Water is the life of the West. About 80 percent of Colorado’s water is sourced in the mountains of the West Slope. These “water towers” capture and store water as snow. As the snow melts in spring and summer, soils absorb that water, which is then slowly released to maintain streams and river flows. Our streams and rivers and the adjacent riparian plant communities provide critical food, nesting and protective cover to greater than 80% of the West’s wildlife. Without water we have no riparian plant communities. Without these waterdependent plant communities we lose our wildlife.

Although about 80 percent of Colorado’s water originates on the West slope, about 80% of our population lives on the Front Range. This conundrum has led to the building of transmountain diversions that have dewatered most our streams and rivers. One of the primary goals of the Roaring Fork Group of the Sierra Club is to keep West Slope water on the West Slope. Please join us in our quest to maintain healthy, free-flowing rivers and streams.