LIVING RIVER

THE PROMISE OF THE MIGHTY COLORADO

Photography and essays by Dave Showalter

Introduction by Anne Castle

Contributions by Cynthia Wilson, Alison Holloran and Angelo Baca

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Across the West, ranchers, Native elders, scientists, and regular citizens are uniting under one flag: river keepers. They are working to restore habitat, stop pollution and diversions, and speak up for the might Colorado River’s right to live.

Through visual storytelling, the Living River: The Promise of the Mighty Colorado book and impact campaign shows we can have a resilient watershed if we change our relationship with water. Living River will be a voice to inform and influence stakeholders in the development of a new compact, one that embraces new ideas and technology, conserves and restores our western rivers for wildlife and recreation, and recalibrates water consumption to the Colorado River system.

More people are moving into the Colorado watershed each year, at a time when there is less water to share. 40 million Americans—and all of the wild biodiversity in the Colorado watershed—depend on river flow and water quality.  New science tells us that in the coming decades, we will have 30-50% less snowpack and less water flowing into a severely over-allocated river. 

For half a decade, photographer Dave Showalter has hiked, skied, rafted, and flower the Colorado River watershed to document its ecology, wildlife, recreation, and economies. From the glacial headwaters to Bears Ears to the Colorado River delta in Mexico, Dave Showalter has brought to life North America’s might Colorado River watershed like never before. Living River is a book and visual multimedia campaign to provide a deeper understanding of how closely our lives depend upon water, and how our future will be defined by the well-being of common and endangered species in the watershed.

Only together can we change the story and change course, for the river and for us all.

About Dave Showalter

Conservation photographer and author Dave Showalter is focused on the American West. Dave works throughout the ecosystems of the Intermountain West and has published two books prior to Living River: Sage Spirit: The American West at a Crossroads (Braided River), and Prairie Thunder: The Nature of Colorado’s Great Plains (Skyline Press). Dave is a Senior Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers, and a long-time contributor and partner of Platte Basin Time-lapse. Dave works in partnership with numerous conservation groups, including: Audubon Rockies, The Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited Headwaters chapter on the Living River project.

With Living River: The Promise of the Mighty Colorado, Dave seeks to take readers on a journey to see ourselves as part of nature and the community of living things, engendering empathy, caring, and love of the natural world―the genesis of meaningful conservation. Dave is based in Arvada, Colorado. Visit his website. 

LIVING RIVER invites everyone to be a riverkeeper. Where the river flows there is life, both human and wild. Our story is a catalyst for sustainable solutions, empowering riverkeepers new and old to speak for their watersheds, evolving our relationship to water in the American west. 

This book will engage and inspire readers on an epic watershed journey which celebrates life, beauty, human and wild resilience, and the idea that it’s possible to have a healthy, dynamic watershed and deliver water to millions.

Our partner collaborators include a wide range of stakeholders in the west, covering all seven US basin states and two Mexico states, including Audubon Rockies, The Wilderness Society, Trout Unlimited and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The campaign partners with Utah Dine’bike’yah—the Inter-Tribal Coalition made up of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe working to protect Bears Ears.

With strategic direction and collaboration from our community partners, this story will visualize the “why” behind their work, and be the foundation for robust citizen engagement campaigns for watershed health with strong in-stream flow requirements and accountability for wildlife and healthy rivers. 

Testimonies

"Audubon Rockies is a proud sponsor and partner of Dave Showalter.  His artwork captures the spirit of our western wildlife, landscapes and heritage and inspires us all to do better.  Dave's work is critical to our continued conservation work across the west." 

    – Alison Holloran, Executive Director of Audubon Rockies

“Picture and Prose: that's what photographer Dave Showalter uses to illustrate the sagebrush ecosystem. Sage Spirit pairs his striking images of the steppe with words of wisdom from Rick Bass, David Sibley, and other eminent conservationists.”

—Audubon Magazine

In 2015, Dave Showalter published Sage Spirit: The American West at a Crossroads with Braided River.