Seventh annual Yampa Basin Rendezvous at CMC May 29-30

Community members invited to join scientists and researchers to explore the region’s weather, watershed and water resilience

May 16, 2024 – The seventh annual Yampa Basin Rendezvous is accepting registrations for community members to attend the 2024 conference at Colorado Mountain College Steamboat Springs.

The theme this year is “Connecting the Drops: Linking Weather, Watersheds, and Communities for a Resilient Water Future,” and will include morning talks, afternoon field learning and an evening community event.

Now in its seventh year, the Yampa Basin Rendezvous will explore relevant research and foster discussions with researchers, regional subject matter experts, locals, landowners, water and natural resource professionals, water-dependent business owners and students to learn how scientists and community members can work together to build resilience in the face of the Western water crisis. The rendezvous will focus on the Yampa River Basin’s ecosystems, weather, people and culture and their intersections to help inform management decisions and build collaboration.

The focus of discussions during the Yampa Basin Rendezvous will be the Yampa River, one of the wildest remaining major tributaries of the Colorado River. It supports a rich ecosystem, local agriculture and ranching, and a robust recreation industry. It also provides crucial water supplies to local stakeholders and all those downstream.

However, warming temperatures, rising snowlines and increased drought occurrence and severity pose serious risks to the alpine and riverine ecosystems of the Yampa River Basin. How is the Yampa River Basin as a community managing this watershed in addressing water resilience? This question will be at the forefront of the 2024 Yampa Basin Rendezvous.

The conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29 and from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday, May 30 at the Allbright Auditorium, Academic Building, Colorado Mountain College Steamboat Springs, 1275 Crawford Ave., Steamboat.

The rendezvous is free and open to the public, though participants need to register. For more information, contact Friends of the Yampa’s Jenny Frithsen, co-chair of the rendezvous and Yampa Basin Rendezvous.

Get Yampa Basin Rendezvous Tickets

Organizers include:

• Yampa Valley Sustainability Council
• Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Colorado Mountain College
• Friends of the Yampa
• Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District
• River Network
• Yampatika
• Community Ag Alliance
• The Nature Conservancy