The winter of 2026 has pitted record low snowpack against record high temperatures. Meanwhile, a stalemate persists between the upper and lower basin states who share the Colorado River over how to allocate a shrinking resource among a growing population amid worsening drought. Despite all that, Kate Collins chimes a note of optimism.
"Everyone to a person in the Western United States, in the seven states that the Colorado River brings water to, and the 40 million people. We're just going to have to change the way that we think about this resource and the way that we use it and thinking that we're all in this together, right? We all have to make some sacrifices to be sure that we can keep our agriculture viable, that we can bring water to our cities and townas, and that some of it is gonna make it all the way to Mexico."
Collins is the executive director of the Middle Colorado Watershed Council, a steward of the river. Her high-level, benevolent view of the river system contrasts with the council's hyper-local mission.
"Focusing on the region between the east end of Glenwood Canyon to De Beque, it's about 75 river miles, 2,200 square miles, and it represents about 5% of the total reach. Of the Colorado River from the headwaters to the Delta."
The council has been busy with a diversity of projects. The Colorado River Wildfire Collaborative, formed in 2022, finds itself in its moment as it seems. Everyone is thinking of fire as summer approaches. The collaborative has forged agreements among a plethora of partners.
"40 partners, all the municipalities, and the county. All the fire districts and the fire departments who reside in that county in the, in the footprint really from Glenwood to De Beque... and they have been meeting continuously identifying projects and working on wildfire mitigation and also mitigating post-fire hazards, runoff issues, water quality issues."
In its more public-facing iteration. The Watershed Council has used a series of community events to greet, entertain, and educate the public. The last of the Fire and water events brings to Rifle a timely and informative documentary.
"And then April 30th we'll do Firewise Futures at the Ute Theater in Rifle, and we'll screen the movie Elemental. That's a documentary. We'll have an expert panel and we'll have a fire safety simulator. So something for people of all ages from two to 92 to really learn about fire adaptation and keeping safe, and just learning more about what to do if and when fire is imminent in our communities."
It's the second documentary brought to the valley by the council to get people thinking about the river. In March, the American Southwest, a visually stunning feature film tracing the length of the river played to a sold-out crowd at the Vaudeville in Glenwood Springs. And in February, the first of the Fire and Water series brought author Robert Crifasi to the Hotel Colorado in February. Collins recommends this read.
"I bought his book before I started in my role as executive director of this organization, and I was so blown away by its format and its content. I learned so much. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of water in the west, so he's not only a hydrologist and a hard science guy with respect to water, but he's also a historian and a storyteller. It's just a really remarkable combination of three things. I strongly recommend everybody get the book Western Water A to Z, and it will really bring you up to speed on what we're looking at today. It's very, very relevant.
If you miss the event, you can still get the book. And be sure to keep listening to Katie and K News for Mike Lemmer's Interview with the author, Broadcasting soon. This week's event is one more way. Collins and the Middle Colorado Watershed Council are providing leadership to find solutions to our shared water challenges.
"We need to have tough conversations and we need to make some compromises and come to some shared understandings and and shared use of this finite resource."
The Firewise Futures Panel Fire Safety Simulator and documentary film. Come to Rifles Youth Theater tomorrow starting at 4:30. And thanks to Mike Leer for that interview with Kate Collins at the February event.
