Officials worry that the mammoth High Park blaze — now only 10% contained — could burn all summer, devastating not only the state's air and water quality, but also its $10-billion annual tourism industry. Since last weekend, the High Park fire has churned through 78 square miles of forestland, destroyed scores of homes and taken one life.

Generations of Navajo families have grazed livestock on a remote but spectacular mesa that overlooks the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. This is the East Rim of the majestic Grand Canyon – the last with no significant development.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) hosted a series of informational meetings in Southwest Colorado this Fall related to droughts impact on tourism. The project is entitled Drought Assessment for Recreation and Tourism or DART.

Even as Telluride residents watch their water supply arrive in the form of fairly regular snowfall, state and regional water officials plan for dry times. The Colorado Water Conservation Board hosted an informational meeting Wednesday about its Drought Assessment for Recreation and Tourism, or DART.

A new coalition of businesses is reminding lawmakers that a healthy Colorado River is vital to healthy business. Protect the Flows represents 250 businesses from the river’s seven basin states, including nearly 100 businesses from Colorado. Protect the Flows met with U.S.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board will begin a pilot research project in Southwest Colorado this summer to further investigate droughts’ impacts on the recreational tourism industry and possible solutions to the problems caused by dry years.

Drought can have devastating impacts on Southwest Colorado’s recreational tourism industry. So state officials want to know more about how the region’s tourism and recreation industries are affected by drought and what could be done about it.

A new CSU study shows that the private fish hatcheries supplying fishing clubs and ranches pump about $1.9 billion into local economies across the 11 western states. "They're very important," Waldmier said of the hatcheries and the dude ranches they supply. "I know one operation down by Bailey called Boxwood Gulch.