MEEKER | White River Alliance members gathered for their holiday party and an end of the year report by president Shawn Welder this past Wednesday, Dec. 10.
His 2025 progress report highlights a year marked by the group’s community engagement, hands-on stewardship, and strengthened educational outreach.
A major focus of 2025 was direct environmental work along the White River corridor. Volunteers participated in seasonal efforts to remove invasive plant species that threaten native habitats and to collect trash from high-impact recreation areas.
The Alliance emphasized that these repeated volunteer days show meaningful ecological improvement. Our members visited Jere Taylor’s ranch to work on an eroded stream bed by installing one rock dams to reverse the erosion, the Kruger Ranch up Strawberry for the same kind of work, the Josephine Basin Ranch owned by Kathleen Kelley to learn about the damage from the fires and opportunity to revitalize riparian areas, and the 4M Ranch to reduce russian olive, a thirsty and rapidly spreading invasive plant.
“All of our volunteer’s work at local ranches and property help restore our local watershed,” said President Shawn Welder, “and we always welcome new volunteers and those that want to learn and help as well as landowners who are looking to improve their water.”
The organization also expanded its educational and youth-support programs. Clay Allred from Rangely High School and Charley Rodgers from Meeker High School were awarded $1,500 scholarships each from the Alliance for their environmental leadership and future plans.
Alliance members visited the Environmental Plant Center, where they observed native-seed propagation, erosion-control plantings, and research initiatives that directly support restoration efforts across the region.
Beyond on-the-ground work, the Alliance continued its advocacy on issues affecting the broader ecological landscape. Letters supporting the Dark Sky movement highlighted concerns about wildlife disruption, energy conservation, and the cultural value of natural nightscapes. As reflected in the 2025 progress report, the White River Alliance fostered a year of partnership, education, and tangible environmental gains—laying the groundwork for even more ambitious conservation efforts ahead.
Speakers in 2025 include:
Brian Holmes from Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Wildland Restoration, Stephen Hampton from the BLM on Riparian Restoration Projects in Moffat County, Dan Bean the director of the Palisades Insectary on how to use bugs to reduce invasive weeds, a study on our local bison history by Sonny Shelton, Dr. Bob Dorsett on a 2024 State of the River, Impact of our Changing Climate on Human Health by Charles Geoffrion, and most recently, Ben Goldfarb author of EAGER, The surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. These programs are free to the public.
Please join us and learn ways that we can all work together.
Coming up in 2026, we will continue to monitor the health of our river. Meetings are the second Wednesday of each month.
Come and join us, make new friends and help our river! The river is the heartbeat to this community and it is imperative that we all join together to advocate for it.
