Vast scale of wildfire threats to Colorado watersheds far exceeds funding

Vast scale of wildfire threats to Colorado watersheds far exceeds funding

The Yamcolo Reservoir, a water storage project owned by the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District, is pictured on Aug. 17, 2026. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)High on a ridgeline near the headwaters of the Yampa River, a ditch dug more than a century ago snakes for miles through the rugged terrain of the Routt National Forest, shepherding water from the Yamcolo Reservoir across a 9,000-foot-high mesa to an area south of the town of…