Water Law

Currently, there are two conflicting bills in the Colorado Legislature that would create a new state program regulating the dredge and fill of wetlands and streams across the State – HB 24-1379 and SB 24-127. A key question facing lawmakers is the scope of this new program or, in other...

The Colorado River is undergoing a big change in management that has the potential to affect nearly forty million people who live in the Colorado River Basin and rely on Colorado River water. Flowing through more than 246,000 square miles in seven U.S. states and Mexico, the Colorado River Basin...

Colorado River Research Group (CRRG) members Jack Schmidt, Eric Kuhn and John Fleck submitted an “alternative” to the post-2026 EIS process entitled: “Managing the Powell/Grand Canyon/Mead ecosystem after 2026.” In a nutshell, the alternative suggests that the Secretary of Interior be empowered to employ an adaptive management approach allowing releases...

Aspen Journalism held an exciting panel in Basalt the evening of Tuesday April 9th. The event, “Hanging in the Balance: Competing Needs for Water in the West” hosted Kate Ryan, Executive Director of the Colorado Water Trust, Hattie Johnson, Restoration Director of American Whitewater’s Stweardship Program, Mark Harris, Senior Water...

University of Colorado Law School student Oliver Skelly ('25) is this year’s inaugural Conscience Bay Company Western Water Policy Fellow. The Conscience Bay Company Western Water Policy Fellowship, initiated in 2023 by leaders of the Conscience Bay Company , is awarded each year to a Colorado Law student on the...

University of Colorado Law School student Victoria (Tori) Matson ('26) is this year’s David Harrison Innovations in Water and Energy Law & Policy Fellow. The Fellowship, initiated in 2010 by partners of the law firm of Moses, Wittemyer, Harrison and Woodruff, P.C. in honor David L. Harrison (Law ‘71), is...

Members of the Acequia Assistance Project, in conjunction with the Getches-Wilkinson Center and the Colorado Law School, made their way down to San Luis, CO earlier this month to attend the 12th annual Congreso de Acequias. There, Project members took a walking tour of San Luis, visited the People’s Ditch...

A historic interstate, inter-governmental agreement is finally institutionalizing the much-needed practice of including the six Native American Tribes of the Upper Colorado River basin in Colorado River discussions. On Monday, March 4, 2024, the Upper Colorado River Commission, a multi-state water administrative agency tasked with ensuring the states of Colorado,...

Acequia Assistance Project Director Gregor MacGregor, co-founder Peter Nichols, and student deputy director Mary Slosson were all featured in an article about the project’s pro bono legal assistance in the San Luis Valley entitled “How Law Students Are Keeping a Historic Water Distribution Tradition Alive in Southern Colorado.” Approximately 400...

The Getches-Wilkinson Center, Native American Rights Fund, CU American Indian Law Program and Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group are thrilled to co-host: Celebrating the Boldt Decision and Treaty Justice. An evening of scholarship, storytelling and celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Boldt decision and the release of Treaty...