Michael Elizabeth Sakas | Colorado Public Radio

Michael Elizabeth Sakas

Climate / Environment Reporter

Michael Sakas is a climate/environment reporter for CPR News. She joined Colorado Public Radio in 2016 after receiving one of CPR’s year-long fellowships.

Education:
Bachelor’s degree in English education; Michael is currently working on her master’s degree in technical communication at Colorado State University.

Professional background:
Michael came to Colorado Public Radio in 2016 after receiving one of the organization’s year-long fellowships. Through that program, she worked in various areas of the newsroom learning and honing her reporting skills before earning a permanent position as general assignment reporter and producer.

Michael got her start in journalism at the radio station at Colorado State University where she worked on-air shifts and was later named station manager. During her tenure as a student at CSU, she served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and led the school’s reporting efforts during the Aurora theater shooting.

Environment
The Colorado River is drying up — but basin states have ‘no plan’ on how to cut water use
Water leaders, agriculture producers and environmentalists met in Grand Junction to discuss many ongoing problems caused by use and drought but few solutions.
By Rachel Estabrook and Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
New water cuts are coming to some Colorado River states as the nation’s largest reservoirs dry up
The cuts are aimed at Arizona and Nevada, which were expected to help create a plan that would drastically reduce their use of the river. No plan was delivered.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Environment
Colorado and other upstream states have a plan to help save the Colorado River. It doesn’t include any mandatory water cuts
Upper-basin states say further actions to protect critical reservoirs “must include significant actions focused downstream.”
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
A 150-year-old San Luis Valley farm stops growing food to save a shrinking water supply. It might be the first deal of its kind in the country
If the conservation easement is finalized, it will end irrigation on 1,800 acres to protect groundwater levels.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
Colorado outlines its plan for how the state will deal with water shortages worsened by climate change and population growth
The reservoirs on the Colorado River, which starts in the mountains of Colorado and supplies more than 40 million people in the West with water, have hit critically low levels in the last year.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
Colorado’s water leader thinks most of the needed Colorado River cuts should be made by Arizona, Nevada and California
The states in the Colorado River basin have two months to come up with a plan to drastically reduce the amount of water they use. If they don’t, the federal government could step in.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
Colorado River states need to drastically cut down their water usage ASAP, or the federal government will step in
“We are facing the growing reality that water supplies … are no longer stable due to climate change.”
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
Colorado’s water future could look more like Arizona’s. That means a lot less snow and water for the Colorado River.
Colorado could be more like Arizona by 2080, new research suggests. The drier and warmer conditions would mean less snow melt making its way from the Rocky Mountains into the Colorado River.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Environment
New emergency fishing closure on the Yampa River is spurred by low snowpack, drought and poor reservoir levels
With so little water flowing into the Yampa River below Stagecoach Reservoir, the fish start to stack up and concentrate in low pools of water.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
News
Native American tribes secure spots on the Colorado nonprofit water policy board for the first time
Chairman Manuel Heart of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe said as water issues become more challenging, tribes need to be at the table of the state’s water policy nonprofit.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
News
San Luis Valley water will not flow to thirsty Douglas County, at least for now
Douglas County commissioners decided they couldn’t use federal COVID relief money to pump water from the south, but will continue to consider the controversial water project.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
The marinas at Colorado’s Blue Mesa Reservoir won’t open this season as the threat of a water release to Lake Powell looms
Last year, the federal government ordered emergency water releases from Blue Mesa to help protect Lake Powell. There’s worry that will happen again, so the marinas will stay closed.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Environment
To help refill two struggling underground aquifers, Colorado lawmakers set aside $60 million to retire irrigation wells and acres of farmland
The money would help the Rio Grande and Republican River basins meet state groundwater sustainability deadlines.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
Air quality, wildfires and building codes: Here are the climate bills headed to Gov. Jared Polis’s desk
And the bills that didn't get passed.
By Sam Brasch, Joe Wertz, and Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
The Colorado River needs a big moisture boost. Runoff forecasts suggest it won’t come from spring snowmelt
Lake Powell is expected to only get 60 percent of the water that usually flows into the reservoir during the season.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Climate Change
The federal government will make the unprecedented move to hold back water in drought-stricken Lake Powell
An extra million acre-feet of water will be kept in Lake Powell to prop it up, protect hydropower production and buy time for additional action in the Colorado River basin.
By Michael Elizabeth Sakas

The Colorado River is drying up — but basin states have ‘no plan’ on how to cut water use

New water cuts are coming to some Colorado River states as the nation’s largest reservoirs dry up

Colorado and other upstream states have a plan to help save the Colorado River. It doesn’t include any mandatory water cuts

A 150-year-old San Luis Valley farm stops growing food to save a shrinking water supply. It might be the first deal of its kind in the country

Colorado outlines its plan for how the state will deal with water shortages worsened by climate change and population growth

Colorado’s water leader thinks most of the needed Colorado River cuts should be made by Arizona, Nevada and California

Colorado River states need to drastically cut down their water usage ASAP, or the federal government will step in

Colorado’s water future could look more like Arizona’s. That means a lot less snow and water for the Colorado River.

New emergency fishing closure on the Yampa River is spurred by low snowpack, drought and poor reservoir levels

Native American tribes secure spots on the Colorado nonprofit water policy board for the first time

San Luis Valley water will not flow to thirsty Douglas County, at least for now

The marinas at Colorado’s Blue Mesa Reservoir won’t open this season as the threat of a water release to Lake Powell looms

To help refill two struggling underground aquifers, Colorado lawmakers set aside $60 million to retire irrigation wells and acres of farmland

Air quality, wildfires and building codes: Here are the climate bills headed to Gov. Jared Polis’s desk

The Colorado River needs a big moisture boost. Runoff forecasts suggest it won’t come from spring snowmelt

The federal government will make the unprecedented move to hold back water in drought-stricken Lake Powell

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