There were clever links to the pictographs in the Park and the scene in the local standing stones was very well done. I liked the way this story uses Mercy’s Native American heritage and of course, her Walker/Coyote nature to give her a better understanding of herself without getting all soppy about it and without sentimentalising Native American Myths. The AP is solely responsible for all content.She Who Watches”, Pectroglyph, at Horsethief Falls The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy.

“If everybody plays a part in solving the problem and we don’t place the problem entirely on any one user or one sector or one geography, then by spreading the pain, maybe it hurts a little less all the way around,” Pitt said. Those cuts are still being negotiated, while federal officials consider holding back more water at the major dams. Bureau of Reclamation told states they would need to cut their water use by 15% to 30%. The robust winter takes some pressure off the system and gives states a bit more room to reach an agreement on how to implement water cuts, said Jennifer Pitt of the National Audubon Society, who is working to restore rivers throughout the basin.Īs Lake Powell and Lake Mead hit record low levels last summer, the U.S. That’s a level that hasn’t been seen since 2020. Bureau of Reclamation spreads among upstream reservoirs.Īccording to the Bureau’s 24-month operating plan, Lake Powell could rise to around 3,590 feet by mid-summer, up 60 feet from its current state.

That amount could be less depending on how much water the U.S. The big question is how much relief this winter’s snow will bring to the Colorado River, which has been depleted by climate change, rising demand and overuse.Ī May 1 forecast by the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center said up to 11 million acre-feet of water, or 172% of average, could flow into Lake Powell, a massive reservoir that stores Colorado River water for Arizona, Nevada, California, Mexico and dozens of tribes. Meanwhile, all that rain and snow means California can provide 100% of the water requested by cities and farms for the first time in years, and is flooding farmland with surplus runoff to replenish precious groundwater. “With climate warming, the odds for such a long-lived anomaly of cold over a large area like the West - the odds for that just go down and down,” Casola said.Ī continued slow melt helps reduce danger of flooding and delays the onset of the worst wildfire danger in the region.

River marked