Joel Ferry is stepping down as commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, just ahead of an anticipated announcement on Utah’s future share of Colorado River water and as the state grapples with plunging water levels in both the Great Salt Lake and Lake Powell. Since 2022, Ferry has played a pivotal role in water issues, as Gov. Spencer Cox’s point man on Great Salt Lake conservation efforts and the Colorado River. ... Cox nominated Jamie Barnes, the state forester and director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands since 2021, to take Ferry’s place pending Senate confirmation. … Ferry has been closely involved intense, high-stakes negotiations on the allocation of Colorado River water between Utah and the other states that rely on it.

Other Colorado River management news:

• Utah News Dispatch: Utah’s top natural resources official steps down after 4 years in the job
• The Colorado Sun (Denver): Colorado River water managers await federal plan due this week
• The Salt Lake Tribune: A Colorado River deal is expected this week. How will it impact Utah?
• KUNR (Reno, Nev.): Scientists expand Colorado River evaporation monitoring as water shortages persist
• Lake Powell Chronicle (Miami, Ariz.): Stalled sovereignty: How the West’s smallest tribe is held hostage by the Colorado River war
• Pasadena Now (Calif.): Colorado River water cuts could impact Pasadena
• Big Pivots: Blog: In 2002, we had Colorado River water cushions. Now they’re gone.
• Steamboat Pilot and Today (Steamboat Springs, Colo.): Opinion: A message from the Yampa River