Colorado’s headwaters play a crucial role in meeting our nation’s need for fresh water. Our state and 18 others derive their water supply from Colorado’s high-country watersheds.
Water is an essential element for sustaining life.
Rivers, streams and lakes are the “lifeblood” of our environment. An adequate supply of clean water and the biological diversity that our watersheds support are essential to a future that is balanced both socially and ecologically.
Water is the key component of the environment, and the land that surrounds that water is the structure around that environment. Together, land and water make a watershed a whole system.
A “watershed” is the term used to describe an area of land united by the flow of water, nutrients, pollutants and sediments, moving downslope to the lowest point, through a network of drainage pathways that may be underground or on the surface.
We all live in a watershed and everything we do on our property can have an impact. The land drains into tributaries and these streams or creeks flow into bigger rivers. As this water flows downhill, it moves over the soil. Along the way, the water picks up debris (leaves or soil particles); sediments that can impact water quality.
Forests receive precipitation, utilize it for their sustenance and growth, and influence its storage and/or passage to other parts of the environment.
Four major river systems – the Platte, Colorado, Arkansas and Rio Grande – originate in Colorado’s mountains and fully drain into one-third of the landmass of the lower 48 states.
Colorado’s headwaters play a crucial role in meeting our nation’s need for fresh water. Our state and 18 others derive their water supply from Colorado’s high-country watersheds.
Mountain snows supply 75 percent of the water to these river systems. Approximately 40 percent of the water comes from the highest 20 percent of the land, most of which lies in national forests.
National forests yield large portions of the total water in these river systems. The potential is great for forests to positively and negatively influence the transport of water such immense distances.
Healthy forests lead to healthy watersheds that provide drinking water to millions. In a changing climate, our forests need to be resilient in the face of drought, wildfire, insects and diseases to ensure water remains clean and accessible to people, wildlife and the landscape.
The Colorado State Forest Service and the City of Fort Collins are partners on a new project to protect the source of 25 percent of the city’s drinking water.
The annual forest health report, released today by the Colorado State Forest Service, details how ongoing warm temperatures and below-average precipitation create challenges for Colorado’s forests.
It is crucial for Colorado to protect its forested watersheds from the ever-present threat of wildfire to ensure residents and communities have water for drinking, agriculture and other uses. The Colorado Legislature recognizes this need and passed House Bill 22-1379 during the 2022 legislative session to fund projects that reduce wildfire fuels around high-priority watersheds and water infrastructure.
The Woodland Park Field Office of the Colorado State Forest Service received a $1 million Landscape Resilience Investment grant through the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) that will fund essential forest management activities near the North Catamount reservoir.
The CSFS works with Colorado Springs Utilities and the Pikes-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands under a Good Neighbor Agreement to reduce the impacts of a catastrophic wildfire on this municipal watershed that supplies water to residents of Colorado Springs.
