Hi Friends of the Colorado River,

First, BIG NEWS — On January 2nd, our “Rights of Nature for Rivers” program had a huge victory. Recall, back in 2021, the Town of Nederland, CO, passed our Rights of Nature for the Boulder Creek Watershed resolution. Well, on Jan. 2nd, Nederland followed it up by appointing official “Guardians” for Boulder Creek and the Watershed. This appointment is the first time in U.S. history that guardians have been appointed under a governmental Rights of Nature program, and it makes a big step forward for the Rights of Nature movement in the U.S.

We also had a great splash of media around the guardian appointments. The Colorado Sun wrote a great piece — read it for free here — and even interviewed the two guardians, Alan Apt and Rich Orman. Additionally, Inside Climate News also wrote a great piece — read it for free here — which focused on the national and international significance of the guardian appointments. While these guardians don’t have any legal authority, they now stand one step closer to giving Nature a voice in decision-making in Nederland, in Colorado, and in the U.S.  As I told the Colorado Sun, “Naming guardians takes the Rights of Nature movement to a new level.” 

I added to Inside Climate News, “We’re working within the confines of the Colorado and U.S. legal systems, and nibbling away at them. It’s absolutely a long game, but there are a lot of people who think this way.”

We now have four communities in Colorado that have passed Rights of Nature type resolutions — Nederland, Grand Lake, Ridgway, and Lyons — and in 2024, we’ll be working towards expanding this work. It’s your support that has pushed this program forward.

You can donate online to support our Rights of Nature for Rivers program by clicking here to our website.

Second, equally BIG NEWs — At the end of 2023, we legally changed our name from Save The Colorado to “SAVE THE WORLD’S RIVERS.” We did this so that we could expand our unique brand of river-protection advocacy beyond the Colorado River basin. As we watch the river-protection movement across the U.S. and the world, our niche is definitely needed now more than ever. We are AGGRESSIVE, OUTSPOKEN, and LITIGIOUS as we face massive threats of new dams and diversions in the Colorado River basin and beyond.

Here’s a few things to know about the name change:

• As a dues-paying member of Save The Colorado in 2023, you are automatically a member of the newly named organization, Save The World’s Rivers.
• Save The Colorado is now a “program” under Save The World’s Rivers and it will continue to be where most of our work happens in the next few years.
• All of your donations in 2023 will still solely be used to advance our work in the Colorado River basin. In fact, you can continue to donate to our Save The Colorado River program on the same website we’ve always used, and we will use the money exclusively in the Colorado River basin.
• Save The World’s Rivers is now the ‘parent’ organization. We created an additional website for Save The World’s Rivers which you can view here.
• You can donate to Save The World’s Rivers and help us expand our work outside of the Colorado River basin. We are already looking for places and opportunities to apply our aggressive, outspoken, and litigious model. Save The World’s Rivers donation webpage is here.

Third and finally, we have even more great news! We recently accepted three new boardmembers of Save The World’s Rivers, and all three are young, fearless, and full of passion to protect and restore rivers across the planet. Rob Harding, Emily B. Hite, and Grant Wilson are all thrilled to be joining us — you can read their biographies on our website here.

We greatly appreciate your support. An annual membership in Save The World’s Rivers is $35.

You can donate online by clicking here.