The Colorado River through Rocky Mountain National Park and Grand and Eagle counties was highlighted this week as one of the most threatened rivers in the U.S. by environmental group American Rivers. The group creates an annual list of rivers it considers threatened by development, water depletion and other factors.

More than 60 percent of the water in the Colorado River's headwaters has been removed by water diversion projects, feeding growing cities on the Front Range and elsewhere in Colorado, harming the river's trout fisheries and riparian areas, said Ken Neubecker of Colorado Trout Unlimited.

"If you take all the water out, you kill the river," he said.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100604/LOVELAND01/100604003