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<br />, <br /> <br />Water coalition in making . <br />Conservationists envision multistate headwaters alliance <br />By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News <br />November 8, 2004 <br />Colorado and two other Western states may follow the lead of Michigan and <br />Maryland, joining forces to create a special Rocky Mountain headwaters <br />alliance similar to multistate coalitions that safeguard the Great Lakes and <br />Chesapeake Bay. <br /> <br />The idea is to find new ways and new sources of money to protect Western <br />rivers born high in the mountain ranges along the Continental Divide, said <br />Jeff Crane, a hydrologist who leads a nonprofit watershed restoration effort <br />in Colorado's Gunnison River Basin. <br /> <br />During the past 15 months, several river conservation groups in Colorado, as <br />well as from Utah and Montana, have lobbied state officials and their <br />congressional representatives in Washington, D,C., seeking backing for the <br />project. <br /> <br />In September, the Colorado Water Conservation Board directed its staff to <br />research the plan. In January, the conservation board will decide whether it <br />will support the proposal, according to board coordinator Catherine . <br />Gonzales. <br /> <br />Other multistate coalitions, such as the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, <br />receive special federal protections and, more importantly, channel millions of <br />dollars in federal and state money to help clean and manage those landmark <br />waters, said David Bancroft, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay <br />group, <br /> <br />The federal government provides $20 million annually to help the <br />Chesapeake, and each of the three states in that alliance - Virginia, <br />Pennsylvania and Maryland - contributes $2 million annually, Bancroft said. <br /> <br />Western watershed groups, working to protect dozens of rivers, think the <br />headwater states deserve similar support and recognition. <br /> <br />"Colorado supplies water to 19 states and two countries, and it has the <br />fewest water resources in the country," Crane said. <br /> <br />Colorado is home to more than 40 watershed protection groups, They <br />receive some federal money through the Environmental Protection Agency <br />and some state funding through a tax return check-off program, but they .A <br />need more visibility and more money to succeed, backers say. ., <br />