I’m writing to express my strong support for the Colorado River District’s purchase of the historic Shoshone water rights from Xcel Energy.

Permanent protection of the Shoshone water rights is a rare opportunity to provide water security to communities across the Western Slope. In Grand County and throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin, the families who ranch and farm depend on the Colorado River to sustain our state and local economies, provide food security and protect open spaces.

We understand what it looks like to live within our means when it comes to water – we know that all we have is what the snowpack and the summer rains provide each year. Senior water rights like Shoshone keep that water flowing downstream, flowing west, especially as we see hotter, drier summers coming earlier most years and a growing population on the Front Range. 

The Shoshone hydropower plant near Glenwood Springs has been calling water down through the Upper Colorado River basin for over 100 years, but if that plant were ever to go away, the water rights tied to it – and the many benefits those rights provide – would be at risk.

Along the banks of the Upper Colorado, we can tell when the Shoshone call comes on. Out of basin diverters take less, and the river holds its shape. Flows coming out of the bottom of William’s Fork Reservoir, especially in mid to late August, lower stream temperatures for healthier fish and benefit not only agriculture but the recreational and environmental values loved by Grand County residents.

As a fourth generation rancher, my family’s history and my livelihood are closely tied to the Colorado River. Permanent protection of the Shoshone water rights will help to provide my children, the fifth generation, to ranch this land with the water security needed to keep going. Let’s not miss our chance to permanent flows in the Colorado River.

Mike Ritschard
Kremmling resident