Significant Funding for Drought Resilience Announced for the Colorado River and Rio Grande
The water challenges facing the Southwest are no secret. Frequent local and national headlines highlight the challenges facing the Colorado River, and the Rio Grande has long been the subject of concern across its 1,885-mile journey. Closer to home, communities along the Rio Grande and Colorado River are experiencing drier soils, shrinking rivers, invasive species, and disconnected floodplains. The ecosystems that make up these mighty rivers, including their tributaries, wetlands, and surrounding lands are the backbone of our economies, communities, agriculture, and western lifestyle are at risk. Increasing temperatures, wildly variable precipitation, more frequent wildfires, and greater human demands are pushing these systems to their breaking point.
Congress recognized the challenges these rivers face, and the intrinsic reliance that communities have on their rivers, and took action in 2022 by allocating $4 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act to the Bureau of Reclamation to mitigate the impacts of drought in the Colorado River Basin and other western river basins that experiencing serious disruption and future risk from drought (including the Rio Grande). These federal investments are essential in helping communities manage limited water supplies as well as the increasing threat from wildfires and other natural disasters exacerbated by hotter and drier conditions.
Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation announced over $388 million in funding to support projects in the Upper Colorado River Basin states and over $29 million in the Upper Rio Grande. This infusion of funding will support an array of projects that benefit communities, agriculture, and the environment and represent the type of holistic approach that prioritizes and recognizes the importance of a healthy river system in mitigating the impacts of drought and other natural hazard risks.
In the Colorado River Basin, over $388 million was allocated to over 40 projects in the Upper Basin States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming through their “Bucket 2 – Ecosystem Restoration” funding. This funding will support projects to restore struggling rivers, streams, forests, and wetlands, mitigating the impacts of drought.
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Additionally, Reclamation also announced more than $29 million to mitigate the impacts of drought by supporting water conservation and habitat restoration efforts in the headwaters of the Rio Grande. This investment will ensure greater drought resilience and water security for Colorado’s San Luis Valley and northern New Mexico communities, while significantly enhancing the quality of fish and wildlife habitat in the region.
American Rivers is proud to work closely with a number of applicants on securing these funds including Mesa County Conservation District’s proposal to improve drought resilience on conserved lands by implementing various ecological restoration strategies, like the wetland restoration and floodplain reconnection to reduce sediment and enhance water quality, while promoting habitat restoration for at-risk species like the yellow-billed cuckoo and Gunnison sage-grouse, improving watershed resiliency and aquatic connectivity on the Gunnison and Grand Mesa National Forests and the Colorado River Water Conservation District’s proposal to permanently protect the Shoshone Water Rights in the Upper Colorado River Basin to ensure a reliable water supply for ecosystem, agricultural, municipal, and recreational uses. We were also excited to support many other applications in the Upper Basin. In the Upper Rio Grande, projects in Colorado’s San Luis Valley such as the Teacup Restoration Project will support healthy rivers and wetlands while also improving water management and agricultural resilience. In New Mexico, we are pleased to support projects that mitigate erosion and sedimentation, improve downstream water supply and quality, restore wet meadows, and improve soil health, among other projects.
These investments demonstrate Reclamation’s commitment to mitigating drought and are an excellent first step in acknowledging the importance of healthy rivers, streams, and wetlands in addressing the ongoing water crises in the West. To ensure long-term resilience and sustainability of the Colorado and Rio Grande Basins, durable investments are vital to fully address the challenges these regions are facing today, and will be for the foreseeable future.
