The Colorado, America's most endangered river – The Joy Trip Project

The Colorado, America's most endangered river – The Joy Trip Project

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photo by Pete McBride


Though many destinations around the world aspire to be number one, the Colorado River was named to the top of an inauspicious list. Named in a newly released report from the conservation group American Rivers along with many great tributaries across the nation this mighty waterway is the most endangered river in the United States. Sharing company with rivers from the Black Warrior in Alabama to the Kootenay the runs through British Columbia, Montana and Idaho each is under threat from local conditions that range from open-pit coal mining to the benign neglect of outdated water management policies. As the “hardest working river” in America the Colorado in particular is endangered as millions of consumers across the arid west draw so much water from its banks that it longer reaches the Gulf of Mexico as it had for millennia.
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photo by Pete McBride


Saving the Colorado America’s Most Endangered River is a powerful new film from producer/director Pete McBride that illustrates with vivid images and compelling narration the plight of this vast confluence. Advocates for conservation encourage citizens and legislators to heed the advice of the Bureau of Reclamation’s recent study that recommends that the Federal Government take “bold action to build a future that includes healthy rivers, state-of-the-art water conservation for cities and agriculture, and water sharing mechanisms that allow communities to adapt to warmer temperatures and more erratic precipitation.”
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photo by Pete McBride


We can all do our part to conserve water around our homes and in our communities. But in order to spare the life of one the most ancient rivers on the planet we must take action on a national level and insist upon the passage of legislation to make it so.

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The Joy Trip Project is made possible with the support of sponsors Patagonia, Rayovac and the New Belgium Brewing Company

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