Past, Present, and Future for the Colorado River
Friday September 25th, 7 – 8:30 PM, Star Hall (159 East Center St.)
The Colorado River is changing before our eyes—and few people have watched those changes as closely as Mike DeHoff, Cari Johnson, Zak Podmore, and John Weisheit. Join four people who have spent decades exploring, studying, documenting, and telling the story of this iconic river, past, present, and future. They’ll share what they’re seeing on the ground, what the science is telling us, and what it means for the river’s future. Come for the expert perspectives, stay for the lively conversation, and leave with a whole new perspective on the river running through our backyard.
Mike DeHoff is a Moab-based river runner, welder, and co-founder and principal investigator of the Returning Rapids Project (https://www.returningrapids.com/about). Mike has been studying the Colorado River from a boat for decades and is now leading and organizing research that helps understand how low water is affecting the return of rapids in Cataract Canyon, how towering sediments left behind as Lake Powell retreated are altering ecosystem recover, and insights into the overall state of and access to the Colorado River.
Dr. Cari Johnson is a Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah. She and her colleagues use multidisciplinary approaches to understand how the Colorado River is changing above and below the Glen Canyon Dam, especially with regard to sediment dynamics (https://profiles.faculty.
Zak Podmore is an award-winning environmental journalist and author based in Bluff, Utah, with more than a decade of reporting on western water, public lands, and conservation (https://zakpodmore.com). He was formerly the southern Utah reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune and has written two powerful books about the Colorado River: Confluence: Navigating the Personal and Political on Rivers of the New West (2019) and Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell’s Last Days and the rebirth of the Colorado River (2024).
John Weisheit is a Colorado River icon, serving as one of the most longstanding and influential figures in Moab’s Colorado River conservation community (https://www.livingrivers.org). He is Co-founder and Executive Director of Living Rivers, a non-profit protecting rivers around the world, and he is a Colorado Riverkeeper for the Waterkeeper Alliance, as well as a river guide, river historian, researcher, and conservationist with a powerfully deep understanding of the history and legalities of the Colorado River and its water.
