Colorado Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper make bipartisan pitch in Congress to boost funding for watershed protection programs 

Colorado’s Democratic U.S. senators are joining with Republicans in Congress to reintroduce legislation aimed at bolstering watershed protection programs. 

Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper on Wednesday announced the Headwaters Protection Act. The legislation is also sponsored by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, and Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch, both Idaho Republicans. 

The bill increases funding for two programs under the U.S. Forest Service aimed at preventing water pollution, managing river health, and partnering with local downstream communities. 

A previous version of the bill was introduced by Bennet in 2023 but did not advance beyond the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. A version of the bill in the House already passed the chamber earlier this year as part of the Fix Our Forests Act, which the House approved in January. 

In prewritten statements as part of a Wednesday news release, he said the Headwaters Protection Act is necessary to “protect critical water resources for downstream communities” and ensure forest resiliency, while Hickenlooper said the bill “equips farmers, cities, and the Forest Service to help reduce water pollution at the source and deliver cleaner water for our communities.”

One of the two programs is the Water Source Protection Program, which supports projects to help prevent water pollution at the source and promotes collaboration between farmers, ranchers, water providers, tribes, and local governments. 

Bennet and Hickenlooper’s bill would triple funding for the program from $10 million to $30 million per year through 2034. It would also expand the range of water users who could participate, including historically disadvantaged communities, and call on the program to prioritize projects that improve drinking water quality and resilience to wildfires and climate change.

The other program supported by the bill is the Watershed Condition Framework, which lays out a consistent process for how the Forest Service evaluates watershed health and ensures investments are benefiting downstream communities. 

The bipartisan bill would appropriate $30 million in new annual funding for this program through 2029 and add language to the program to ensure that management activities in national forests don’t lead to long-term degradation of watersheds.

The measure has support from national and state-level conservation groups, water utilities and Colorado officials, who released statements praising the legislation as part of Wednesday’s news release. 

“Many of these forested watersheds are on both public and private lands, and many are in unhealthy condition, at risk of high-severity wildfire, and in need of ecologically based restoration,” said Carlos Fernandez, state director for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado chapter. 

Colorado State Forester Matt McCombs said there is an “unequivocal link between healthy forests and healthy watersheds,” adding that in recent years, the state’s forests have experienced drought, insect infestations, and record-setting wildfires.

“Amidst a warming climate and growing populations, the need for bold action to protect Colorado’s forests — and in doing so, the clean and abundant water they make available — has never been greater,” McCombs said. 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Dan Gibbs also issued statements supporting the bill. 

Gibbs said the legislation provides “critical funds and ongoing programmatic support in our partnership with federal agencies to protect our water supplies and reduce wildfire risk across watershed boundaries.” 

Polis said Colorado has a responsibility to be a good steward of its water resources, which he called the “foundation of our way of life in our state, protecting the livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans living downstream beyond our borders and connecting us all.”

The legislation will need to go through Senate committee hearings before it can be put to a full chamber vote. Alternatively, the House version could pass as part of the broader Fix Our Forests Act that was already approved by the lower chamber this year.

While Hickenlooper is a Senate sponsor of that legislation, Bennet has expressed reservations about that particular bill, which he worries could undermine local forest management efforts.