Grant grew up between Ouray and Ridgway along the banks of the Uncompahgre River, playing in irrigation ditches and developing a passion for how water works in the West. A graduate of Ouray High School, Grant spent many summers returning to the Uncompahgre Valley before permanently returning in 2022.
He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Montana State University with dual degrees in Applied Economics & Political Science with four minors, three in Business and a fourth in French. After traveling around the West in a VW Westfalia for a while, Grant then attended Oregon State University achieving a Masters of Science in Applied Economics with a minor in Water Resource Policy and Management. As a bonafide water economist, Grant took a position with the country’s premiere water economics consulting firm where he worked on water right valuation and water market research in basins across the West.
In 2022, Grant pivoted from economics to policy and now works for The Nature Conservancy on Western Water Policy where he focuses on policy and funding to protect and restore nature as the West adapts to hotter and dryer future.
Grant feels a deep connection to the Uncompahgre River Basin and is excited and honored to join UWP’s board where he can leverage his deep expertise on water rights, federal funding and policy, and local knowledge. When he’s not working Grant enjoys playing in the mountains he calls home, including hiking, mountaineering, ice climbing, and backcountry, alpine and nordic skiing.
