The Upper Colorado River Basin gets $4 million back for Kawuneeche Valley restoration
The East Troublesome fire, the second largest in Colorado history, which burned through Rocky Mountain National Park in 2020. (Handout from Rocky Mountain National Park)$781,000
Federal funding re-released for Kawuaneeche Valley restoration
Lands and streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin watershed in and around Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park will benefit from $4 million in federal funds that were frozen by the Trump administration in February — and rereleased in April.
The news, first reported by The Colorado Sun’s partner, Fresh Water News, comes from Northern Water, a major Colorado water provider and one of the agencies that coordinates with the federal government and agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service to conduct the work.
Esther Vincent, Northern Water’s director of environmental services, said the federal government gave no reason for the freeze or the release of funds.
But the news comes as tens of millions of dollars in federal grants and budget allocations are being cut in Colorado and across the country as part of the Trump administration’s reorganization of federal agencies and associated budget cuts.
Northern Water says $781,000 has been released to help move forward on a broad-based effort by the Kawuneeche Valley Restoration Collaborative to restore lands damaged by drought, failing irrigation systems and overgrazing by wildlife in a critical piece of the Colorado River’s upper watershed.
The $3.3 million in East Troublesome fire funding that has been released through the U.S. Forest Service will help restore the watershed around Grand Lake and land in Rocky Mountain National Park. The fire began in October 2020 and burned nearly 200,000 acres, making it the second largest fire in Colorado history.
> Jump to The Sun on Friday to read more from Jerd Smith, the first reporter on this story.
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Breaking Trail
Matt Moseley canoed the Colorado River his first time down it. Now he swims it.
Matt Moseley on his 17-mile swim from the Moab boat ramp to Potash Point on the Colorado River. (Photo courtesy of Thomas DeFrancia)“River swimming just felt so amazing and so transcendent that I really fell in love with it.”
— Matt Moseley, CEO, author and river swimmer
1 million
Miles of freeflowing river American Rivers hopes to save by 2030
Matt Moseley’s day job is CEO of a communications company, his night job is author of books, including one about Hunter S. Thompson, and his “early-morning job” is open-water swimmer, which is weird because he lives in landlocked Boulder County.
But Moseley knows how to find the water there and all over Colorado, even if most of it is locked up in reservoirs.
On certain summer mornings between 6 and 7:30 a.m., he’s logging meters at Boulder Reservoir, on the roped-off loop the Boulder Aquatic Masters swim club puts in for fish like him to train for long-distance swims.
Or he’s counting strokes at Horsetooth Reservoir, west of Fort Collins, always with a support boat or swimmer by his side “because I say safety third but really it’s safety first.”
Sometimes he’s in Carter Lake, another reservoir in Larimer County that’s 3 miles long and about 1 mile wide and surrounded by 1,000 acres of public land.
And someday in the near future, he hopes he’ll have time to do a 65-mile multiday self-supported swim down the Colorado River and a repeat of a 52-mile stretch of the Green River.
In his profile on openwaterpedia.com, Moseley’s most notable swims include a 24.6 miler across Lake Pontchartrain in his home state of Louisiana; a 24 miler in Puerto Rico, from Culebra (Tamarindo Beach) to Fajardo; a 24.5 miler across the Caribbean; and a north-to-south 12.8 miler across the Sea of Galilee, which is actually not a sea but the lowest freshwater lake on Earth, in Israel.
But what he really loves is swimming rivers, like the Green, in Utah, from Mineral Bottom to the confluence of the Colorado (40 miles) in 2021; the Colorado, from Potash Point to the confluence with the Green (47 miles) in 2015; and from the Moab boat ramp to Potash Point (17 miles) on June 18.
On almost all of Moseley’s swims he’s trying to raise awareness of the plight of the world’s rivers through the advocacy group American Rivers, which has a goal of protecting 1 million miles of free-flowing rivers by 2030 and removing 30,000 outdated dams by 2050.
Sidestroke over to The Sun on Friday to read this story, and listen to our Daily Sun-Up podcast with him. And, you can watch Moseley swimming the Colorado River here.
The Playground
Moms and “resistance rangers” are having a bake sale to fund public lands
Mountain Mamas, like this one, organize, inspire and activate mothers across the Rocky Mountains to advocate for climate, clean air and water and public lands, they say. (Photo courtesy of Mountain Mamas)“We’re sticking with state parks until we see how things shake out, because it certainly would be terrible if there was an injury or an incident and we couldn’t get help.”
— Mountain Mama director Sara Knutzler
30%
Cuts to National Park Service employee staffing the Trump administration is proposing
The unofficial resistance arm of the National Park Service and outdoorsy moms concerned about their hiking-booted babies are fighting the Trump administration’s slashing of federal workers and plans to cut more park and Forest Service funding before the end of summer … with a bake sale.
The sweet treats and solidarity will be available on the South Platte River Trail behind the Starbucks & REI in Denver on Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. until either the baked goods are gone or the Trump administration backs down (forecasters are betting on the baked goods).
All jokes aside, Sara Knutzler, Colorado state director of Mountain Mamas, said her group and the Resistance Rangers (former and current off-duty National Park Service rangers) conceived of the “Public Lands Can’t Run on Crumbs” bake sale “to make sure folks know that the Trump administration is proposing another 30% cut to the National Park Service and a 65% cut to the National Forest Service in the fiscal year 2026 budget in Congress.”
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court removed an order blocking the mass layoffs of federal employees from the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies critical for protecting and preserving public lands. After already firing more than 6,000 employees “these budget and staffing cuts create serious health and safety issues for both visitors and wildlife and jeopardize peoples’ ability to enjoy treasured outdoor spaces,” a joint news release from Mountain Mamas and the Resistance Rangers said.
“Colorado is already seeing signs of an impending summer of crisis for our national parks, national monuments, and open spaces,” the release continued.
The Supreme Court ruling had been stalled since earlier this year, “so actually, some of these folks that are coming Saturday are likely going to lose their jobs in the days and weeks ahead,” Knutzler said.
As a parent of two kids, she likes to get outside often. She says she and others are worried about what “the impacts are going to be on our wildlife, on our ecology, on our lands in general,” as well as safety if there’s an accident while they’re spending time on federal lands with diminished staff.
“Personally, I’m sort of avoiding the national parks this year because I’m just not feeling it’s super safe to bring my kids,” she said. “We’re sticking with state parks until we see how things shake out, because it certainly would be terrible if there was an injury or an incident and we couldn’t get help.”
The bake sale isn’t expected to bring in significant money.
“It’s more tongue in cheek, to highlight the absurdity of how we’re going to fill this gap,” said Knutzler, as she hiked the Clear Creek trail with her 4- and 6-year-old kids Thursday morning near Golden.
The Guide
Rural Colorado gets a new eco-devo road map
Breck Epic mountain bikers push their bikes on the Wheeler trail during the race, Aug. 17, 2023, near Breckenridge. The community of Grant, near Breckenridge, is identified on the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable’s new rural development needs map as needing recreation infrastructure, marketing help and a “community plan” to benefit its hiking, boating, skiing and RV’ing assets. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)Investors in and funders of outdoor recreation projects in remote Colorado should think beyond construction of infrastructure if they want their seat at the “rural development table,” says a new report the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable released Wednesday.
They should be thinking about operations and maintenance, resilience to extreme weather, creation of local wealth and how to build stable housing for organizations and businesses drawn to the skiing, boating, hiking, climbing, hunting, pickleball, backpacking and bird-watching opportunities in rural communities.
Colorado is still full of places where outdoor rec is waiting to be developed, although we’re not going to tell you where they are, because we don’t want to blow your chance at having your own epiphany.
ORR’s rural development needs map does a better job than we could, anyway, with the people living in those places calling out their specific needs.
The community of Bond, between Avon and Yampa, needs financial assistance, relationships with industry and hookups with state and federal agencies to promote its hiking, biking, rafting, paddleboarding and RV’ing assets.
Cañon City, between Pueblo and Salida, needs financial assistance, tech assistance and relationships as leaders create a countywide roundtable including land managers, recreation nonprofits, landowners, municipal and government leaders and area specialists to figure out its next steps.
Grant, near Breckenridge, needs recreation infrastructure, marketing help and a “community plan” for making the most of its hiking, boating, skiing and RV’ing offerings.
And Larkspur wants some help expanding its town park to include a soccer field and pickleball courts.
Think of ORR’s Trail Map for Development in Rural America as a reminder that outdoor rec can still create opportunities even when it feels like so much of Colorado has been enjoyed — or overenjoyed, depending on your perspective.
— Tracy
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