The public record
Inspect the record behind a question: what Whitney would change, how seasonal water sustains habitat, or which standards govern the decision. Start with the Visual Guide, then use the library to follow a claim to its source.
Storm over the broader Homestake area. Campaign photograph.
Research for resistance
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Featured and New
This compact briefing connects the Homestake precedent, the Whitney reservoir proposal and its fen impacts, the project's current status, local river livelihoods, and the Colorado River's physical limits. Every featured record also appears in the complete searchable index below. Read the economic evidence brief or download its PDF.
The controlling appellate decision upheld Eagle County's Homestake II denial. It remains the clearest legal precedent for why water rights do not erase local land-use review.
The October 27 vote tied effectiveness to a separate enacting resolution. The approved package addresses the groundwater and downstream habitat that another diversion would put at risk.
A close look at groundwater-connected wetlands and the limits of transplant experiments. It explains why preserving ecological function requires more than moving plants.
The July 2026 Whitney status report says drilling is complete, but no final design or formal reservoir proposal has been submitted. The campaign is organizing before that changes.
Homestake Creek feeds the Eagle River. This report records $1.51 million in direct commercial rafting expenditures across the Upper and Lower Eagle in 2024, connecting healthy river flows with guide work and visitor spending.
NASA's September 2026 satellite record shows Lake Powell at a new low. A reservoir depends on the water that reaches it. Homestake's future must be judged against the river's physical limits.
Commissioners approved the hearing text with revisions and tied effectiveness to passage of a separate resolution. The rules name fens and address groundwater and habitat downstream of a diversion. As of November 2, passage of the enacting resolution remained unverified.
The district that operates the Central Arizona Project asked to join the challenge to federal Colorado River operating decisions. The filing concerns management of the river that Homestake Creek feeds. An order deciding intervention had not been verified by November 2.
Attached to the motion, the proposed complaint challenges the federal operating guidelines and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. Those are the district’s allegations and requests. The court has made no Whitney permit decision in these filings.
Aurora proposes requiring all industrial-site trees to be low-water and making curbside shrubs and ornamental grasses optional. Council advanced the proposal toward a future vote. Save Homestake welcomes this demand-reduction direction instead of Whitney.
CROA estimates $1,513,348 in direct expenditures and $3,874,172 in economic impact across the Upper and Lower Eagle in 2024. These describe existing annual rafting activity. The Glenwood segment is reported separately.
The plan’s combined New Water Infrastructure scenario includes projected 2050 demand, potential MOU infrastructure and Bolts Lake redevelopment. Using historical hydrology, it models 85% fewer boatable days in dry years and 48% fewer in wet years through Minturn.
Defines the demand and infrastructure scenarios behind the recreation and water-quality assessments. The modeled MOU objectives include 20,000 acre-feet of average annual East Slope yield and 10,000 acre-feet of firm dry-year West Slope yield.
CPW announced a full-day voluntary Eagle River fishing closure beginning July 17, 2026, from Lake Creek in Edwards to the Colorado River. Extremely low flows and high temperatures show how river conditions can limit usable fishing days.
Under the new-infrastructure scenario, the mean May zinc-load reduction needed to reach the study threshold rises from 140 to 434 kg; the associated dilution gap rises from 496 to 1,530 acre-feet. These are relative aquatic-risk measures, with historical metal loading held fixed.
Connects river health, recreation and water management. Seasonal effects differ: releases can improve some upper-river late-summer conditions while runoff capture reduces whitewater flows. Gypsum does not show the same late-summer low-flow improvement.
Documents heavy-metal impairment of brown trout between Red Cliff and Gore Creek, absent native sculpin between Belden and Gore Creek, and few rainbow trout. Existing fishery stress makes the relationship between flows, dilution and local recreation especially important.
The 2026 facility record lists 44 single sites, two group sites and a June 15 through October 3 fee season along Homestake and Missouri roads.
Describes spending in communities surrounding national forests, including lodging, food, transport and recreation services.
NASA documents a new Lake Powell record low after weak snowpack and unusual warmth. The satellite comparison connects headwater snow loss to shrinking stored water downstream.
USGS explains that Colorado River allocations used an unusually wet period and present-day flows may not supply all apportioned uses. Headwater snowpack and runoff set the physical limits.
A dated snapshot of life observed across Homestake Valley, including records that predate the organized 2022 BioBlitz. Explore the observations to see what people have found.
KUNC's reporting examines public-access and transparency concerns surrounding Colorado River negotiations
This September 2026 report examines Aurora's proposed farm-water purchases, lease-back terms, export limits, tax effects, and local skepticism
Denver Water's dated Sept. 8, 2026 update provides official storage, supply, and customer-use context
Questions from the Colorado River District about geographic equity, shepherding conserved water, and who benefits from compensated reductions
Current lawn and outdoor-use restrictions in Colorado's largest city
Primary federal explanation of the 2027-2028 rules and longer decision framework
Reclamation reports that combined Powell and Mead storage reached its lowest level since before Powell began filling in 1963. The 2027–2028 guidelines set Lower Basin delivery reductions of 1.25 million acre-feet each year.
This report explains the federal two-year operating plan, the Lower Basin reductions, and reactions from the basin states
An August 2026 report surveying political debate over lawns and outdoor-water reductions during drought
A report on increased homeowner interest in xeriscaping and landscape-conversion programs
Local visual and hydrologic evidence of the 2026 shortage
Regional context on fishing closures caused by hot weather and low, warm rivers across the West
This explainer compares the states' competing approaches after seven-state negotiations failed to produce a consensus
July 2026 reporting: drilling was complete, no final configuration had been selected, and no formal reservoir proposal had been submitted.
Twenty-nine participants recorded plants, algae, and small water-dwelling animals, including insects, during the 2026 community science day.
Western Slope concerns about process, protection, and exposure
Follow-up on legal and local effects
This June 2 report shows officials pressing for stronger drought action immediately before Colorado's June 4 emergency declaration
This article explains legislation assigning revegetation responsibilities when cities acquire and dry agricultural land
Video and event source for community voices
A feature placing agricultural transfers within the Arkansas Valley's broader water-quality, climate, and political pressures
May 2026 reporting on severe snowpack and flow conditions across the Colorado River system
Shows that water-use restrictions and scarcity also affect the headwaters region
This report describes a temporary 2026 relaxation of the Shoshone call that allowed additional Front Range diversions through May 20
This article records Upper Basin and Front Range positions submitted before the August 2026 federal decision
Emerging industrial demand and the need to disclose whether new large users are included in municipal forecasts
Upper and Lower Basin impasse before the federal action
Aurora's account of its conservation policies and reported conservation results
Wilderness Workshop documents its campaign position and history opposing Whitney
Concrete local response to transmountain diversions: purchase of Twin Lakes shares for streamflow
A dynamic snowpack dashboard whose displayed values must be read with their current observation date
This 2025 report described the planned conversion of a dispersed-camping area to a managed, paid campground; the change was implemented in 2026
Aurora and Colorado Springs concerns about senior flows, transmountain supplies, Homestake interests, and agricultural-transfer pressure
Reporting on unusually high household water use in Eagle County. Water conservation matters here, too.
Reporting on Eagle County water providers' severe drought plan, including seasonal outdoor demand and local water restrictions.
This February 2025 report documents growing operational concern as Upper Basin managers sought recurring drought meetings with federal officials
Winter 2024 fieldwork update documenting community observations and participation
Negotiation process and competing interpretations of the agreement
Reporting on 28 Colorado River-dependent utilities that grew while collectively using less water, with examples from Aurora and Colorado Springs.
Peer-reviewed analysis of spring precipitation, evaporative demand, and post-2000 streamflow deficits
Current recreation and resource-management context
Why measurement and legal protection determine whether conservation helps reservoirs or downstream users
Local legal and economic concerns after the purchase
$80.4 million transaction, irrigated acreage, and disagreement over a 2003 intergovernmental agreement
Approximately $80 million purchase, more than 4,800 acres, about 7,500 acre-feet of rights, and three-in-ten-year municipal use proposal
A 2024 analysis of how competing state plans could have affected Colorado before the later federal framework
Negotiation history comparing the Upper and Lower Basin proposals submitted in 2024 before the later federal framework
Primary statewide climate synthesis for temperature, snowpack, runoff, and drought trends
Recycling, tiered pricing, compensated fallowing, irrigation technology, and tradeoffs
Community observations and participation records documenting Homestake Valley's biodiversity
Independent report on nonfunctional turf policy
Strong narrative introduction to the place and dispute
A 2022 retrospective containing a May 21, 1982 archive item about the Homestake II draft environmental impact statement
Colorado Springs Utilities describes how its long-range plan combines growth forecasts, conservation, reuse, and supply-risk management
Community observations and participation records documenting Homestake Valley's biodiversity
This opinion piece argues that Whitney should be reconsidered in light of climate change and the history of transmountain diversions
Hydrology period, climate adjustment, compact-call pilot, conservation debate, and drilling status
Official summary of the 1998 MOU's parties, objectives, yield targets, and undetermined infrastructure mix
Aurora's permanent rules, tiered pricing, incentives, Prairie Waters, and reported conservation performance
Primary legal filing in which six conservation organizations gave notice of alleged Endangered Species Act Section 7 violations related to the Whitney Creek Geotechnical Investigation special-use permit
Ten bores, depth, duration, categorical exclusion, and separate future review
Reporting on the scope of the 2021 federal geotechnical authorization
Primary confirmation of the limited drilling decision
Growth forecast, agricultural transfers, leases, and alternative-transfer methods outside the Arkansas Valley
This report distinguishes Homestake II's diversion proposal from the later Whitney reservoir concept while covering drilling delays
Eagle County's 1041 authority governing any future Whitney proposal
Comment volume, drilling details, public concerns
This 2020 report covers hundreds of public comments and distinguishes exploratory drilling from any later reservoir authorization
Accessible overview of the wilderness-boundary issue and competing positions
Fen ecology, transplant mitigation, and why groundwater-connected wetlands matter.
Four sites, 13 proposed bores, 6,850 to 20,000 acre-foot concepts, 2018 land purchase, wilderness and fen questions
Documents a 30,000 acre-foot call-reduction provision protecting possible future Homestake diversions and reports the cities' then-current development position
Foundational peer-reviewed explanation of warming-driven flow losses
Long-form history of the proposed $685 million package and narrowing alternatives.
A long-form explanation of how field-level irrigation efficiency affects downstream water accounting
Explains the planning package of about 33,000 acre-feet: 20,000 for eastern users, 10,000 for local western users, and 3,000 of storage associated with Climax
Place-based account of the Cross Creek wetlands preserved after the Homestake II conflict
An archive excerpt summarizing reporting that the 2010 agreement shifted planning away from new facilities inside Holy Cross Wilderness and toward a smaller lower Homestake Creek reservoir.
Final endpoint of the cities' review effort
A contemporary 1994 account explains how Eagle County's 1041 denial survived appellate review and ended the Homestake II proposal
The controlling state appellate account of the 1041 denial
Detailed chronology, stakeholder positions, Eagle County findings, litigation map, and bibliography
Explains alternate points of diversion and the separate water-right track
Primary project history, 1952 priority, 1967 completion, wilderness provision, Plan B, Whitney and Peterson conditional rights
Discovery feed for new purchases, permitting, conservation, and storage stories
Central docket for alternatives, environmental review, modeling, and final decisions
Local watershed context and current monitoring links
Colorado Springs Utilities' city-reported residential use, per-capita reduction, and annual savings figures
Demand scenarios, a 10,000 to 11,000 acre-foot annual conservation goal, Colorado River exposure, and reuse strategy
Primary rules, including watering-day and midday restrictions
Public explanation of outdoor-use requirements
Aurora’s reported 36 percent decline in water use since the early 2000s, a separately reported 115 gallons per person per day, turf limits, reuse and its 2040 target
Aurora reports Stage 1 drought, a 20 percent outdoor-use reduction target and spray-irrigation restrictions beginning October 1. The city page carries the current rules and dated reservoir totals.
Practical standards and resident programs
Household water-use education and audit tools
Compare plausible growth, demand, climate, and innovation futures instead of relying on one forecast
Current official description of the original reservoir, completed in 1967 with 42,900 acre-feet of capacity
Essential distinction between reduced diversion, efficiency, and reduced consumptive use; includes return-flow examples
Withdrawal versus consumptive use and the role of return flows
The Partners describe a 6,850–20,000 acre-foot reservoir alternative and potential conveyance from Peterson, Fall and Resolution creeks. The broader joint-use objective is 20,000 acre-feet of average annual new supply for the cities.
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