{"id":2448226,"date":"2019-08-31T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sunday-profile-after-nearly-30-years-with-the-river-district-chris-treese-still-loves-the-water\/"},"modified":"2019-09-02T08:38:09","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T14:38:09","slug":"sunday-profile-after-nearly-30-years-with-the-river-district-chris-treese-still-loves-the-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sunday-profile-after-nearly-30-years-with-the-river-district-chris-treese-still-loves-the-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Profile: After nearly 30 years with the River District, Chris Treese still loves the water"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.3953488372093\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-312136-51\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/TreeseProfile-GPI-090119-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/TreeseProfile-GPI-090119-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Chris Trees hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Chris Trees hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/TreeseProfile-GPI-090119-1.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Trees hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/TreeseProfile-GPI-090119-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/TreeseProfile-GPI-090119-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Chris Treese hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Chris Treese hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/TreeseProfile-GPI-090119-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Treese hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sunday-profile-after-nearly-30-years-with-the-river-district-chris-treese-still-loves-the-water\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sunday-profile-after-nearly-30-years-with-the-river-district-chris-treese-still-loves-the-water\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Three years ago, the Colorado River District recognized those who had been with the organization for five, ten, 25 and 30 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Chris Treese was stumped. \u201cI couldn\u2019t think of who had been here 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Everyone laughed, then told him, \u201cIt\u2019s you, idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After 28 years with the River District, Treese is set to retire Sept. 13.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote p402_hide\" readability=\"3.5\">\n<blockquote readability=\"10\">\n<p>\u201cThere is no guidebook, no textbook, there is no lesson plan. It\u2019s getting out there, finding good people, and working with them.\u201d\u2014 Chris Treese<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cTime really does fly, and the issues persist,\u201d Treese said in an interview at his Glenwood Springs office, located across the street from Two Rivers Park, right beside the river that provides water to states in the Western U.S. and Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The River District was founded in 1937 with a mission to conserve water and avoid fights, sometimes literally, over a resource often cited as more precious than gold.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For the last third of the River District\u2019s 82-year history, Treese has been the organization\u2019s external affairs director, managing communication of the district\u2019s mission to the public; to other nongovernmental organizations; and to local, state and the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">And during that timeframe, change has been a consistent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Water demands \u2014 and the way water is conserved \u2014 has changed somewhat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As the Western Slope has grown, the meaning of conservation evolved, placing more value on environmental priorities and recreational use of the rivers. Conservation has come to mean something different and the advent of climate change has forced the River District to think in different ways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe conservation in our title, historically, meant building a dam to conserve spring runoff for later use, year-round allocation,\u201d Treese said. \u201cWe have grown as the term has grown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">From east to west<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese has watched the Western Slope change almost since the day he came out west. He moved from the Front Range \u2014 where he grew up and went to college \u2014 to Grand Junction in 1982.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese was hired as the \u201cboomtown planner\u201d for Union Oil\u2019s shale oil market expansion. When he arrived, housing was nearly impossible to find because so many people were moving to Grand Junction to work with oil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Four weeks after arriving, \u201cBlack Sunday\u201d occurred, when the shale oil market took a dramatic downturn May 2, 1982.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese\u2019s job changed, but oil companies still needed to have an economist plan out their impact on local communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere was still a responsibility that Union Oil recognized to work with the communities,\u201d Treese said, \u201cand to address the changes that were happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Initially, his job was dealing with the \u201cbursting bubble expectations,\u201d but Union Oil at that point was sticking around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cUnion Oil still planned on growing and expanding,\u201d Treese said, \u201cso I had the role of working with the communities to plan for that change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">From oil to water<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese joined the River District as director of external affairs in 1991. He started as a one-man external affairs department, and now has four people working with him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The River District is funded by a relatively small property tax, and is tasked with ensuring that water is conserved and managed to accommodate the many uses \u2014 from agriculture and oil extraction to providing cities with water and making sure there\u2019s enough water in the river for recreation and the people downstream.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">During the past 20 years, growing populations, shifting priorities and increased demand for water has needed many creative solutions, some of which Treese has been a part.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For example, Treese remembers the development of instream flow policies, which started out as a creative solution and is now precedent across the western states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The instream flow doctrine is not a particularly recognized term but it was critical during the creation of the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness area around 2009.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOne of the core values in the West is protecting and maintaining the states water rights,\u201d Treese said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But with the creation of a wilderness area, the federal government naturally exerts control over the water. The Dominguez area, however, was downstream from non-wilderness streams, setting up a struggle between holders of water rights and the feds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe came up with an approach to the federal interest in water that implicitly relies on Colorado\u2019s instream flow law,\u201d Treese said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Water scarcity and climate change<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese has two degrees in economics, a bachelor\u2019s from Colorado College and a masters from Denver University. He likes to joke his degrees \u201care largely irrelevant to my current field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But economics at its most fundamental level studies the allocation of scarce resources, and in the West, water qualifies \u2014 especially in a warming and unpredictable climate. Water consumption plus the demand for water in the rivers for fishing and recreation have placed strains on the system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On top of that, \u201cYou have a supply that by almost all scientific accounts is diminishing,\u201d Treese said. \u201cThe last two decades certainly point to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe have grown in the west where demand exceeds supply,\u201d Treese said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Still, it\u2019s critical to plan for the uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cClimate change is in every conversation,\u201d Treese said. \u201cIt\u2019s part of every future forecast. It\u2019s a large part of what we\u2019re doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Retired but working hard<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese recently returned from a five-day hiking and climbing trip in the San Juan Mountains, and still loves to do everything his knees allow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Although he\u2019s retiring to spend more time with his wife and his daughter who lives in Colorado Springs, he is still a member of several boards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gov. Jared Polis appointed Treese this year to the Water and Power Development Authority, which implements federal funds for water treatment systems. Treese serves on the Water Education Colorado Foundation, and Garfield County asked him to facilitate a water forum for local governments and utilities. He also will stay on the Club 20 board for Garfield County, and on Glenwood Springs\u2019 streams and rivers committee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Treese\u2019s experience in the world of water issues taught him a helpful lesson that could be expanded to a number of occupations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere is no guidebook, no textbook, there is no lesson plan,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s getting out there, finding good people and working with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:tphippen@postindependent.com\">tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sunday-profile-after-nearly-30-years-with-the-river-district-chris-treese-still-loves-the-water\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Trees hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Chris Treese hangs out by the Colorado River at Two Rivers Park on a sunny afternoon in Glenwood Springs.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Show CaptionsHide Captions Three years ago, the Colorado River [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 00:32:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2448248,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448226\/revisions\/2448248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}