The Colorado Watershed Network’s (CWN) mission is “to achieve healthy watersheds throughout the State of Colorado through the development, support and implementation of volunteer monitoring, local collaborative initiatives, sound stewardship, and educational activities.” CWN works with organizations involved in the monitoring, assessment, protection, and restoration of Colorado’s watersheds. The network provides a full range of water resource services to Colorado’s watershed organizations including water quality monitoring and analysis, database management, watershed assessment, facilitation, and fund raising.
CWN has several programs that integrate healthy watershed themes and work with a number of partners to implement watershed programs throughout the state. For instance, the River Watch Program and the Habitat Program are partnerships with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. In the River Watch Program, voluntary stewards monitor water quality and other indicators of watershed health and use the data to educate citizens and inform decision-makers about the condition of Colorado’s waters. The Habitat Program consists of a series of initiatives to monitor and protect critical aquatic and terrestrial habitat in Colorado.
Another component is the Watershed Protection Program. This is a cooperative, voluntary approach in sustaining natural systems and communities. It is based on the understanding that resources are interconnected and dependent upon the human uses within a watershed. Through its Watershed Initiative Program, CWN provides facilitation services, technical support, and water quality monitoring to local and statewide groups engaged in collaborative water and land stewardship efforts.
For further information, contact Chris Rowe at 303-291-7437 or at cwn@coloradowatershed.org
