A volunteer group promoting quality of life, and the
environment of the Lower Blue River Valley.
The Friends of the Lower Blue River are dedicated to sustaining and protecting the traditional agricultural character, promoting the safety of the residents, livestock and wildlife, and maintaining the environmental integrity of the Lower Blue River Valley through education, collaboration and community involvement.
To sustain and protect the traditional agricultural character, promote the safety of the residents, livestock and wildlife, and maintain the environmental integrity of the Lower Blue River Valley through education, collaboration and community involvement.
Friends of the Lower Blue River is committed to preserving the rich history of the Blue River Valley. Through grant support from the Summit Foundation, we have created this interactive tool that documents and takes you to key points of interest in the Valley. You will see photographs and read about those who came before us. Those who settled this pristine area of Summit and Grand Counties in the 1800’s and the relevance those sites have today. FOLBR invites you to take this journey on our website and discover the treasure, that truly is the Lower Blue River Valley.
Click Here to see History Story Map
Want to know more about noxious weeds and what to do about them? Click the link below and check out information provided by the Middle Park Conservation District.
https://www.middleparkcd.com/noxious-weeds-in-summit-county
Here's a preview:
List “A” Species
List A species are rare noxious weeds for which state-wide eradication is the goal. There are 2 List A species present in Summit County.
Doug arrived in Summit County in 1974. As a college student he worked on the initial phase of the Henderson Mill site. The Dercum family allowed Doug to live on Cataract Creek Ranch in exchange for work on the cabin. That work turned into a 35-year project, as Doug and his wife acquired the ranch via 8 different parcels. In 2020, Doug was instrumental in assembling a public-private partnership with Summit County and Flanigan Land and Cattle to preserve the adjacent 1100 acres of the Knorr property, along the west side of Green Mountain Reservoir. This was the third conservation easement that Doug and his family signed with Colorado Cattleman’s Agricultural Land Trust to preserve the Cataract Creek Valley, just as Doug first experienced it over 50 years ago.
As we begin 2026, Rachel Ruiz, of Boreas Consulting, is no longer serving in the role Executive Director of Friends of the Lower Blue River. We thank Rachel for her energy and creativity demonstrated in 2025. We appreciate her effort launching the Blue Valley Ranch collaboration, maintaining conversations with key stakeholder groups and assisting with the community use data collection process. Rachel maintained and grew connections with many FOLBR community organizations, laying the groundwork for future partnerships. We wish her well.
The FOLBR Board's Slate Creek Hall Committee is currently working to determine needed improvements to our historic structure. We have received numerous charitable donations targeting improvements and we thank all those committed to the effort. This year’s fundraising priority is replacing the Slate Creek Hall roof and updating the portable restrooms. We are evaluating solutions to address persistent moisture and airflow issues caused by the existing roof system. Another area of discussion is improving the grounds around the Hall to enable parking and possible access to the river.
From Earth.org
Last year tracks to be the joint-second hottest year on record, marking a continuation of the exceptionally high warming trend the world has witnessed in the past decade, according to the European Union’s Earth observation program.
In its December bulletin, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said this year is “virtually certain” to finish as either the second- or third-warmest year since records began around 1850. “The global average temperature anomaly for January to November 2025 stands at 0.60C above the 1991–2020 average, or 1.48C above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial reference. These anomalies are identical to those recorded for the full year 2023, currently the second warmest year,” the bulletin read.
By Jennifer Yachnin
Water rights to the Colorado River are a notoriously valuable commodity: The flows support verdant agricultural lands in Southern California and Arizona, as well as major cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
So when the federal government needs to curb use on the 1,450-mile waterway, it has long opted to open up its checkbook and pay up — such as with a recent emergency effort to protect hydropower operations on the river, which cost the Biden administration $1.2 billion for a three-year deal.
But when Mother Nature cuts back on the supply at its source, it's a much different story. No water. No payments. No IOUs for next year.
That’s the argument of officials in the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, who say they are uniquely affected when lackluster winter snows create summers of hardship. And they argue that this reality should figure into the next long-term operating plan for the drought-stricken river. The seven states that share the Colorado River — which serves 40 million individuals and supports 5.5 million acres of farmland — are currently negotiating that agreement.
By: Wyatt Myskow
Inside Climate News
Lithium needed for batteries that power electric vehicles and store electricity from renewable energy projects is likely to deplete—and in some cases, contaminate—local water supplies, according to a new paper recently published.
From mining the mineral to processing it for battery use, water is essential for producing the soft, silvery metal with superior ability to hold a charge. With lithium demand rising as the world pivots away from the fossil fuels, researchers are increasingly scrutinizing the environmental impacts of extracting and using the mineral critical to the energy transition.
The new paper, titled Lithium and Water: Hydrosocial Impacts Across the Life Cycle of Energy Storage, is designed as a primer for community members, activists and other researchers about lithium’s impact on water supplies. It makes the situation clear—lithium products, across their entire life cycle, will have “impacts on both the quantity and quality of water resources” that will primarily affect communities already on the front lines of climate change.
