Click the link to read the article on the Colorado Public Radio website (Ishan Thakore). Here’s an excerpt:
Jan. 10, 2025
The federal government awarded $4.25 million to the Colorado-based Southern Ute Indian Tribe this week to defend tribal water resources from climate-related challenges. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Community Resilience branch distributed grants to 124 projects nationwide, with funding pooled from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the 2024 federal budget…
Across the state, warming fueled by climate change is ratcheting up average temperatures, which can lead to drought conditions. Southcentral and southwestern Colorado – where the Southern Ute Indian Reservation is located – have seen the largest temperature increases statewide, according to Colorado State University’s 2024 State of the Climate report. Spring rain in southwest Colorado has also decreased by over 20 percent compared to 1951-2000, according to the report.
The federal funding will support two projects to restore the ecology of waterways on the reservation and fortify irrigation systems.
A $250,000 grant will support the tribe’s environmental programs department to assess, and eventually restore, the Pine River watershed, which is facing impacts from drought and sediment pollution. The funding will allow the tribe to undertake a detailed assessment and devise a treatment plan for several waterways. Another $4 million grant to the tribe’s water resources division will shore up an irrigation system that delivers water to around 4,000 acres. The funding will allow the tribe to replace old infrastructure and construct new weirs — or low barriers built across waterways — on seven sites on the Pine River canal. The goal is to help the tribe maintain consistent water levels for irrigation, even as a lack of rain and increased evaporation dip into water supplies.
