The Roaring Fork Watershed is located in central Colorado on the west side of the Continental Divide. The watershed includes the Sawatch, Collegiate, and Elk Ranges and seven 14,000 foot peaks. Snow melting in these high peaks collects and enters one of three main rivers - Roaring Fork, Fryingpan, and Crystal - and drains to the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs which is at an elevation of 5,916 feet. 

Encompassing an area of 1,451 square miles, the Roaring Fork Watershed is approximately the size of Rhode Island. As part of the larger Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to nearly 40 million people in the arid southwest, the Roaring Fork Watershed contributes about 856,000 acre feet or 279 billion gallons of water each year to the Colorado River.

WHAT IS A WATERSHED? 
A watershed is an area of land where all the water flows to one place.

Are you aware that not all water in Colorado moves downstream?

Learn more about TRANSMOUNTAIN DIVERSIONS.

Allow me to introduce you to one of the many things that make our watershed and our state so special – headwaters. What are headwaters, you ask? Headwaters are tributary streams of a river close to or forming part of its source. In other words, the highest points and humble beginnings of our most precious streams and rivers where winter snowmelt turns into water. The Roaring Fork Watershed is comprised of three major rivers - Roaring Fork, Fryingpan, and Crystal - yet dozens of headwaters tributary streams tumble down from the high country, fueling these systems with clean, cold water.

Colorado is the “headwaters” state for much of the western and central United States. That means that most of its rivers begin in the Rocky Mountains and flow across state lines. Four of the nation’s major rivers originate in Colorado: the Arkansas, Colorado, Platte, and the Rio Grande. The Roaring Fork Watershed contributes an average annual flow of one million acre-feet to the Colorado River, which equates to 10% of the annual flow. Additionally, the majority of streams in the Roaring Fork Watershed are headwater streams. Protecting these vital waterways at their source and beyond is critical to our mission, our programming, and our everyday work.

Headwaters are critical to both the ecology and the economy of Colorado. Twenty-four major transmountain tunnels and collection systems move the precious headwaters to the Front Range, providing water for millions of people. That's in addition to the waterways that naturally flow to feed the Western United States - where 40 million people depend on the Colorado River.

Next time you’re out hiking, hunting, skiing, or fishing in the high country enjoying the view and all the headwaters around you, remember that this water is vital to millions of people. Explore, value, and protect our headwaters.  They’re worth fighting for; they’re worth protecting.