The need for large landscape collaborative restoration projects has never been more critical. Far downstream from the headwaters, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the Colorado River’s two large reservoirs, are currently at 28 percent of capacity. New federal cuts in water usage are coming as the states have failed to reach agreement on a deadline imposed in June to apportion 15 percent cuts across the region. The $15 billion agriculture industry in the region uses about 75 percent of the river’s water supply across the seven states and would be hit hard by the reductions.

As the climate continues to change and becomes increasingly variable, ranchers more than ever need drought management and climate smart strategies for conserving this unique landscape, home of the Sage Grouse, the Mountain Bluebird, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird, the Evening Grosbeak and a wide variety of plant and animal communities. The seasonality of elevations from sagebrush steppes, high plateaus, and 6,000 ft valleys to high elevation pastures under 13,000 ft mountain peaks influence rancher decisions about livestock species and breeds, forage mixes and management, public land permits, stocking rates, locations of ranch stock ponds and reservoirs, timing of breeding and herd mobility. Managing this complex forest-grassland region of private and public grazing lands under variable local weather and a changing climate is no easy task and an urgent priority.