The Upper Colorado Region is responsible for managing and protecting water and associated resources including project facilities, endangered species, and many other environmental considerations. As drought continues to persist in the Upper Colorado Region and throughout the West, the challenge of fulfilling this responsibility increases, making wise management of our finite water resources imperative. Part of the Upper Colorado Region's role in addressing these challenges is to bring competing interests together to find consensus-based approaches to the contemporary water challenges in the West.
A good example of this kind of approach is the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (AMP). The objective of the AMP is to apply scientific knowledge gained through the program to improve the resources downstream from Glen Canyon Dam while complying with existing law. This is accomplished through the Adaptive Management Work Group, a federal advisory committee with representation from each of the cooperating agencies, Colorado River Basin states, environmental groups, recreation interests, and contractors for federal power from Glen Canyon Dam.
A second example is the Upper Colorado Region's endangered species recovery programs. These programs rely on collaboration and consultation among multi-party stakeholders to develop and implement recovery strategies that comply with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, while allowing Reclamation to fulfill its mission and meet obligations under Reclamation law and water delivery contracts.