Today, folks across the West are celebrating the first ever Colorado River Day.
In Colorado, find free lunch events in Denver and Grand Junction. If you can’t make it, take some time to celebrate the river wherever you are. Here are some resources that allow us all to learn about and honor the river from home:
1. Look at images and read about the Colorado River through the Water 2012 Book Club selection, “The Colorado River Flowing Through Conflict” by Peter McBride and Jonathan Waterman. Check out book club blog discussions and add your thoughts:
- Four Questions for Photographer Pete McBride
- Thoughts on “The Colorado River Flowing Through Conflict”
- The Colorado River- McBride Presentation Video
2. Explore the Mighty Colorado through Headwaters Magazine. The Summer 2011 edition of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education’s publication focused on the Colorado River Basin. Flip through the magazine– start with this excerpt from George Sibley’s article, “The Colorado”:
To the casual observer, the Colorado River in Colorado looks like a natural river for the most part, tumbling noisily down mountain slopes and through canyons, or meandering quietly in open park-like floodplains. Looking more closely, however, one begins to see that it is a very hard-working river. It may be as much a waterworks as a natural river today—a waterworks whose many tasks include continuing to look and function as much like a natural river as possible while carrying out a growing list of other responsibilities.
3. Follow State of the Rockies Project field researchers Zak Podmore and Will Stauffer-Norris on their journeys down the Colorado River. Last year they paddled the Colorado River from source to sea, documenting their journey through blog posts, photographs and a documentary, “Remains of a River”. Again, this summer, the researchers will be traveling down the river, taking water quality samples and creating an online profile of the Colorado. The centerpiece of the project will be an interactive, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) map of the basin.
4. Enjoy and celebrate water! Go out and recreate around the rivers and streams near you or take a moment to appreciate your drinking water and the water that flows out of state to nourish those downstream.
How are you celebrating Colorado River Day? Share your river stories, thoughts and memories.
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