The Colorado River isn’t our biggest, but it’s one of the hardest working in the country. It flows more than 1,400 miles. Through seven states. And its dammed, diverted, and heavily siphoned flows sustain tens of millions of people, as well as fish and wildlife. It’s also in a world of hurt. As of this week the mighty Colorado was given the rough ranking of America’s Most Endangered River, determined by the conservation group American Rivers.
“The river at the top of the 2013 list, announced today, is the Colorado River – a river that is so dammed, diverted, and drained that it dries to a trickle before reaching the sea.
“Flowing for more than 1,400 miles across seven states, the Colorado River is truly a lifeline in the desert. But over-allocation and drought have placed significant stress on water supplies, river health, and fish and wildlife. To underscore the immediacy of the problem, the basin is facing another drought this summer. The Bureau of Reclamation’s report released in December stresses that there is not enough water to meet current demands across the basin, let alone support future demand increases.”
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.