Editor’s note: This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University. See all of our stories about how Utahns are impacted by the Colorado River at greatsaltlakenews.org/coloradoriver
There are unique ways to help save the ailing Colorado River, and a nonprofit foundation is awarding millions to boost drought resistance in two of the seven basin states.
On Thursday, the Foundation for America’s Public Lands , the official congressionally-chartered charitable partner of the Bureau of Land Management, launched the Drought Resilience Fund, a first-of-its-kind grant program to involve locally led partnerships with the federal agency. The goal is to combat the severe drought challenges facing public lands and Western communities with an investment of $2.4 million in a pair of inaugural projects in the Colorado River Basin.
“The Colorado River is an essential lifeline that millions of people rely on every day. As the West faces a worsening water crisis, communities are stepping up and leading meaningful work to curb the harmful impacts of drought on public land and their livelihoods. The foundation’s new Drought Resilience Fund will invest in the work of partners on the ground who have deep knowledge of the land,” said I Ling Thompson, chief executive officer of the Foundation for America’s Public Lands.