- About WIP
- Participating Entities
- Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy District
- City of Durango Utility Commission
- Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority
- Dolores Conservation District
- Dolores Water Conservancy District
- Empire Electric Association
- Florida Water Conservancy District
- La Plata Archuleta Water District
- La Plata Electric Association
- La Plata Water Conservancy District
- Mancos Conservation District
- Mancos Water Conservancy District
- Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD)
- Pine River Irrigation District
- San Juan Water Conservancy District
- Southwestern Water Conservation District
- Town of Silverton
- Town of Telluride
- Regional Water Projects
- Animas-La Plata Project (Lake Nighthorse)
- Animas River Stakeholders
- Cloud Seeding Program
- Dolores Project (McPhee Reservoir)
- Dry Gulch Reservoir (Pending)
- Florida Project (Lemon Reservoir)
- Mancos Project (Jackson Gulch Reservoir)
- Long Hollow Reservoir
- Pine River Project (Vallecito Reservoir)
- Rio Blanco Restoration Project
- River Protection Work Group
- Water Information
- Contact WIP
The Dolores River Restoration Partnership has been awarded $50,000 to continue its work eradicating the tamarisk scourge. The group's Tamarisk Coalition, along with The Nature Conservancy, and BLM, have worked with the Southwest Conservation Corps, and Canyon Country Youth Corps to hire and train more than 200 youth to implement and monitor much of the restoration work.
A coalition of land managers, ecologists, and young adults have been slowly eradicating invasive plant species on the Lower Dolores River the last five years. On the frontlines is the Dolores River Restoration Partnership, formed in 2009 to restore native habitat on 175 miles of the river - from McPhee Dam to the confluence of the Colorado River.
Larry Aberback studied the banks of the Colorado River in quiet reflection and then posed a question many of the others on the commercially guided float trip had silently wondered. “What happened to all those dying bushes? Is it drought?” the elementary school teacher from New York City asked during a trip through Cataract Canyon in July, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Exotic species invading local ecosystems has long been a problem in Colorado, but along the Dolores River a program is in place to push some species back. Problem species that sprout up on the banks of the scenic southern Colorado waterway include mainly tamarisk, but also Siberian elm and Russian knapweed, which can outcompete local species of grasses, trees and shrubs.
Think about what you would do with 160 acres of land along the lower Dolores River in Paradox Valley. Keep in mind that approximately 60 percent of that land is inhabited by invasive plants — mostly tamarisk and knapweed.
Land managers looking for ways to control invasive tamarisk trees in the Colorado River Basin may have to search for a new tool. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has terminated the use of a non-native insect used to destroy tamarisk after concluding that the bug was destroying critical habitat used by the southwestern willow flycatcher, listed as endangered by the federal government.
June has been designated Great Outdoors Month by presidential proclamation since 2004. This year, the president has been joined by the governors of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and a dozen other states in encouraging Americans this June to renew our commitment to protecting our water, air, and majestic landscapes for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.
Westerners who'd like to wring more water out of their rivers and streams aren't going to do it by getting rid of saltcedar, a new federal report suggests. The report, released Wednesday, undercuts the long-held perception that the non-native shrub is the vampire of Western watersheds.
A new report by the Arkansas Basin Roundtable summarizing the first four years of its work sparked comments this week from roundtable members. On one hand, most all are pleased with the work so far.
Sharing water, municipal conservation and tamarisk removal were listed as the best ways to improve water supply in a recent survey of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable.