Colorado Sunday issue No. 130: "A crown jewel on the Colorado River"

Welcome to a fresh, new Colorado Sunday, friends.

Every spring when the impulse strikes to resurrect long-neglected flowerbeds, I think back to a blunder from years ago that remains seared in my memory, along with a musty odor like wet dog.

It started with a fateful twist of a faucet handle. As a new homeowner, I was set on pumping life back into a young Japanese plum tree in my front yard that had gone sickly through a dry winter. I was also ignorant of the perils of frozen pipes. So I wrenched open the outside faucet, laid the hose down by the tree and moved on to other yard work — never guessing that water from a burst pipe was filling my basement crawlspace, turning the dirt floor into a rich, dank slurry several inches deep. I spent the day baling out with plastic pails, and cursing the moment I turned the knob.

That hearty faucet twist came back to mind as I read this week’s Colorado Sunday cover story, in which Shannon Mullane tells of a tiny hydroelectric plant with mighty a water right — and how, in the byzantine world of water law, this small-time energy operation could have an outsize impact that touches economies, the environment and almost everyone in Colorado.

Shoshone Power Plant beneath the Interstate 70 near Glenwood Springs. Two miles upstream, a dam diverts water from the Colorado River. At this facility, the water runs through turbines to generate electricity before returning to the river. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

As a reporter, I’ve always loved the moments when I realize that something I see every day has a captivating history or is tied to statewide, even national, conversations. Maybe what looks like a simple stream is actually an irrigation ditch that supplies hundreds of people with water. Or a stretch of river that looks no different from other parts of the river actually benefits from millions of dollars in aid for endangered fish.

In this case, it’s a small power plant that sits along Interstate 70 just upstream of Glenwood Springs.

That hydropower facility, the Shoshone Power Plant, plays a fascinating role in the Colorado water world: It’s the “big dog” on the Colorado River not because of the electricity it produces but because of the senior water rights it holds.

Those water rights are part of the long conflict over how the Front Range, where about 90% of the state’s population lives, takes water from the Western Slope, where almost 80% of the rivers flow. They command the flow of the Colorado River. They’ve become an economic engine for Western Slope cities and recreation industries. They contribute vital water for aquatic ecosystems in a drought-stressed river basin.

Big players in Colorado water are making a play to buy those water rights and change them into what could be the largest, most influential environmental water right in state history.

Shoshone’s story isn’t just for water wonks. It impacts millions of people from Fort Collins to Denver, Fraser to Grand Junction — maybe even you.

READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE

What’s not to love about spring in Colorado? With snow still in the mountains and balmy temperatures at lower elevations, you can choose your season and activity. Here are the recent snaps for our weekly photo section from The Sun’s photojournalists.

Vicki Taussig, right, keeps an eye out on the pregnant cows with her daughter, Caitlyn, as they make the routine checkup in the truck on their ranch during calving season Tuesday near Kremmling. The multigenerational ranching pair oversee 135 cows on their pastures. Calving season requires round-the-clock work to ensure calves are born healthy and to keep them safe from weather and predators. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
William Trevizo, 22, on Thursday at Metropolitan State University in Denver. Trevizo has played violin for eight years. Now a student studying music education and performance at MSU, he was inspired by his father to learn mariachi music. For those who grew up listening to the genre, mariachi performances can “actually bring you to tears,” Trevizo said. “It’s so impressive how music can do that.” (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
Programs assistant Bianca Barriskill and curator Stephanie Gilmore flip through a jail register of Jefferson County entries from 1878 to 1929 on Friday at the Golden History Museum. Barriskill will present a lecture Tuesday about the Colorado criminal justice system in the early 20th century, focusing on women who were institutionalized for “insanity.” (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
Silverthorne resident Jonnah Glassman takes a quick ski tour on Buffalo Mountain before her work shift April 2 in Summit County. Glassman, an avid ski mountaineer, is also a Silverthorne town council member. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
In the semi-arid desert in Grand Junction, Anne Chamberlin goes for a post-work mountain bike ride on Eagle’s Wing trail at Lunch Loops trail systems in December 2021. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

I love a good loop. As a trail runner, it’s so mentally satisfying to continue moving forward with no chance to agonize over the fact that each step I take away from the trailhead is one I’ll have to take back to it.

It’s probably unsurprising that one of my favorite places for springtime running has “loops” right in its name. On the west side of Grand Junction, sandwiched between the more popular trail systems of Fruita and Palisade, are the Lunch Loops: a rocky system of — you guessed it — looping trails that weave together an incredible sampling of western Colorado scenery.

The Lunch Loops are (almost literally) overshadowed by the Colorado National Monument, which shares the trails’ entrance road, meaning you’ll get the same breathtaking landscape without the entrance fees. If you’re up for a climb, the Eagle’s Nest loop (Eagle’s Tail to Eagle’s Wing on some trail maps) provides an 1,100-foot ascent to a perfect perch with a view of the national monument to the west and the Grand Mesa to the east.

These multiuse trails are popular with mountain bikers and have some spicy downhill sections, so while trail etiquette is always encouraged, this isn’t the place for noise-canceling headphones or ignoring direction-of-traffic signs. The trails are also very exposed, with few opportunities for shade and no water along the routes, so keep that in mind before you leave the parking lot.

That said, the Lunch Loops are truly, as their title suggests, a bunch of interconnected loops, meaning it’s kind of hard to get lost here. Which leads me to my favorite part about them: It almost doesn’t matter which way you turn, you’ll eventually end up back where you started.

MORE INFORMATION AT BLM.GOV

EXCERPT: Author Tim Jackson is a car guy — decades leading a state trade association of car dealers is testament to that. But he’s also a bicycle guy. And an aviation guy. In “Dude, Where’s My Flying Car?” he looks at the past, present and future of personal mobility, tracking the industry into a future when flying cars may be upon us sooner than we think.

READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT

THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Over his years heading an auto dealers trade association, Jackson had a front-row seat for the conflicts in the public square over all sorts of transportation issues. Now, he sees a continuing tension that’s almost literally a street fight. Here’s a slice of his Q&A:

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?

Jackson: Having spent 30 years in the automotive and personal mobility industry, as well as being an avid cyclist over the past 20-plus years along with working at the Colorado Capitol and before state agencies advocating transportation and mobility policies, I became acutely aware of friction on the horizon — some of it has already arrived — in which there is a fight advancing for space on the streets and highways. It is a fight for space.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH TIM JACKSON

🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST WITH THE AUTHOR

A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.

Colorado Sun politics reporter Sandra Fish, left, hands over her press credential April 6 after being told to leave the Colorado Republican Party state assembly at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo. Fish was told she was being removed because state party chair Dave Williams doesn’t like her reporting. (Ernest Lee Luning, Colorado Politics)

🌞 A veteran Colorado Sun politics reporter became the headline Aug. 6, after she was escorted out of the state GOP assembly by a sheriff’s deputy — and told it was because party Chairman Dave Williams dislikes her coverage. Sandra Fish, who recounted the episode on CNN and other outlets, has reported on the 2023 election of Williams to lead the state party, questions about spending under his watch, and the party’s financial troubles, Jennifer Brown reports.

🌞 Disaster response authorities in Boulder County say they were left in the dark even before Xcel Energy cut power to 55,000 people ahead of a windstorm. According to Tracy Ross, authorities did not know what parts of the power system Xcel intended to shut down, or where power would go out in the city and county, setting back efforts to provide help and gauge emergency needs.

🌞 The sad tale of a 21-year-old skier who was killed trying to jump U.S. 40 on Berthoud Pass highlighted a risky hobby in Colorado’s high country. Ski movie-makers have been filming road-gap segments for decades, posting clips of young men — they all seem to be young men, Jason Blevins reports — soaring over roads in Colorado and beyond. But mistakes can be tragic.

🌞 Speaking of Blevins, last week saw the publication of two stories revealing here-to-fore unknown details about ski resort injuries — a well-kept secret in ski country. Blevins spent two years gathering trauma center admission data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that detail skier and snowboarder emergency room visits in 25 Colorado ZIP codes from 2017 to 2022. He made records requests to five sheriff’s offices, analyzed ambulance trips of skiers and snowboards injured on resorts, and visited two of the busiest ERs in the state. The man could probably use a break.

🌞 Jesse Paul has the story of a Republican lawmaker who left a loaded pistol in a Capitol bathroom, marking the latest incident at the Capitol involving Republican state lawmakers and guns. And it comes as Republicans in the legislature are fighting a measure that would ban guns in the building.

🌞 Paul and Fish report that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold will remain in office after a group of Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to impeach her last week. The resolution had little hope of ever passing, but gave Republicans a chance “to voice support for Trump and rile up their base as the November election approaches.”

And with that, friends, we say goodbye until the next Colorado Sunday, with high hopes that your thirst for news has been quenched!

— Lance & the whole staff of The Sun

Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

This byline is used for articles and guides written collaboratively by The Colorado Sun reporters, editors and producers.