Community discussion June 6 to focus on Yampa Basin’s water future

The Yampa River is the focus of The Yampa Basin: Snow, Weather, Water and Our Future, a community discussion 5:30-7:30 p.m., June 6 at the Allbright Auditorium, CMC Steamboat Springs. The event is free and open to the public and will address how water will affect the future of the Yampa Basin.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – The Yampa Basin Rendezvous is a two-day workshop (June 5-6) focusing on the Yampa River and its significance as one of the Colorado River’s wildest remaining tributaries. The event is organized in partnership with Colorado Mountain College Steamboat Springs and the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Photo of the Yampa River
The Yampa River is the focus of a community discussion 5:30-7:30 p.m., June 6 at CMC Steamboat Springs. The event is free and open to the public and will address how water will affect the future of the Yampa Basin.

Approximately 80 graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, researchers and water resource experts are anticipated to attend the workshop, which will be held at CMC’s Steamboat campus.

On June 6, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. the Yampa Basin Rendezvous will culminate in a free community discussion. Called “The Yampa Basin: Snow, Weather, Water and Our Future,” this public forum will be held at the Allbright Auditorium at CMC Steamboat Springs. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

The community discussion will feature representatives from Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, Colorado Mountain College, Friends of the Yampa, Yampa Valley Sustainability Council, and Steamboat Resorts.

Joining the discussion will be Open Snow’s meteorologist Joel Gratz, local water experts Kelly Romero-Heaney and Kevin McBride, and Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes. The discussion will focus on the past and present demands of the Yampa River, and what the future holds for the region.

Opening remarks will be provided by renowned landscape photographer John Fielder. Admission is free but registration is required at www.colomtn.me/yampariver. For additional information, contact Sarah Jones at Yampa Valley Sustainability Council at 970-871-9299 or sarah@yvsc.org.