Colorado River

The sluggish Colorado River negotiations have entered a new phase: Long and fiery letter writing.

A new report finds 2025 brought widespread drought, massive wildfires and destructive windstorms across several Mountain West states — and underscores how closely connected those disasters have become.

Week two of the budget session is when all lawmakers get their first chance to weigh in on how much, and on what, the state will spend over the next two years. Until this point, only a small group has shaped the budget. WyoFile's Maggie Mullen and Wyoming Public Radio's Chris Clements break down the process, from the Senate's Big Beautiful Amendment to the House's late nights and tense debates. They've got the latest on Checkgate, too.

Leaders of environmental groups are issuing fresh warnings this week about the impacts the ongoing gridlock could have in the river basin.

The Fetcher ranch in northwest Colorado is on the frontlines this year of record-low snowpack across the West. It's adding a sense of urgency among seven states to finalize a plan for how to conserve the dwindling Colorado River.

Legislation based around “chemtrail” conspiracy theories was killed by lawmakers, although there’s still a narrow window for it to resurface. Meanwhile, the state's approval for cloud seeding, which is at the root of the conspiracies, is moving forward.

Lawmakers are discussing the pilot program as western states remain at an impasse about the future of the Colorado River.

Large farms in parts of the Colorado River Basin are paying little — and in some cases nothing — for federally supplied water, even as cities and residents are being asked to conserve, according to a new report.

At a key meeting to discuss the river's future management, federal officials lay out tools for dealing with falling reservoir levels.

National monuments across the West do more than preserve iconic landscapes — they also help protect the rivers millions of people rely on for drinking water. But a new analysis warns those protections could weaken under the Trump administration’s push to redraw the boundaries of several monuments.