Eagle River Coalition: The health of our waterways reflects our community values

Water is so much more than the most precious resource in the West. Our waterways provide crucial habitat for countless species, recreation opportunities, and offer space for peaceful reflection.

Unfortunately, rivers and creeks will always be susceptible to pollution and contamination just because of the nature of a watershed. A watershed is an area of land that all drains downhill into a single body of water. It’s like a big funnel that captures and collects all the rain and snowmelt on the landscape and carries that water downhill; along with any other materials the runoff encounters along the way.

Fortunately, in our community, we have local partners who are dedicated to the health and vitality of the Eagle River Watershed. Eagle River Coalition is your local advocate for the health of the Eagle River, Upper Colorado River and their tributaries. 

Among many other projects in 2024, Eagle River Coalition partnered with Eagle County Open Space to install 11 post-assisted log structures along Brush Creek Valley Ranch & Open Space. Post-assisted log structures are a form of low-tech restoration that helps rebuild wetlands and restore historical floodplains. Not only does this project help rebuild vital habitats for wildlife, but it also helps filter pollutants out of our streamways. 

For those who care about rivers and streams, news was mixed in 2024. While the United States Supreme Court weakened protections for wetlands in its Sackett v. EPA decision in 2023, Colorado became the first state in the nation to enact its own wetlands protection legislation with the passage of HB24-1379 in 2024. 

Support Local Journalism

Donate

While climate change continues to make water availability in Colorado less certain each year, local and regional leaders are taking the initiative to pursue solutions to keep water in our rivers and streams. The Colorado River District inked a historic $99 million deal with Xcel Energy for the purchase and preservation of the Shoshone Water Right which, when fully funded, will ensure that water continues to flow through Glenwood Canyon and down the hardest-working river in the West. 

Locally, Eagle River Water & Sanitation District announced plans to rebuild Bolts Lake south of Minturn. While the project won’t be completed until 2032 at the earliest, it is a forward-thinking effort to ensure the communities of Eagle County have the water resources we need in the 21st Century. 

Eagle River Coalition and Eagle County Conservation District’s Beyond Lawn program had a banner year incentivizing property owners to remove 32,001 square feet of thirsty turfgrass and replace it with beautiful, water-wise native plants. You can check out an example of that good work in the demonstration garden at the U.S. Highway 6 roundabout near the Riverwalk at Edwards. Additionally, thanks to the passage of Ballot Measure A in Eagle County, Eagle County Conservation District will have the funding to grow and expand this program in the coming years in partnership with Eagle River Coalition and Colorado State University Extension.

Through all the changes and uncertainty, Eagle River Coalition remains a local advocate for the rivers and creeks of Eagle County. Our staff and board serve as a trusted source of data-driven information about local water issues, which is especially important as we look ahead to several large-scale river restoration projects that are being planned throughout the watershed. We couldn’t do this work without the support and collaboration of our local partners and community to ensure the protection of our most vulnerable and precious resource: water.

The challenges will continue in 2025 and beyond, but you can count on Eagle River Coalition to continue its mission to advocate for the health of the Upper Colorado and Eagle River watersheds. Please join us as a program participant, volunteer, sponsor, or donor and become a guardian of your local rivers. 

To get involved or to learn more, please visit our website Eagleriverco.org or email us at info@eagleriverco.org. 

Pete Wadden is president of the Eagle River Coalition board of directors and a resident of Gypsum.