The rusty observation tower at the edge of this wastewater-fed marsh offers an osprey-eye view of two possible futures for the parched and overworked Colorado River. To one side, the marsh spreads across more than 20 square miles of pools and islands choked with cattails and phragmites. … On the tower’s other side, boundless flats of sand and cracked mud spread to the horizon across what was, prior to the river’s damming a century ago, one of Earth’s great green estuaries. … The challenges are tremendous all along the Southwest’s most critical river, one that supplies water to 40 million people and feeds millions more. But here on the delta and across the mountains and deserts and wetlands from source to sea, people who refuse to watch the Colorado die are prioritizing its care and nursing it back to health.

Other wetland and watershed protection news:

• KUNR (Reno, Nev.): Trump administration push to redraw national monuments could affect Colorado River, report warns
• The Nature Conservancy: Blog: Restoration projects improve health across Verde River watershed, new report finds
• Walton Family Foundation: Blog: From Wyoming to Louisiana, restoration projects follow nature’s lead to protect land and water
• U.S. Forest Service: Blog: Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog reintroduction