Taylor Hawes
Colorado River Program Director
Silverthorne, CO
Taylor Hawes Director, Colorado River Program © © Matthew Staver
Areas of Expertise
Freshwater Conservation, Western Water Law, Climate Change, Conservation, Sustainability
Biography
Taylor Hawes serves as the Colorado River Program Director for The Nature Conservancy. The Program’s goal is to conserve the freshwater biodiversity of the Colorado River Basin while also meeting human demands for water. Her responsibilities include coordinating TNC’s freshwater conservation efforts across the Colorado River Basin, synthesizing priority strategies, working with key stakeholders who are critical to conservation success across the Colorado River Basin and fundraising.
Taylor has worked on Colorado River issues for more than twenty years. She previously served as Associate Counsel to the Colorado River Water Conservation District in Glenwood Springs, working on water quality, water policy, environmental permitting, and water rights litigation.
Prior to her work at the Colorado River District, she represented local governments in the headwater counties of the Colorado River on water rights, water quality, water supply planning, and land use issues.
Ms. Hawes serves as a Governor Appointee on Colorado’s Inter-basin Compact Committee and is co-chair of the Basin Study’s Environmental and Flows Workgroup. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Juris Doctorate degree from Vermont Law School.