Colorado River Insights, 2025: Dancing with Deadpool
In a collection of essays and research summaries, eleven members of the Colorado River Research Group (with eight guest contributors) touch on issues as diverse as plummeting reservoir storage, climate change trends, risk management, agricultural water conservation, equity, and governance, all against the backdrop of the need to fashion post-2026 reservoir operating rules.
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Colorado River Insights, 2025: Dancing with Deadpool
Contents
Chapter 1. Colorado River Reservoir Storage – Where We Stand
Jack Schmidt, Anne Castle, John Fleck, Eric Kuhn, Kathryn Sorensen, and Katherine Tara
Chapter 2. Think Natural Flows Will Rebound in the Colorado River Basin? Think Again.
Jonathan Overpeck and Brad Udall
Chapter 3. The Erosion of the Colorado River “Safety Nets” is Alarming
Doug Kenney
Chapter 4. Water Equity in the Colorado River Basin
Bonnie Colby and Zoey Reed-Spitzer
Chapter 5. The Tale of Three Percentage-Based Apportionment Schemes
Eric Kuhn
Chapter 6. A Humbly Proffered Proposal to Aid the Colorado River System: Conservation Easements & Land Purchases
Kathryn Sorensen and Sarah Porter
Chapter 7. Facing the Future: Can Agriculture Thrive in the Upper Basin with Less Water?
Kristiana Hansen, Daniel Mooney, Mahdi Asgari, and Christopher Bastian
Chapter 8. Towards a Basinwide Entity: Moving from Vision to Action
Matthew McKinney, Jason Robison, John Berggren, and Doug Kenney
Contributors
Colorado River Research Group (CRRG) Members
Bonnie Colby,Professor, Թ of Arizona.
John Fleck, Writer in Residence, Utton Transboundary Resources Center, Թ of New Mexico.
Kristiana Hansen, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Թ of Wyoming.
Doug Kenney, Director, Western Water Policy Program, Getches-Wilkinson Center, Թ of Colorado Law School; and Chair, Colorado River Research Group.
Eric Kuhn, Retired General Manager, Colorado River Water Conservation District.
Matthew McKinney,Co-director, Water & Tribes Initiative; Senior Fellow, Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy, Թ of Montana; Fulbright Specialist 2025-2027.
Jonathan Overpeck, Dean, School for Environment and Sustainability, Թ of Michigan.
Jason Robison,Professor of Law and Co-Director, Gina Guy Center for Land & Water Law, Թ of Wyoming.
Jack Schmidt, Director, Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State Թ, and former Chief, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center.
Kathryn Sorensen, Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State Թ; and former Director, Phoenix Water Services.
Brad Udall, Senior Water and Climate Research Scientist/Scholar, Colorado Water Center, Colorado State Թ.
Guest Contributors
Mahdi Asgari, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics,Թ of Wyoming.
Christopher Bastian, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Թ of Wyoming.
John Berggren, Regional Policy Manager, Western Resource Advocates.
Anne Castle, Senior Fellow, Getches-Wilkinson Center, Թ of Colorado Law School; former US Commissioner, Upper Colorado River Commission; and former Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, US Department of the Interior.
Daniel Mooney, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State Թ.
Sarah Porter, Director, Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State Թ.
Zoey Reed-Spitzer,Research Assistant, North Carolina State Թ (formerly Թ of Arizona).
Katherine Tara, Staff Attorney, Utton Transboundary Resources Center, Թ of New Mexico.