Nearly half of Colorado River tribes have unresolved water rights claims. New agreements could change that
The Colorado River provides water to more than 40 million people. The Basin includes 30 federally recognized Indian tribes and seven states (Colorado, Wyoming, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada). Tribal nations in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have been left out of key agreements involving the Colorado River for well over a century now. In April, the Upper Colorado River Commission – that’s an agency at the nexus of many Colorado River discussions in the Upper Basin – voted to back a new proposed agreement that would make regular meetings with tribes be mandatory for the first time in the group’s 76-year history. Mira Barney is a Diné (Navajo) woman working at the National Wildlife Federation. She is also pursuing a graduate certificate in Environmental Justice at CU Boulder, and works as Program Assistance with Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network.
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