{"id":139549,"date":"2026-07-17T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/protecting-southwest-colorado-wildfires-water-and-our-way-of-life\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:00:00","slug":"protecting-southwest-colorado-wildfires-water-and-our-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/protecting-southwest-colorado-wildfires-water-and-our-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Southwest Colorado: Wildfires, water and our way of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Katie
Katie Stewart<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a record-breaking March that left much of our mountain snowpack depleted, forecasters predict June and July will be our hottest months of the year. With less snowpack comes less water flowing into our rivers and reservoirs, drier conditions across the landscape and a greater risk of wildfire. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, drought conditions are expected to persist across Southwest Colorado through the remainder of the summer.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we\u2019re already seeing those impacts.<\/p>\n

As of July 9, three firefighters have lost their lives while battling the Snyder Fire near the Colorado-Utah border. Their courage and sacrifice are a sobering reminder of the risks our first responders face to protect our communities. My heart is with their families, friends and fellow firefighters.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, the Ferris Fire in Montezuma and Dolores counties has grown to more than 64,000 acres, while the Gold Mountain Fire north of Silverton has burned nearly 37,000 acres. After monitoring the scale of the Ferris Fire, I asked Gov. Jared Polis to declare a disaster emergency, which he announced on July 8. This declaration allows the state to quickly deploy additional firefighting resources to support our federal, county and local partners.<\/p>\n

These fires are a reminder that our forests, rivers and public lands aren\u2019t just beautiful places to visit \u2013 they\u2019re the foundation of our communities and our economy.<\/p>\n

Over the past several months, I\u2019ve heard from many of you about protecting Southwest Colorado\u2019s natural resources. Whether the conversation has been about river access, responsible water use or the potential impact of large data centers, one message has come through clearly: We want to preserve the character of the place we call home.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

As a fourth-generation Durangoan, I know firsthand that farming and ranching have sustained families here for generations, including my own. The Colorado River Compact continues to shape how water is shared across the West, and the ongoing negotiations around its future will have real consequences for Southwest Colorado. As Colorado works with our basin partners, tribes and the federal government, I will keep fighting to make sure our region has a strong voice at the table.<\/p>\n

Protecting our environment also means taking practical action. This legislative session, we prohibited the discharge of plastic pellets and other preproduction plastics into Colorado waterways (SB26-016), invested $5 million in species conservation (SB26-165), strengthened Colorado Parks and Wildlife\u2019s ability to prevent human behaviors that attract bears (HB26-1342), and made Colorado the first state in the nation to establish a comprehensive framework for reusing, repurposing and recycling electric vehicle batteries (SB26-003).<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also seeing important investments here at home. The state of Colorado awarded $700,000 to help the town of Dolores replace its aging waterline infrastructure, invested $1.65 million in carbon capture technology projected to remove 146,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and provided $750,000 to help the city of Durango electrify two public buildings by replacing aging natural gas equipment. Great Outdoors Colorado awarded more than $457,000 to improve public access and support restoration of the Mancos River watershed.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s still much work ahead, I\u2019m optimistic about what we can accomplish together. Southwest Colorado is a remarkable place, and it\u2019s worth protecting \u2013 for our families today and for future generations.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be spending much of the interim back home in Durango, meeting with neighbors, local leaders and community organizations across House District 59. Serving Southwest Colorado is the honor of a lifetime, and I always appreciate hearing directly from the people I represent. Whether you need help navigating state government, would like to share an idea or simply want to sit down over a cup of coffee, I hope you\u2019ll reach out. Your perspective helps shape my work at the Capitol, and I look forward to continuing the conversation.<\/p>\n

Katie Stewart represents House District 59 in the Colorado State House, which encompasses Archuleta, La Plata and San Juan counties and most of Montezuma County. Reach her at katie.stewart.house@coleg.gov<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katie Stewart After a record-breaking March that left much of our mountain snowpack depleted, forecasters predict June and July will be our hottest months of the year. With less snowpack comes less water flowing into our rivers and reservoirs, drier conditions across the landscape and a greater risk of wildfire. According to the Environmental Protection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5758,6343],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columnists","category-columnists-opinion","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139549"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}