Funding Freezes Impacting Poudre Watershed
Dear Friends and Supporters of CPRW,
I've thought a lot lately about John Wesley Powell's definition of a watershed:
“That area of land…within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.”
The Cache la Poudre Watershed is our community - it’s what we all have in common. Our watershed connects us and brings us together. That is where you come in. You are a partner, stakeholder, volunteer, and donor. You are the community that depends on our watershed and river, and today CPRW needs you more than ever.
Over the past month, our staff and partners have been working to make sense of a flurry of federal funding freezes, executive orders, stop work orders, and mass layoffs that are threatening to slow and possibly pause critical projects in the Cache la Poudre River Watershed and across the west. These actions have had a direct impact on CPRW and our partners. To date, CPRW has had ~$700,000 of our federal funds frozen.
Some of our community-based, collaborative projects that are federally funded and at risk include: 1) our work to increase the resilience of a one-mile reach of river in Greeley; 2) replacing outdated diversion structures which will ensure water can be delivered to farmers and municipalities while opening up 13 miles of the lower Poudre River to fish passage; 3) continued work to help restore the watershed after the devastating Cameron Peak Fire; and 4) wildfire mitigation and forest restoration work to protect communities and improve watershed health.
We are sending love and gratitude to our colleagues who work for the federal government, and to those who recently lost their jobs. Thank you for your many years of dedication to managing our public lands and natural resources in Colorado. Your passion has not gone unnoticed. Each of you is an important asset to our Coalition and our country and we will look forward to working with you again in the future.
Since 2013, CPRW has worked to build a coalition of committed and dedicated partners and supporters, including our colleagues at the U.S Forest Service, NRCS, U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Reclamation. We have always worked closely with our federal partners, and we use federal funds to plan and implement high priority restoration work in our watershed. In 2025, 27% of our annual $2.05M budget is comprised of federal funding. These federal funds are at risk and our funding forecast is very uncertain for the foreseeable future.
Community collaboration is at the heart of what we do. And now - with the many challenges we face - strong communities have never been more important. This is a time to continue supportinng the organizations that make our communities and our beloved watershed a wonderful place to live.
As Mick Ondris, a long-time CPRW donor recently wrote to us, “I sincerely believe that now is the time when local environmental organizations that have spent years developing a broad-based coalition of committed and dedicated supporters are our most important assets. CPRW is an outstanding example of such an organization, and I am proud to continue to support you in your highly impactful, science based, and data driven successes.”
CPRW is here to stay, and we are more committed than ever to our mission and vision. We hope you agree with Mick and that you consider donating to your local watershed group - the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed - during these uncertain times. There are also so many other ways to stay involved, from attending our events, volunteering, or becoming a Partner for the Poudre. We hope you will join us in our commitment.
For the Poudre,
Hally Strevey
hallys@poudrewatershed.org
Executive Director
