded by royalty payments from offshore drilling, not by taxpayers.
— Chris Hunt