The Colorado Water Conservation Board, one of Colorado’s top water policy agencies, has a new leader: Southern Ute tribal member Lorelei Cloud.
The 15-member board sets water policy within the state, funds water projects statewide and works on issues related to watershed protection, stream restoration, flood mitigation and drought planning. On May 21, board members elected Cloud to serve a one-year term as chair, making her the first Indigenous person to hold the position since the board was formed in 1937.
Cloud said her new role gives Indigenous people a long-sought seat at the table where water decisions are made.
“This is history,” Cloud said during the meeting. “What a moment. What a great moment for the state of Colorado.”
In 2023, Gov. Jared Polis appointed Cloud for a three-year term, making her the first known tribal member to hold a seat on the board. Cloud also served as the board’s vice chair for a year starting in May 2024.
Part of the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s purpose is to protect Colorado’s water interests in dealings with other states, like the water sharing agreements among seven states in the Colorado River Basin.
Cloud’s appointment to the board and elevation to board chair come at a time when tensions are high over water in the West.
She represents the San Miguel-Dolores-San Juan basin in Southwest Colorado, which is part of the larger Colorado River Basin, a key water source for about 40 million people across the West.
The Colorado River Basin’s water supply has been strained by over two decades of prolonged drought, rising temperatures and an unyielding demand for water.
The rules that govern how water is stored and released from the basin’s reservoirs are set to expire in 2026, leaving officials with the difficult task of negotiating a new set of management rules that will last for years to come.
The seven basin states have been at odds over how water should be managed in the basin’s driest possible conditions. Tribal officials have been working to ensure their priorities are considered in the high-stakes negotiations.
“This moment isn’t just about me or about the Indigenous people – it’s about all of the people in this room,” Cloud said, adding that the board is “making decisions that aren’t just about today. It’s about our future.”
Decision-makers in the Colorado River Basin have a history of excluding tribal nations that dates back to the 1922 Colorado River Compact.
The compact laid the foundation for how water is shared between the Upper Basin – Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah – and the Lower Basin – Arizona, California and Nevada. The agreement includes one line about tribal water, and tribal nations were not involved in the negotiations.
Tribal water is a key issue in the basin: The 30 basin tribes have recognized rights to over 25% of the Colorado River’s average flow.
Cloud said her new role is “part of the reconciliation that we’ve all been waiting for as Indigenous people.”
“Having an Indigenous person in a position that makes water management decisions – it’s a seat at the table that we’ve been wanting for such a long time, and it’s finally here,” Cloud said. “It’s a joyous moment.”
Cloud has twice served as vice chairman of the Southern Ute Tribal Council. She has also held leadership positions in The Nature Conservancy Colorado, the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network, the Ten Tribes Partnership, and the Water and Tribes Initiative.
As board chair, Cloud will run the meetings, ensure fair voting and represent the board as spokesperson when needed. She will continue to represent the southwestern basin, which reaches 10 counties and includes cities like Cortez, Durango and Telluride.
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe – the two federally recognized tribes with reservation land in Colorado – are also located in the southwestern basin.
“I’ve been lucky to witness Chair Cloud’s rise as a leader in the Colorado water community,” said Dan Gibbs, Department of Natural Resources executive director. “No one is more deserving or better positioned to chair the CWCB in this critical moment.”
