The sluggish Colorado River negotiations have entered a new phase: Long and fiery letter writing.

Colorado's state climatologist said long-range forecasts are also not signaling a 'Miracle March.'

Leaders of environmental groups are issuing fresh warnings this week about the impacts the ongoing gridlock could have in the river basin.

The Fetcher ranch in northwest Colorado is on the frontlines this year of record-low snowpack across the West. It's adding a sense of urgency among seven states to finalize a plan for how to conserve the dwindling Colorado River.

Pressure to reach a deal is building.Forecasts for the water supply from the Colorado River continue to grow worse as snowpack lags far behind normal across the West. And negotiators from the basins have said there are “sticking points” that remain in the negotiations in recent weeks that even marathon talks have failed to resolve.

Parks and Wildlife also has plans to install a new $1.3 million dip tank to improve the decontamination of boats visiting the Highline Lake, a large reservoir near Grand Junction where mussels were detected in 2022.

On the eve of the high-stakes summit, negotiators from both the upper and lower river basins are not sounding confident they can reach an agreement with less than three weeks to go before a Feb. 14 deadline.

Four days of negotiations in a Salt Lake City conference room earlier this month did not appear to have sparked a breakthrough.

Steamboat Springs author and adventurer Eugene Buchanan has lived near the banks of the Yampa River long enough to notice it’s rhythms and moods are often mirrored by the residents in his northwest Colorado ski town.

The proposals range from taking “no action” to a scenario that might result in water cuts to the lower basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. One alternative developed in partnership with conservation groups would incentivize states and water users to proactively conserve the river.