White River Basin

Описание: Free DISCUSSION STARTERS and GLOSSARY - view or download at this link: https://gihamilton.com/discuss/white-...

This episode visits with people along the White River, from Trapper's Lake down to the Colorado/Utah border. Shawn Welder's ranching and outfitting business high up near the headwaters, depends, as he says: "100 percent on healthy natural resources." He points out that human activity upstream affects everyone downstream.

Forrest Nelson's family settled near Meeker, downstream from Shawn's ranch. He mentions that the river attracts people for recreation— hunting, fishing, and hiking— while his family came for cattle ranching. His practice of flooding fields stores and returns water to the river later in the season. Callie Hendrickson, a local water manager, describes how this process of "irrigation recharge" refills underground aquifers which in times of drought can benefit downstream towns like Rangely.

Closer to Rangely, rancher Deirdre Macnab explains both the beauty and challenges of ranching on a river that varies seasonally and moves its course from year to year. The "oxbows" she shows us, vestiges of the river's older course, become rich wildlife habitat after the main river bypasses them. But a river that straightens itself to avoid these "meanders," tends to erode its banks, leaving ranchers like Deirdre with smaller hay fields and irrigation pumps left high and dry. She chuckles as she ponders such challenges of "a living, moving river."

Further downstream, the episode ends with a glimpse of Kenney Reservoir, originally built to alleviate seasonal flooding.

ABOUT THE SERIES - "YOUR WATER TABLE: Finding Common Ground Around Our Rivers" Meet people who get their hands wet in many facets of water management here in Northwest Colorado. This series of six short videos (under 4 minutes each) touches on issues, threats, and opportunities facing our local water resources in the Yampa, White, and Green River Basins. Series made possible with support from the Yampa White Green Basin Roundtable https://yampawhitegreen.com and American Rivers https://www.americanrivers.org