Colorado Water Center advances national training efforts to improve water sustainability
The Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University is helping shape a new national effort to improve water sustainability training, after a proposal involving CSU was selected to establish the National Center for Ecologically Sustainable Water Conservation and Management at Oregon State University.
The selection was made by the Instream Flow Council and the American Fisheries Society following an extensive national search process.
The new national center will build on the legacy of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s former Cooperative Instream Flow Service Group in Fort Collins, which for decades provided leadership, training, and scientific and technical support for instream flow and water level conservation.
The new national center will provide interdisciplinary continuing education, research support and related services focused on balancing ecological and human water needs.
The Colorado Water Center helped bring CSU’s broader water community into the proposal by connecting faculty, programs and partners across the university. That work reflected CSU’s interdisciplinary strengths in water-related scholarship, practice and stakeholder engagement, as well as its commitment to advancing sustainable water management.
A key strength of the new national center is its affiliate model, which pairs national expertise with regionally relevant training. In that model, CSU will serve as a core affiliate partner, helping shape training and supporting learning opportunities in the Intermountain West.
CSU will also contribute instructors and help expand training through on-site, off-site and virtual formats.
As the National Center for Ecologically Sustainable Water Conservation and Management takes shape, CSU’s involvement will help strengthen regional capacity and prepare water professionals to meet increasingly complex water challenges in Colorado and beyond.
PHOTO: Colorado River, Glenwood Canyon at Glenwood Canyons Resort, Colorado, USA. (iStock │ #1213547321 – SergeYatunin)
