Originally published in the Getches-Wilkinson Center blog on July 15, 2024
The Colorado River Research Group (CRRG), founded and again chaired by the GWC鈥檚 Doug Kenney, resumed activities this Spring, headlined by the publication in May of its latest policy brief entitled:聽聽Imagining the River We Deserve: How the Post-2026 Rulemaking is Only One Step Towards Sustainability.聽 In a nutshell, the report acknowledges that the current EIS developing new management rules is essential to stopping further declines in the reservoirs, but is too specialized a process to get us all the way to the healthy, sustainable river that so many Colorado River stakeholders are asking for.聽 Once the current EIS is completed, where (and how) is all the additional work going to be done? The CRRG believes that is a critically important question that shouldn鈥檛 be overlooked by the current spotlight on the EIS and its stated focus on 鈥渃oordinated reservoir management.鈥�
The publication of the report dovetailed nicely with two other activities undertaken by CRRG members.聽 First, in April, three CRRG members--Jack Schmidt, Eric Kuhn and John Fleck--submitted an 鈥渁lternative鈥� to the post-2026 EIS process: 鈥�.鈥澛� That proposal suggests that the Secretary of Interior be empowered to employ an adaptive management approach allowing releases from Powell to Mead to 鈥渂e optimized to meet environmental, recreational, and cultural goals while retaining an interstate accounting system that still meets water-supply objectives.鈥澛� Second, five CRRG members (John Fleck, Jason Robison, Eric Kuhn, Jonathan Overpeck and Doug Kenney) all participated as speakers/moderators in the June conference, which reinforced the philosophy that the post-2026 rulemaking was necessary but insufficient to achieve a desirable long-term future for the river.聽
Collectively, all these efforts aim to achieve the CRRG objective of bringing 鈥淎n independent, scientific voice for the future of the Colorado River.鈥� Topics of future CRRG writings are currently under discussion.