The Colorado River is the 5th longest river in the US at 1,450 miles long and provides water to over 40 million people. According to the Nature Conservancy, the river could shrink by up to 31% in 2050. Stories from the Colorado River Basin: Indigenous perspectives on water and land protection features speakers Louise Benally, grandmother, mother and clan mother from Big Mountain in Northern Arizona, Reuben Crus, a Piipaash/Quechan/Mexican writer raised at the confluence of the Gila and Salt Rivers in the desert, Leona Morgan, a Diné organizer and educator on nuclear issues in the Four Corners since 2007, and Woman Stands Shining, a Diné mother, grandmother, artist, advocate for the sacred water.
ABOUT THE WATERS CONNECT US 
All of our precious, finite water sources are connected, from flowing surface streams across Mother Earth to the underground Aquifers below us, to the raindrops falling from the clouds above, all of water is connected. The Waters Connect Us is multi-generational work to protect SacredWater that was inspired by Debra White Plume (Oglala Lakota / Cheyenne) of Owe Aku / Bring Back the Way and a tight-knit group of Indigenous and non-native people committed to environmental and human rights work. We honor those whose footsteps we walk in this water and ancestral lands’ work and are dedicated to strengthening and building solidarity to increase the effectiveness of the many movements to protect lands and waters. We are all connected through water + land + life.
- Crying Earth Rise Up trailer + 10:00 short sample For more information about the documentary and outreach project, visit here. To screen the PBS broadcast version, go to Prairie Dust Films’ Vimeo page and enter the password: cleanwater [open for a limited time].
- The Waters Connect Us: Recording of a conversation about protecting and restoring water with Indigenous Communities, Environmental Scientists, and Media Creators in the Pacific Northwest, at The Evergreen State College, 11/14/18, featuring Louise Benally, Willie Frank, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Ed Johnstone, Carri LeRoy, Jessica Plumb, Klairice Alita Westley, Rosebud White Plume.
MSU Denver is located on the lands of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, and Ute, and other Indigenous peoples who maintain a continuous relationship with this land.