| A Land Made from Water A Land Made from Water chronicles how the appropriation and development of water and riparian resources in Colorado changed the face of the Front Range--an area that was once a desert and is now an irrigated oasis suitable for the habitation and support of millions of people. This comprehensive history of human intervention in the Boulder Creek and Lefthand Creek valleys explores the complex interactions between environmental and historical factors to show how thoroughly the environment along the Front Range is a product of human influence. Author Robert Crifasi examines the events that took place in nineteenth-century Boulder County, Colorado, and set the stage for much of the water development that occurred throughout Colorado and the American West over the following century. Settlers planned and constructed ditches, irrigation systems, and reservoirs; initiated the seminal court decisions establishing the appropriation doctrine; and instigated war to wrest control of the region from the local Native American population. Additionally, Crifasi places these river valleys in the context of a continent-wide historical perspective. Robert R. Crifasi works in water management and planning and is an environmental scientist with more than twenty-five years of experience. He has served as the Water Resources Administrator for the City of Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, was on the board of directors of eleven ditch companies, and, as the president of several Boulder Valley ditches, was responsible for supervising all regular ditch operations. |