WATERSHEDS

From Headwaters to Delta

LightHawk works across the Colorado River Basin to document changing conditions, guide conservation, inform decisions and build public understanding.

The Colorado River winds through a canyon.

The Commitment

Seeing the Colorado River Whole

The Colorado River connects snowpack, forests, communities, agriculture, Tribal lands, reservoirs and wildlife across the West. For more than a decade, LightHawk helps partners see those connections and puts the aerial perspective to work across the Basin.

From the headwaters to the Delta, our flights inform research, strengthen conservation planning, bring decision-makers into the landscape and help people around the world better understand the river through powerful reporting and imagery.

Bringing the Colorado River Into View

Our reach across the Colorado River Basin

June 2022–July 2026

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Flights across the Basin

Partners & Collaborators

Media Stories & Features

Media Outlets

THE IMPACT

We bring the Colorado River Basin into view, revealing changing conditions and connections that inform conservation decisions and build support for action.

Document Changing Conditions

Track snowpack, water levels, restoration, glacier and land use changes over time.
Guide Research,
Restoration and Decisions

Provide aerial data and firsthand perspective to inform science, habitat restoration, conservation planning and decision-making.
Build Understanding
Over Time

Long-term collaboration with photographers, journalists and storytellers to build awareness, action & support across the Basin.

documented outcomes

What the Work Makes Possible

LightHawk strengthens conservation efforts on the ground with perspective, imagery and data gathered from the air.

Building a Record for Glacier Monitoring

Flight campaigns allowed researchers to photograph 12 glaciers capturing over 2,000 images for 3D models to establish a baseline for measuring change.

Strengthening Golden Eagle Populations

Monitoring flights with Navajo Nation biologists documented more than a dozen nests, multiple eagles and several previously undocumented nest sites.

Strengthening Shorebird Monitoring in the Delta

Five coordinated shorebird surveys over multiple years gathered data on bird numbers across Delta mudflats, contributing to the large-scale monitoring needed to evaluate and adapt restoration efforts.

the colorado river basin

Connecting People, Building Understanding

Decades of work across the Basin allows LightHawk to bring a broader view to many of the river’s defining challenges and solutions.

A Lake Powell marina sits next to a boat ram that no longer reaches the water.

Telling the Story of a River Under Pressure

Starting high in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River winds south through some of the most dramatic and heavily used landscapes in the American West before reaching toward the Delta in Mexico. This summer, ultra-marathon runner Mina Guli has been following that same path on foot.

Full Story

Two Days. Hundreds of Miles. One River.

The Colorado River is a majestic and essential waterway, flowing from the mountains of Colorado through several western states and into Mexico. Once, it reached the Pacific Ocean; today, the water rarely makes it that far. Water use along the Colorado is a complicated and often controversial topic, especially as millions rely on its flows.

Full Story

Flying the Colorado River with The Denver Post

The Colorado River Basin is an area of intense interest this year. Record low snowfall has left the river system with very little water, highlighting the ongoing water crisis in the West. Massive reservoirs like Lake Mead and Lake Powell are far below their average water levels.

Full Story

Low Snowpack Threatens Colorado River Water Supplies

The snowpack in Colorado is a topic of great interest to the people of Arizona. Why? Because that snowpack is what feeds the Colorado River. The water travels down the basin, providing much-needed water to communities and farming operations across the American Southwest. Millions of people rely on that water.

Full Story

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