The Green River, the most significant tributary of the
Colorado River, runs 730 miles from the glaciers of Wyoming to the desert canyons
of Utah. Over its course it meanders through ranches, cities, national parks,
endangered fish habitats, and some of the most significant natural gas fields
in the country, as it provides water for 33 million people. Stopped up by dams,
slaked off by irrigation, and dried up by cities, the Green is crucial,
overused, and at risk, now more than ever.
Fights over the river’s water, and
what’s going to happen to it in the future, are longstanding, intractable, and
only getting worse as the West gets hotter and drier and more people depend on
the river with each passing year. As a former raft guide and an environmental
reporter, Heather Hansman knew these fights were happening, but she felt driven
to see them from a different perspective—from the river itself. So she set out
on a journey, in a one-person inflatable pack raft, to paddle the river from
source to confluence and see what the experience might teach her. Mixing
lyrical accounts of quiet paddling through breathtaking beauty with nights
spent camping solo and lively discussions with farmers, city officials, and
other people met along the way, Downriver is the story of that journey, a foray
into the present—and future—of water in the West.
- Publisher's description
