Telling Our Stories
The Stories behind the Stance
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Colorado Water Workshop, Gunnison, Colorado, May 22, 2007
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Aqua Engineering, Inc.
Editor: MaryLou Smith
Producer: Kendal Perez
Jenny Russell
Telluride, Colorado
“I love the life of the river,
and especially the desert
river: wondering what’s
around the bend and how
I’ll handle the next rapid.”
Attorney at Law
Tom Iseman
Denver, Colorado
“It scared me that
something as vital as water
might disappear.”
The Nature
Conservancy
Eric Hecox
Denver, Colorado
“As a child in East Africa, I
learned to seek out the
water holes. That’s where
the animals were!”
Department of Natural
Resources
Interbasin Compact
Negotiations
Rita Crumpton
Grand Junction, Colorado
“Colorado water was the
best water we kids ever
tasted.”
Orchard Mesa
Irrigation District
John Fetcher
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
“We have more west slope
surplus than we can ever use.
Why send it on to
California?”
Upper Yampa Water
Conservancy
District
Neil Grigg
Fort Collins, Colorado
“My father was a big river
man.”
Colorado State
University, Civil
Engineering
Department
Robert Drexel
Gunnison, Colorado
“Water was so precious to
my grandfather that he
refused to allow me to do
the irrigating on the home
ranch.”
Upper Gunnison River
Water Conservancy
District
Don Magnuson
Eaton, Colorado
“I never remember a family
gathering where the
conversation of the elders
didn’t drift to telling stories
about water.”
Cache La Poudre
Irrigating Company
George Sibley
Gunnison, Colorado
“Trying to reach the
Colorado River the next
day under the scorching
desert sun was brutal.”
Upper Gunnison River
Water Conservancy
District
Mary Stirling
Denver, Colorado
“I didn’t think there would
be any place to sail in
Colorado.”
Colorado Water
Congress
Dennis Smith
Leadville, Colorado
“We raised worms in
bathtubs and sold them
all day to fishermen that
lined the lakes thick.”
Arkansas Basin
Roundtable
Jane Rawlings
Pueblo, Colorado
“During the 1950’s drought,
there was no flushing for
‘number one.’”
The Pueblo Chieftain
Greg Hobbs
Denver, Colorado
“My favorite place was a creek…
with crawdads scuttling in the
water and blue-bellies flashing
on and off the rocks.”
Colorado Supreme
Court
David Freeman
Fort Collins, Colorado
“As I grew of size to help lug
water pails, my job was to
help my grandmother haul
that water.”
Colorado State
University,
Sociology
Department
Kathleen Curry
Gunnison, Colorado
“Fourth grade, cleaning trash
out of the stream. In that
moment I decided to work in
the water field.”
Colorado House of
Representatives
Jeff Crane
Hotchkiss, Colorado
“Although warned against
it, I drank heartily from
high mountain streams
simply because I could.”
Colorado Watershed
Assembly
Bill Brown
Fort Collins, Colorado
“I didn’t know a cfs from an
acre foot, but I waded in
(pun intended, I suppose.)
And I was hooked.”
Fischer, Brown &
Gunn, P.C.
Steve Glazer
Crested Butte, Colorado
“I was awakened by seeing
a mountain stream being
completely diverted for
irrigation.”
High Country Citizens’
Alliance
Wayne Vanderschuere
Colorado Springs, Colorado
“I realized water had
become a passion and
not just a job.”
Colorado Springs
Utilities
Ray Wright
Alamosa, Colorado
“I remember when the
lawsuits came that began
to restrict our water
supply.”
Rio Grande Water
Conservancy
District
Daniel Tyler
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
“When you can wrap yourself
in the oldest running case
in the Southwest, why not
take on a new mantra?
“Waterman!” That’s me!”
Author, Silver Fox of the
Rockies
Melinda Kassen
Boulder, Colorado
“It is not appropriate to
treat water like a
commodity; it is like air.”
Trout Unlimited
Ralph Curtis
Alamosa, Colorado
“Keeping cattle out of the
riparian areas is an
environmental idea that
just makes sense.”
Rio Grande Water
Conservationcy
District
John Barthelow
Fort Collins, Colorado
“I’d rather talk about the
physics of why removing water
from rivers so often heats
them up during the summer.”
US Geological
Survey
John Wiener
Boulder, Colorado
“I feel compelled to at least
witness well and contribute to
showing alternatives and
seeing better outcomes.”
University of
Colorado
Ram Dhan Khalsa
Grand Junction, Colorado
“Arguing over who should get
the water is like two fleas
on a dog arguing about who
owns the dog.”
Bureau of
Reclamation
Doug Kenney
Boulder, Colorado
“Crossing the Missouri at
age six, I was shocked
and inspired by the scale
and grandeur.”
Natural Resources
Law Center,
University of
Colorado School of
Law
Rio de la Vista
Alamosa, Colorado
“When, I wonder, does a drop
of water enter the legal
system? We have not yet
adjudicated the cloud.”
Rio Grande Land
Trust
Jack Flobeck
Colorado Springs, Colorado
“My core belief about water
is simple. It’s a gift from
heaven.”
Aqua Prima Center