Tribal leaders stood proudly in front of a row of flags from the 10 Indigenous communities whose lands converge with the Colorado River.
They spoke about their status as equal players in the future of the Colorado and the role they will play in the high-stakes negotiations to set new management protocols for the river that more than 40 million people depend upon for their lives and livelihoods.
Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with regional water managers and a high-ranking Interior Department official, Amelia Flores, chairwoman of Colorado River Indian Tribes, and Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community, signed an agreement to contribute about 500,000 acre-feet of their own water to an effort to keep Lake Mead levels high enough to prevent another round of mandatory cuts...