Arizona Drought

Releases from Glen Canyon Dam into the Colorado River are low. But if they fall much more, commercial river rafters worry it could change their livelihoods and the nature of boating in the Grand Canyon.

It's not clear yet how the money would be distributed among several states in a river basin where political fights and an impasse over how to share water long-term have persisted even during historic drought.

A federal hydrologist appeared to be momentarily at a loss for words Thursday as he described how dire the latest forecast has gotten for how much water will flow through the Colorado River Basin this summer.

New Mexico water negotiator Estevan López said talks resumed this month, and the upper and lower basin states are using a short-term pitch from Nevada as a starting point.

The move, by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first.

The National Drought Mitigation Center says nearly half of Arizona is in extreme drought, including most of Gila and Mohave counties and the southern portions of Yavapai, Coconino, Navajo and Apache counties.

Federal water managers recently discovered damage to plumbing inside the dam that holds back Lake Powell. Conservation groups are worried the damage at Glen Canyon Dam could lead to bigger issues for the Colorado River.

An annual wildfire training academy in Prescott marked a record-setting year with more than 1,000 attendees. It comes ahead of the pivot to a new model described as the biggest shift in wildfire management in decades.

A stretch of unusually wet weather over the last few months helped erase drought conditions across much of the Western U.S.

Extremely hot, dry conditions forecast across much of the West through the Fourth of July are heightening concerns about wildfires and the dangers of fireworks.