Mark your calendars for the 6th Annual Gila River Festival September 16 – 20, 2010
September 17 – 20, 2009
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Aldo Leopold’s legacy in the Southwest, the 5th Annual Gila River Festival celebrates the historical connection of Aldo Leopold, America’s most influential conservationist, to the Gila. New Mexico’s last wild river, the Gila, originates in the Gila Wilderness, the first wilderness area in the U.S., originally proposed by Aldo Leopold in 1921.
Gila Economic Forum
Thursday, May 28, 2009; 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Western New Mexico University
Global Resources Center Auditorium, Silver City, New Mexico
LUNCH SERVED Experts from various fields of study will provide information and discuss techniques and tools to assist the AWSA Stakeholders Group with decision processes under the AWSA. Topics include:
- benefit methodologies for residential, commercial and agricultural water use
-
tools for determining economic value of instream flows
-
valuing multi-dimensional ecosystem services
-
demographic and economic trends
-
projected hydrological climate change
-
flexible water allocation mechanism
A draft agenda is available here.
Final report here.
2009 Gila Science Forum
Western New Mexico University
Global Resources Center Auditorium, Silver City,
New Mexico
June 3, 2009, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
More info here.
Final report here.
Saving
the Gila: New Mexico's Last Wild River
Slide Presentation by Dutch Salmon
Gila Conservation Coalition
Picture
a place where over 250 species of bird have been recorded;
where streamside habitat supports wildlife ranging from
the reclusive mountain lion to the threatened loach minnow,
and where no large dams impede the natural flow of waters.
Sound like Shangri La? It is and it's Southwest New Mexico's
Gila River. The Gila ("Hee-la") is one of the
last wild, free-flowing rivers in the Southwest, and we
all benefit from it staying that way.
Join Gila Conservation Coalition chairman, Dutch Salmon,
for a picturesque tour of the natural and cultural history
of the Gila River, the latest threat to divert 14,000 acre-feet
of water each year from the river, and ways in which you
can help protect the Gila for our children.
Dutch Salmon founded the Gila Conservation Coalition (GCC)
in 1984. He is a member of the New Mexico State Game Commission
and Board Member of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.
Dutch is the author of seven outdoor books including Gila
Descending, Country Sports, and the novel Home is the River.
He has canoed, hiked, and fished the river from its source
at Bead Spring to Safford, Arizona, and his experience makes
him one of the few authorities on the Gila River in New
Mexico.
View a video (broadband) or hear an audio version (dialup)
of Dutch Salmon's presentation, Saving the Gila:
New Mexico's Last Wild River, at Radio
Free Silver. Call GCC at (505) 538-8078 to purchase
a DVD of the presentation. |
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Gila
Conservation Coalition
Save the Gila River Outreach Campaign
Impacts of the Arizona Water Settlements Act
SCHEDULE
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| No
presentations are currently scheduled. Please contact
GCC at (575) 538-8078 to schedule a talk. |
above: cottonwood gila river ©michael p. bermanPREMONITIONS: Photography of Michael Berman
Blue Dome Gallery
307 North Texas Street,
Silver City
p: 575.534.8671
web: www.bluedomegallery.com
Opening Reception: September 20, 2008; 5 – 7 pm
This art show features the work of landscape photographer and 2008 Guggenheim Fellow Michael Berman.
Home after 50 Years: River Otters Return to the Gila
Public forum with:
M.H. Dutch Salmon
GilaConservation Coalition
Rachel Conn
Amigos Bravos
Steve MacDonald
Upper Gila Watershed Alliance
Thursday, October 23, 2008
7:00 pm
Silco Theatre, downtown Silver City
Once abundant in New Mexico’s rivers and streams, river otters played an important role in river ecology by helping to maintain balance between native fish and other aquatic species. The river otter was extirpated from the state in 1953. New Mexico Friends of River Otters is a broad-based coalition that formed to implement a strategy to promote the restoration of the river otter to the rivers of New Mexico.
This public forum features Rachel Conn of Amigos Bravos (bio) and Steve MacDonald (bio) of the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, members of the New Mexico Friends of River Otters, as well as Dutch Salmon, Commissioner with the NM Game Commission (bio).
The presentations will discuss:
* the biology of the otter
* the history of the otter's extirpation in Gila
* River Otter Working Group perspective on reintroducing otters to NM
* recent reintroduction of river otter on the Upper Rio Grande
* status of otter reintroduction efforts to the Gila River.
Steve MacDonald, Board Member, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance
* Currently on staff with the Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
* I’m also a Research Associate with the University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, where I worked for years in their mammal collection.
* My specialty is northern mammals: their geography, systematics, evolution, and conservation.
* I continue to do field work in Alaska, Siberia, and northern Canada.
* I and a co-author published in 2007 a monograph on the Mammals and Amphibians of Southeast Alaska, and have recently completed a major book on the Mammals of Alaska, to be published by the University of Alaska Press this winter.
* I’m currently working on a monograph tentatively entitled “Mammals of Conservation Concern in Alaska,” along with a number of shorter scientific papers involving Alaska and Siberian mammals.
* Since moving to Gila in the mid-1980s, I helped start the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance and was its first Coordinator, and currently on its Board.
Rachel Conn, Advocate, Amigos Bravos
Rachel Conn is an advocate for Amigos Bravos, Friends of the Wild Rivers, a non-profit river conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the ecological and cultural richness of the Rio Grande and other wild rivers in New Mexico.
In this work, Rachel assists communities establish citizen-led watershed protection groups and educates these groups in how to track and understand regulatory and policy actions that affect their rivers. Rachel is also a key leader in several ongoing campaigns: protection of the Valle Vidal, holding Los Alamos National Lab accountable for pollution, restoration of river otters to New Mexico, protection of the Red River watershed from degradation caused by the Molycorp Mine and unwise off-road vehicle use, the safe nontoxic control of noxious weeds in our public lands, and watchdogging national, state, and local policies affecting our rivers.
Born and raised in the Boston, Massachusetts area, Rachel has spent the last 13 years living in Colorado and New Mexico, earning her B.A. in Environmental Biology from Colorado College, and working as a conservation advocate in San Luis, Colorado fighting to protect the town’s drinking water supplies and watershed from the devastating impacts of large-scale hard rock mining.
M.H. “Dutch” Salmon, Chairman, Gila Conservation Coalition
Dutch Salmon founded the Gila Conservation Coalition (GCC) in 1984. Along with Bob Langsingkamp, Jim Goodkind, and Herbie Marsden, Dutch and the Gila Conservation Coalition were instrumental in stopping the Hooker and Conner Dam proposals in the 1980s. The group also achieved protection of the East Fork of the Gila River from road building and partial closure of the wild San Francisco River to ORV use. Dutch currently serves as GCC’s chairman. Dutch is also serving his second 4-year term as a member of the New Mexico State Game Commission. He has sat on the boards of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Quivira Coalition, and is currently a board member of the Gila Resources Information Project. In the 1980’s, Dutch was a also a commissioner on the Interstate Stream Commission. Dutch is the author of seven outdoor books including the recently released ¡Gila Libre! New Mexico’s Last Wild River, Gila Descending, and the novel Home is the River. He writes a weekly column called “Country Sports” for the Silver City and Las Cruces Sun-News. He has canoed, hiked, and fished the Gila River from its source at Bead Spring to Safford, Arizona, and his experience makes him one of the few authorities on the Gila River in New Mexico.
Wilderness Reach, © Mike Fugagli
August 22; 5pm – 7pm
Opening Reception of
Gila River: Photographs of New Mexico’s Last Wild River
Randall Davey Audubon Center Conference Room
1800 Upper Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM.
Exhibit continues through September 26, Monday thru Friday 9am – 5pm.
Read artist's bios here.
Gila Conservation Coalition Presents
A Community Forum
'Just Add Water':
Restoration on the Gila River
Thursday, August 7, 2008
7:00pm
Silco Theatre,
Downtown Silver City
Come learn about Gila River restoration efforts with representatives of The Nature Conservancy, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, and U.S. Forest Service. For more information contact the Gila Conservation Coalition at 575.538.8070
Gila Conservation Coalition presents
with Dr. David Gutzler
Professor of Meteorology & Climatology
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
University of New Mexico
June 5, 2008; 7:00 pm
Silco Theatre, Downtown Silver City
One-page summary of Dr. Gutzler's presentation
here. Entire powerpoint presentation
here. Earth's climate is warming rapidly, due at least in large part to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.The Southwest in general, and southern New Mexico in particular, are projected to undergo very pronounced hydrologic changes as temperature increases and snowpack decreases. Dr. Gutzler will discuss the evidence for global climate change, predictions for future climate, and the uncertainties in making these predictions, and show how we can extract results from global models and 'downscale' them to make projections for smaller regions such as the Gila Wilderness. For more info call 575.538.8078
DAVID S. GUTZLER is Professor of Meteorology and Climatology in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at UNM. He teaches courses on basic principles of weather and climate, and conducts research on climate change and predictability. He grew up in San Diego and took degrees at the University of California at Berkeley (B.S., Engineering Physics), the University of Washington (M.S., Atmospheric Science) and MIT (Ph.D, Meteorology). He joined the UNM faculty in 1995. At UNM he carries out a broad suite of climatic research, typically with the goal of improving the skill and usefulness of climate predictions on seasonal and longer time scales. He currently works on projects aimed at improving modeling and predictions of the North American summer monsoon, analyzing atmospheric moisture transport paths onto the North American continent, understanding land-atmosphere interactions and the dynamics of drought, and examining the impacts of climate variability and change on the Southwest.
Gila
Conservation Coalition presents
Navigating the Rivers of Our Future
with Bill deBuys author and conservationist
Friday, April 18 7:00 pm
Silco Theatre
Downtown Silver City
Suggested donation $5 at the door
Bill deBuys will talk about the future of southwestern rivers,
including the Gila, in an era of changing climate, and specifically
for the Southwest, an era of increasing aridity. What will
this do to our relationship to rivers, to our efforts to
defend them, to the way we ask them to satisfy our myriad
needs? Mr. deBuys by no means promises answers to any of
these questions, but thinks their exploration may be useful.
Bill
deBuys is a writer and conservationist based in Santa Fe,
New Mexico. He is professor of Documentary Studies at the
College of Santa Fe and the author of six books: Enchantment
and Exploitation (1985), River of Traps (1990), which was
a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, Salt Dreams: Land and Water
in Low-Down California (1999), which received a Western
States Book Award, Seeing Things Whole: the Essential John
Wesley Powell (2001), Valles Caldera (2006), and The Walk
(2007). DeBuys has long been involved in environmental affairs
in New Mexico and the Southwest. From 1997 to 2004 he directed
the Valle Grande Grass Bank in San Miguel County, New Mexico,
and from 2001 to 2005 he served as chairman of the Valles
Caldera Trust, which administers the 89,000-acre Valles
Caldera National Preserve under an experimental approach
to the management of public lands. For more information,
please call the Gila Conservation Coalition at 538.8078
or visit www.gilaconservation.org
Watch a video of the presentation on Radio Free Silver here!
The
Gila Conservation Coalition and Gila Resources Information
Project present
Gila
River: Photographs of New Mexico's Last Wild River
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willow wall
gordee headlee © 2006
Exhibit
Location:
Gila Resources Information Project Office
305A North Cooper St.
Silver City, NM
505.538.8078
This
exhibition highlights the richness and beauty of the Gila
River and features works by five Silver City-area photographers:
Anthony Howell, Gordee Headlee, Jay Hemphill, Mike Fugagli
and Nanda Currant.
We
gratefully acknowledge the support of the EMA Foundation
which made this exhibit possible.
2nd
Annual
Gila River Day
January
29th, 2008
1:30 - 2:30pm
State
Capitol Rotunda, Santa Fe
Please
join us for a celebration of the Gila River, New Mexico’s
last free-flowing river and one of the jewels of our
land of enchantment. The event is an opportunity to
learn about Gila River restoration and protection
efforts and the latest in the Gila planning process
under the Arizona Water Settlements Act.
WITH
SPECIAL GUESTS
Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish
Representative Mimi Stewart
Ron Curry, Secretary, New Mexico
Environment Department
Bruce Thompson, Director, New
Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Estevan Lopez, Director, Interstate
Stream Commission
Sandy Buffett, Executive Director,
Conservation Voters of New Mexico
Presentation of “Champion of the Gila River”
award to Governor Bill Richardson
Local,
state, and national conservation groups will be on-hand
with information about their Gila River conservation
efforts.
Light refreshments will also be served.
SPONSORED
BY: the Gila Conservation
Coalition in partnership with the Center for Biological
Diversity, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Gila Resources
Information Project, The Nature Conservancy, Upper
Gila Watershed Alliance, Gila Native Plant Society,
Southwest New Mexico Audubon, Amigos Bravos, Environment
New Mexico, AudubonNM, Rio Grande Restoration, Far-Flung
Adventures and Conservation Voters of New Mexico.
For more information, contact the Gila Conservation
at 575.538.8078 or email info@gilaconservation.org.
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River
Restoration at the Iron Bridge Tract
November 3 - 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Join The Nature Conservancy's Southwest New Mexico Field
Representative, Martha Schumann, and Bear Mountain Lodge
naturalist, Mike Fugagli, for a hike on TNC's latest Gila
River conservation acquisition.
Call 505.538.8078 for more info.
Fluvial-geomorphology
of the Gila River
October 20 - 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Mike Fugagli, naturalist at The Nature Conservancy's Bear
Mountain Lodge and Van Clothier, watershed restoration expert
and owner of Stream Dynamics, lead this hike upstream from
the Mogollon Box Campground.
Call 505.538.8078 for more info.
3rd
Annual Gila River Festival
September 13-16, 2007
"Let
the mountains talk, let the rivers run.
Once more, and forever."
- David Brower
|
Click here to find
out more about this year's
3rd Annual Gila River Festival! |
repose
gordee headlee © 2006
Gila River: Photographs of New Mexico's Last
Wild River
February 16 - March 31, 2007
Cottonwood Gallery
Southwest Environmental Center
225 N. Downtown Mall
Las Cruces, NM 88001
505.522.5552 The
Gila Conservation Coalition and Southwest Environmental
Center present Gila River: Photographs of New Mexico's Last Wild
River at the Cottonwood Gallery. The exhibition highlights the richness
and beauty of this jewel of the Southwest and features works by four Silver
City-area photographers: Anthony Howell, Gordee Headlee, Jay Hemphill,
and Mike Fugagli.
The
Gila ("Hee-la") is one of the last wild, free-flowing
rivers in the Southwest. It is a place where over 300 species of bird
have been recorded; where streamside habitat supports wildlife ranging
from the reclusive mountain lion to the threatened loach minnow, and where
no large dams impede the natural flow of waters. This exhibit features
color and black and white photographs of the Gila River in New Mexico, from
its headwaters to the Arizona border.
gila lower box
anthony howell, © 2006
Gila River Day
January 17, 2007
4:00 - 6:00 pm
State Capitol Rotunda, Santa Fe
Please join us for a celebration of the Gila River, New
Mexico's last free-flowing river and one of the jewels of
our land of enchantment. Come learn about the potential
threats to the Gila and initiatives for its protection.
With special guests Representative Mimi Stewart and Game
Commissioner Dutch Salmon and others! Light refreshments
will be served.
Sponsored
by:Gila Conservation Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity,
Gila Resources Information Project, Upper Gila Watershed
Alliance, Southwestern New Mexico Audubon Society, New Mexico
Wildlife Federation, Rio Grande Restoration, Forest Guardians,
Amigos Bravos, Trout Unlimited Truchas Chapter, New Mexico
River Outfitters Association.
Click here
to download Gila River Day flyer.
