Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership - focused on watershed restoration and preservation in Ouray County - Page 19

How to contribute to UWP

How to contribute to UWP

The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership (UWP) offers a few easy ways to make your tax-deductible financial contribution to our nonprofit. Your donations support education about local rivers, riparian areas and water science; monitoring and analysis of water quality and quantity; restoration of watershed areas; collaboration and communication with public land agencies and river property owners; and the operation of our nonprofit so we can do all of the above.

In 2025 and 2026, your support is more important than ever as federal, state and local grants are being cut back. The competition for private grants is also greater than ever.

Please read our 2025 Fall Fundraising and Membership Drive letter by clicking on the button below to learn about the importance of donations and how you can make your donation now.

Read, download, print & mail

Tax Credits

Colorado taxpayers, who make monetary or in-kind contributions of $250 and above to the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership, may also receive a Colorado income tax credit of 12.5 or 25 percent of their donations. See more information about the Enterprise Zone tax credits.

NEW: Stock, Donor Advised Funds, and Crypto:

UWP can now accept donations of stock, crypto currencies, and from donor advised funds. We have secured a portal for easy processing with Pledgeling. Learn more about donating stock, crypto, and donor-advised funds. Then, please donate.

Membership: a convenient way to show your annual support of UWP, which puts you on our mailing list to receive news and updates on our activities and projects. Click on the “Donate” button below to open the PayPal website, pick your membership level, and pay through the online service or with your credit card.

Individual Member ($40), Family Member ($75), or Business Member ($100)

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Please be sure to include your mailing address when you complete your donation payment in PayPal, so we can send your donation receipt and record for tax purposes.

One-time online donation: a simple way to choose any monetary level from $5 to $10,000 to help fund our activities. Please click on the water droplet on the right side of this page to open the PayPal website, where you can type in your donation amount and pay through the online service or with your credit card.
Recurring online donations: a method of spreading your donations out over the year so they can have lasting impact. Please click on the water droplet on the right side of this page to open the PayPal website, where you can type in your donation amount, check the “Make this Recurring” (to make it monthly), and pay through the online service or with your credit card.
Donations and membership payments by mail: another method of getting your payment to us through the postal service. Please open, fill out and print our Membership Form (pdf) and send it with a check made payable to UWP to UWP, P.O. Box 392, Ridgway, CO 81432.

Donate as you shop (at no cost to you!)

through igive.com and City Market/Kroger. Find out more: https://www.uncompahgrewatershed.org/trigger-donations-while-you-shop/

Planned & Estate Giving

Please go to our Legacy Giving page to learn about this philanthropic option.

Other Options

2024 Membership & Fundraising Letter

Colorado Gives Day Online Year-Round Donor Portal

Ridgway RiverFest Sponsorships

If you have any questions about giving to UWP, please contact Executive Director Tanya Ishikawa at tanya@uncompahgrewatershed.org or 970-325-3010. Thank you for considering a financial contribution to support the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership and our work restoring and protecting the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed.

Colorado River Watch

Colorado River Watch

The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership organizes six volunteers to sample water at six key sites selected in the Upper Uncompahgre Watershed as part of the Colorado River Watch program. The data collected by these volunteers is crucial in understanding water quality in the watershed, and helping to plan restoration projects.

Check out the 10-minute video about River Watch in the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed

You can download the documents from the video here: Meet Your Watershed Figures

Arlen Huggins is the River Watch liaison to the UWP Board, who helps troubleshoot and report on sampling activities and administration. Our volunteers are: Arlen Huggins, Amy Relnick, John Hulburd, Ronna Edgett-Underwood, Ali Dahl, and Brian Mueller. Thank you to past volunteers, Taylor Poyner, Diane Spooner, Leslie Kaminski, Dudley Case, and Sharon Case. UWP receives funding from Ouray County and the Town of Ridgway to support our water quality monitoring activities.

In March 2025, Virginia Weiskopf joined UWP to serve as a River Corps member for the year. Virginia will do important work in streamflow measurement to complement our water quality monitoring work, as well as assisting with related education.

In the Upper Uncompahgre River Watershed, other River Watch volunteers include Ethan Funk and Eric Funk who sample from just below the City of Ouray to up Red Mountain Pass, as well as one site along CR 361. Also, Steven, the Parks Supervisor for the Town of Ridgway, contributes to River Watch data with water samples from Beaver Creek at Ridgway Ditch where it crosses CR 5A near the entrance to Elk Meadows.

Huggins produces periodic reports on past River Watch data within the upper watershed. The reports can be viewed and downloaded here:

monthly River Watch reports

2020 UWP River Watch Report

RW Data Summary (2019-21) and Review of WQCC 2022 Reg. 93 – 303(d) List of Impaired Waters

Sampling sites are called River Watch stations, and UWP’s is responsible for the following stations, from south to north:

Uncompahgre River at County Road 3

Uncompahgre River near Charles Street in Ridgway

Dallas Creek

Uncompahgre River at County Road 24 bridge

Uncompahgre River at the Pa-co-chu-puk area of Ridgway State Park

Cow Creek

In summer 2021, UWP’s River Watch team will also begin sampling at Blue Lakes in the Sneffels Wilderness Area and three high alpine locations up Red Mountain Pass.

Read about River Watch in the Jan. 2019 article in The Watch newspaper

You can find out information at: https://coloradoriverwatch.org/

How to conserve water

How to conserve water

As you know, whether we are in a drought season or not, conserving water is incredibly important. Here are some links to show you why:

The Water Page (also contains many links for water conservation importance)

The Water Project

Benefits of Recycling Webpage on “Benefits of Water Conservation”

Here are some helpful links to learn about conserving water:

UWP Consumer Water Conservation Presentation July 2022

American Rivers

A Water Smart Yard from CSU Extension Office

Water Conservation and STEM by University of Texas-Austin

Benefits of Recycling Webpage has the following links available for the public:

Water Conservation Education: Soil Health Field Tour

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Also see San Juan Mining & Reclamation website: https://www.mountainstudies.org/sjmrc

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The Uncompahgre River is typically a yellowish color due to high metal concentrations from the highly mineralized mountains and abandoned hard-rock mines upstream. This summer it ran deep orange several times due to the heavy…

CAWA Funding for Ag Drought Resiliency Projects

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Applications Due December 1, 2022 The Colorado Ag Water Alliance is helping roll out a new project and they are looking for agricultural producers that want to participate in 2023. CAWA has secured funding to…