Living River: The Promise of the Mighty Colorado

by Dave Showalter

Overview

"An informative examination and celebration of the beautiful and endangered Colorado River and its importance for people and wildlife." ― Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal Winner • National Outdoor Book Award Winner • High Plains Book Awards Finalist • Colorado Book Awards Finalist • Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist

• Engages and inspires readers on an epic watershed journey that celebrates life, beauty, and resilience
• The famed Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American West
• Addresses the antiquated water allocation guidelines that are set to be revised in 2026

With powerful visual storytelling, Living River illustrates how we can create a resilient watershed if we change our relationship with water. Exploring the endangered Colorado River from source to sea, award-winning photographer Dave Showalter provides a deeper understanding of how countless numbers of creatures and 40 million humans depend upon its water and how the futures of all are inextricably linked to the health of the river.

Starting at the headwaters in the Continental Divide, Showalter covers the wide range of issues facing the river and highlights places that demonstrate the land’s resilience, offering hope for the future. Throughout, he weaves in the stories of riverkeepers like Cynthia Wilson, who works to ensure universal access to clean water for her Diné community; Holly Richter, a conservation leader on the San Pedro River; and Tom Koerner, manager of the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge.

Living River forms the foundation for a robust impact campaign that will inform and influence stakeholders in the development of a new river compact, one that embraces new technology, conserves and restores our western rivers for wildlife and recreation, and recalibrates water consumption within the Colorado River system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680516326
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	03/22/2023
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

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 and conservation story-telling, 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.

Editorial Reviews

Showalter's writing weaves expertly through the book, bringing the reader a step closer into his perspective behind the lens.... Showalter's depiction of the Colorado River reads as if one were reading about a beloved family member. There is reverence and appreciation in each story.

Tucson Sentinel - Bianca Morales

A celebration of the river and the dedicated individuals working toward solutions. Combining superb photography, essays and interviews, the author takes us to different parts of the river’s watershed and provides us with an informed and enlightened view of the Colorado and its promise.

National Outdoor Book Award Judges

Gorgeous

Orion Magazine

With photographs and text beginning at the headwaters and ending at the delta of the Colorado, Showalter does a deep dive into the many issues facing the river and focuses on people that are making a difference now. This book is about hope for the future, and couldn’t we all use a little of that right now?

The Colorado Sun - Marya Johnston

A timely, informative, and inspiring contribution to our on-going national conversation about the management issues and controversies concerning the preservation and utilization of the Colorado River.

Midwest Book Review

Living River is a stunning visual tribute to the Colorado River, capturing its beauty and the vibrant communities that depend on it.

Colorado Book Awards Creative Nonfiction Selection Committee

★ 2023-04-05
Showalter, a Colorado-based conservation photographer, makes a plea to conserve the most important water resource in the American West.

Often called “the lifeblood of the American West,” the Colorado River system, spread across seven states in the United States and two in Mexico, supplies the water for more than 40 million people and the farms that grow nearly all of the nation’s winter produce. The rights to use that water are dictated by a century-old agreement that, the author asserts, was seriously flawed even when written: The 1922 Colorado River Compact not only excludes Mexico and the dozens of Indigenous peoples in the region, it sets fixed rather than proportional shares—and those shares are based on a larger amount of water than ever actually existed in the watershed. With climate change driving the worst drought in 1,200 years and population growth exacerbating an unsustainable demand for its water, the Colorado is shrinking fast, and the reservoirs behind its dams are at historic lows. If the river and its tributaries dry up, the consequences for the people and wildlife that rely on the watershed will be catastrophic. Moving from the headwaters in Wyoming through the mountains of Colorado and the canyonlands of Utah and Arizona to the now-dry delta on the Gulf of Mexico, he highlights seven distinct ecosystems and the dedicated people working to conserve them, discussing the regions’ intrinsic and economic value, the challenges they face, and potential solutions. Showalter combines lyrical descriptions (“This meadow is a place to daydream, to whisper to the cow moose munching willow, to have a chat with chattering magpies…”), personal experiences, and the stories of key experts—some in their own words—to vividly portray the beauty and diversity of the lands along the river’s 1,450-mile journey. The book’s crisp, elegant design showcases more than 160 of the author’s photos, from songbird portraits to aerial views, as well as several colorful maps. Detailed captions, often excerpts from the text, accompany each image.

An informative examination and celebration of the beautiful and endangered Colorado River and its importance for people and wildlife.

Kirkus Reviews