River meetings kick off in April

By DENNIS WEBB

Dennis.Webb@gjsentinel.com

The Colorado River District launches its 2024 State of the River event series this month with events in Montrose and Ridgway and will be holding its Grand Junction forum on April 1.

The river district works with partner organizations to host 10 events around the region, offering “attendees the opportunity to learn more about local water projects and priorities, seasonal river and stream flow forecasts, Colorado River and interstate issues, and how the River District is working to protect Colorado’s most precious resource,” the district said in a news release.

All the meetings are free and open to the public and will include a light dinner. Unless otherwise noticed, dinner and networking will begin at 6 p.m. with the speaker program starting at 6:30 p.m. Registration is required, and series information, including links to register, may be found at: https://www.coloradoriverdistrict. org/state-of-theriver- meetings-2024/.

“The State of the River meetings are a spring tradition in Western Colorado,” district Deputy Director of Public Relations Lindsay DeFrates said in the release. “The Colorado River District was established to represent the interests West Slope water users, and so we try to make these meetings as accessible as possible to anyone interested in learning more about the important water issues facing their community.”

Following are event dates and locations for specific river basins:

■ March 18 – Lower Gunnison River, Montrose County Event Center, Montrose, partnering with the Gunnison Basin Roundtable;

■ March 19 – Uncompahgre River, 4H Ridgway Community Center, Ridgway, partnering with the Ouray County Water Users Association;

• March 26 – White River, Fairfield Center, Meeker, partnering with the Rio Blanco Conservancy District;

■ April 1 – Colorado River, Meyer Ballroom, Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, partnering with the CMU Water Center;

■ April 2 – Lower Yampa River, Moffat County Fairgrounds, partnering with the Community Ag. Alliance;

■ April 3 – Upper Yampa River, Steamboat Springs Community Center, partnering with the Community Ag. Alliance;

■ May 7 – Middle Colorado River, Ute Theater, Rifle, partnering with the Middle Colorado Watershed Council;

■ May 9 – Upper Colorado River, Sun Outdoors, Granby, partnering with Grand County;

■ May 23 – Blue River, Silverthorne Pavilion, Silverthorne, partnering with the Blue River Watershed Group;

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• Date TBD – Eagle River, Colorado Mountain College, Eagle, partnering with Eagle River Water and Sanitation District.