2024 Upper Arkansas River Basin Tour

June 4 – 5, 2024

Tour Description

WEco’s 2024 Annual River Basin Tour will be held June 4 – 5, 2024. The tour will focus on the Upper Arkansas River Basin. We are thrilled by the enthusiastic response to this years event with registration currently at capacity but interested participants can join the waitlist and be notified when a spot becomes available. 

What you’ll experience on the tour: 

• Riding on a comfortable, climate-controlled coach bus with fellow tour participants through a beautiful part of Colorado!
• Exposure to local water characteristics, uses and values, plus the priorities and projects of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable.
• Visiting multiple natural, municipal, and agricultural sites around the Arkansas River Basin.
• Tours of natural and built infrastructure between Leadville and Pueblo, ranging from transmountain diversions to hydropower facilities, a fish hatchery, a fen research site, a whitewater park, wildfire mitigation work, and much more.
• Speakers with broad perspectives discussing water issues and how water ties into other sectors.
• On-the-ground examples of novel techniques driving water innovation and sustainability.
• Two full days of learning and exploration!

Event Details

Tour highlights:

• Salida River Park
• Turquoise Reservoir and Homestake and Boustead Tunnels
• Leadville Fish Hatchery
• Otero Pump Station
• Twin Lakes and Mt. Elbert Power Plant
• Cañon City river renovation project
• Pueblo Dam
• And more!

Schedule (A rough schedule is outlined below. Look for a detailed itinerary to be posted soon!):

June 3

Arrival for those staying in Salida the night before the tour

June 4

7:15-7:30am Registration at hotel (TBA)

8:00am Bus departs from hotel

8:00pm Bus returns to hotel

June 5

7:30am Load bus

7:45am Bus departs from hotel

5:00pm Bus returns to hotel and tour ends

Cost and inclusions

Registration Fee*

• Early Bird WEco Members: $450 (available March 28 – May 1)
• Early Bird Non-WEco Members: $500 (available April 4 – May 1)
• WEco Members: $500 (May 1 – registration close)
• Non-WEco Members: $550 (May 1 – registration close)

On the registration page, there will be a dropdown to help you identify whether or not you or your oganization are a current member. If you are not a member, but are interested in joining today, click here! 

*Registration includes the full two-day tour. Due to the nature of a bus tour, with limited seats and a complex tour route, we are unable to offer one-day registration.

Scholarships

A limited number of partial scholarships are available, thanks to support from our sponsors. Please contact Sabrina Scherma by email at sabrina@wateredco.org if you are interested in being considered for a scholarship. Students, teachers, elected officials and staff from nonprofit organizations will be prioritized for scholarships.

Meals and Lodging

This two-day tour includes lunch and snacks on both days plus dinner on June 4. Hotel booking is not included in the tour registration fee. We will be staying at the Browns Canyon Inn and the Comfort Inn in Salida on Highway 50. After you register, we will send information about booking your stay at the hotel we will be departing from and staying at for the one overnight, using our group rate. The bus will depart from and return to the hotel at the end of each day. Participants electing to stay somewhere else will be responsible for their own travel to and from the hotel starting/ending point.

For questions about the tour, please contact Sabrina Scherma by email at sabrina@wateredco.org or call 720-325-1088.

Bus Sponsors

Lunch Sponsors