News

November 2, 2021

Senators Heinrich and Luján reintroduce Gila Wild and Scenic Bill

In November, Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján reintroduced the M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to protect segments of the Gila and San Francisco rivers and their tributaries as Wild and Scenic.

GRIP and the Gila Conservation Coalition join with conservation groups from around the state to commend Senators Heinrich and Luján for their leadership and dedication to long-term protection of New Mexico’s last wild river.

First introduced in May 2020 by Senator Heinrich and former Senator Tom Udall, the legislation is possible due to the broad base of support for protection of the Gila from local community members, Tribes, sportsmen and women, veterans, small business owners, faith and civic organizations, local governments, and outdoor recreation and conservation organizations.

“After a nearly 20-year battle to protect the Gila River from the Gila Diversion, it’s fitting that the M.H. Dutch Salmon Wild and Scenic bill will finally protect the river once and for all,” said Todd Schulke, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity.

“We are so thankful for this opportunity to protect for all time the nation’s first wilderness river, the Gila, with headwaters deep in the Gila Wilderness,” said Donna Stevens, Executive Director of the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance.

“As we struggle to mitigate the ecological impacts of the climate and extinction crises, Wild and Scenic designation will ensure long-term protection of the Gila’s riparian ecosystem and its threatened and endangered species, while also protecting clean water for irrigation and our outdoor recreation economy,” said Allyson Siwik, Executive Director of GRIP and the Gila Conservation Coalition.

The M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is named after Gila Conservation Coalition chairman and GRIP board member Dutch Salmon who worked tirelessly for more than three decades to protect the free flow of the Gila and San Francisco rivers, defeating the ill-conceived Conner Dam and Mangas diversion proposals of the 1980s, successors to the failed Hooker Dam.

The Gila and San Francisco and their tributaries make up one of the largest undammed watersheds in the Lower 48 states. Their natural flows support seven threatened and endangered species, such as the loach minnow and spike dace, some of the last intact cottonwood-sycamore bosque in the Lower Colorado River Basin, and more than 350 species of birds. The Gila is the centerpiece of the local outdoor recreation economy and its clean waters provide farmers with water for irrigation.

This legislation comes out of a community-led proposal and protects nearly 450 miles of the Gila and San Francisco as Wild and Scenic Rivers, ensuring that these reaches continue to provide for traditional and current use of the rivers, critical wildlife habitat, and our outdoor recreation economy.

October 25, 2021

Thank You! 17th Annual Gila River Festival Celebrated Our Connection to the Gila River

Presentations Available Online for Free

Thank you for a fantastic 17th annual Gila River Festival in September. The in-person and virtual event titled “(Re)Connect with the River” explored our connection to Nature, how the environment shapes human identity, and celebrated our connection to one another and to the Gila River watershed. Speakers included philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore, New York Times best-selling author Doug Tallamy, nature/science writer Sharman Apt Russell, poet Michelle Otero, and UNM’s Subhankar Banerjee. Gathering At the River closed the festival with Apache elders from the Chiricahua Apache Nation, performances by Borderlands Ballet and readings by Silver City poet laureate emerita Eve West Bessier and author and WNMU professor JJ Amaworo Wilson. Gila/Mimbres Community Radio’s Jamie Newton moderated the event. Nearly 200 people participated in more than 20 Covid-safe field trips and workshops.

The online presentations and video of Gathering at the River are available for free thanks to a generous grant from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.gilariverfestival.org to watch the video presentations.

Join the Gila River Festival planning committee and be a part of efforts to connect people to the Gila River. Planning for the 18th annual festival kicks off on January 13th at 10 am. Get in touch at gilariverfest@gmail.com

October 1, 2021

A Conversation About Communications and Art

Interview with GCC Intern Yen Chu

by Jody Norman, Gila Resources Information Project, Communications/Outreach Specialist

I met with Yen Chu at the conclusion of her internship with GRIP and the Gila Conservation Coalition. Born in Taichung, Taiwan before she and her family immigrated to the US, Yen grew up in Kansas, where she spent most of her time outdoors or at the public library, discovering a passion for the sciences, literature, and the arts. In 2011, she moved to Silver City. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Ceramics alongside a minor in Literature and Cell and Molecular Biology at Western New Mexico University. She seeks to promote environmental conservation through her art, as well as encourage others to reconsider their relationships to each other and the natural world. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Tell me more about the digital advocacy projects you worked on for GRIP’s Silver City Watershed Keepers and the Gila Conservation Coalition’s Gila River Festival.

My major work for GRIP and GCC was social media marketing and graphic design. I created posts like calls for volunteers for Silver City Watershed Keeper cleanups, teasers for the Gila River Festival, and other events. For the Gila River Festival, I also designed a rack card, poster, and advertising graphics.

You have talked about how you would like to use your art to start a conversation with people about the environment. How did your work at GRIP help to advance your art career?

Learning about the status of the Silver City watershed and other environmental issues that GRIP has worked on, I think that knowledge will inform my own work in the future as I focus on environmental projects.

I learned a lot of technical skills, especially about online marketing and social media, and I think I’ll be able to use a lot of that information to promote my own work in the future. I also learned a lot about graphic design, in particular how to stick to a certain brand and then making visuals that are cohesive and yet also offer a variety that can be engaging to the public.

Where would you like to take the skills that you learned?

The skills I learned in meeting new people — marketing and trying to engage them over the internet and the like — a lot of those skills will come in handy in the future when I need to promote myself as an artist and talk about my work. And a lot of what I learned about graphic design I’ve been able to use in designing other things.

August 11, 2021

Webinar – Gila River Protection Update

Webinar to be held August 24th, 6pm, Zoom

Although we thankfully aren’t going to NM CAP Entity meetings anymore, we are still hard at work protecting the Gila River and its watershed.

Join us on August 24 at 6pm for a one-hour Zoom webinar and get caught up with the latest issues in the Gila, such as Wild and Scenic River designation, feral/trespass cows in the Gila, mineral exploration proposals, forest planning and next steps on funding projects with Arizona Water Settlements Act funding.

August 11, 2021

Gila River Festival Online Registration is Now Available!

(Re)Connect with the Gila River through Field Trips, Workshops and Presentations

Online registration is now available for the 17th Annual Gila River Festival (Re)Connect with the River scheduled for September 16 – 19, 2021 in Silver City, NM, the Gila National Forest, and along the Gila River. Visit www.gilariverfestival.org to check out the full schedule and register for more than 20 field trips and workshops and free online presentations and panel discussions.

After more than a year of pandemic restrictions, the Gila Conservation Coalition welcomes you back to the Gila to explore our connection to Nature and to celebrate our connection to one another and to the Gila River watershed.

In-person, expert-led field trips explore the diversity of connections and interrelationships reflected in the Gila’s natural and cultural history, ranging from geology to bird banding, a Wild and Scenic river hike to archaeological trips showcasing the cultures of Puebloan peoples who once lived in the Gila region. COVID-safe practices will be followed to ensure the safety of all event participants. Registration is required.

Connect to the Gila through several hands-on workshops like moth identification, wildcrafted drinks, nature journaling, and plein air painting with the Grant County Art Guild. On the Hell’s Half Acre photography workshop, you’ll learn to see a complex landscape and the forces that shape it, guided by two seasoned and published photographers whose combined years of experience exploring and photographing in the Gila offer a rich perspective – accomplished Western New Mexico University photographer, Jay Hemphill, and Guggenheim Fellow, Michael Berman.

Free online presentations and discussions with national and regional thought leaders will spark conversations on our human connection to the natural world and our responsibility to protect the Earth’s ecosystems if we are to have a livable future. Speakers include author and moral philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore, New York Times best-selling author Doug Tallamy, nature writer Sharman Apt Russell, poet Michelle Otero and conservationist and Silver City native Michael Casaus.

April 14, 2021

Governor Lujan Grisham signs House Bill 200!

Please thank the Governor for protecting the Gila River and moving forward with water supply security for southwest NM

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed HB200 into law last week, ending the Gila River diversion project after more than 15 years of wasted time, money and effort.

In addition to prohibiting any expenditure of NM Unit Funds on a harmful diversion project, the bill also directs the Interstate Stream Commission to consult with the Water Trust Board on allocating the remaining $80 million in funding for priority water projects in southwest New Mexico. Bringing good governance to this funding process can ensure water supply resilience for everyone in the four-county area.

Please take a minute to thank the Governor for her commitment to the Gila River and water supply security in southwest New Mexico.

March 25, 2021

House Bill 200 Clears Legislature

Bill will fast track funds to local water projects and prohibit spending on diversion

In the last few days of this year’s legislative session, House Bill 200 passed the Senate floor by a vote of 26-15!

HB200 is an essential step in bringing good governance to NM Unit Fund spending. Our communities have been waiting for more than a decade to access this funding for critical water supply projects. Now we can stop the waste of millions of dollars on a failed Gila diversion project and move forward with rapid and efficient disbursement of funding to priority water projects in southwest New Mexico.

The bill is currently on Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk for signature after which it will become law.

Thank you so much for your help this session getting this important legislation passed. Your emails and phone calls to legislators over the past several weeks made the difference in pushing the bill over the finish line.

This latest success is the culmination of years of support and action taken by you to protect the Gila River and to achieve equitable and cost-effective solutions to our water supply needs in southwest New Mexico.

The Gila Conservation Coalition will continue to work to ensure follow through on the gains that we have made in order to build a secure water future for everyone in the four-county area and protect the Gila River for future generations.

Many thanks to bill sponsors Representative Matthew McQueen, Representative Nathan Small, Senator Mimi Stewart, and Senator Siah Correa Hemphill who worked so hard to get HB200 through the legislature.

Please join with us in showing our appreciation for their efforts by taking a minute to thank them.

March 15, 2021

Remembering Sonnie Sussillo

We were saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague, Sonnie Sussillo, who passed away in March while hiking in the Gila National Forest with her friend, Pam, and her dog, Pumpkin.

Sonnie had been a valued and respected volunteer for GRIP and the Gila Conservation Coalition for years, facilitating monthly Gila coalition meetings, keeping us on track through the final years of the Gila River diversion campaign. In addition to helping us with our donor management, Sonnie was a stalwart Gila River Festival planning committee member. She stepped up to moderate presentations, lead field trips, coordinate speakers, and so much more.

Her love for the Gila drove her many contributions to Gila River protection and public lands advocacy with GCC and other organizations. Her photography and writing show her strong commitment to protection of our region’s wild places.

We miss Sonnie’s warm heart, infectious smile and cheerfulness, and her love for and dedication to the Gila and the wonders of Nature.

February 2, 2021

Holloman Air Force Base decision a victory for New Mexico wilderness, public lands!

The Air Force released on Saturday a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that assesses the potential environmental effects of optimizing the F-16 pilot training airspace for Holloman AFB (HAFB), New Mexico. The Final EIS addresses comments received during the Draft EIS comment period and identifies Alternative 1: the expansion of the Talon military operations area (MOA) near HAFB as the Preferred Alternative. Other than a “no change” alternative, this was the preferred alternative advocated for conservation and business interests.

This news regarding the expansion of military pilot training airspace issued by the Air Force is a victory for the greater Gila region and public lands in the Rio Grande Valley from Socorro to Las Cruces.

“Hundreds of local citizens turned out, telling the Air Force how special the wild Gila is and why it should be protected,” said Todd Schulke, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is one of the rare cases during the Trump era where the process worked and the Air Force actually listened to the concerns of communities in the Gila area.”

“Thank you to our elected officials who listened to our community’s concerns over the potential for serious impacts to our environment, our public lands, and local economy from the Holloman proposal,” said Allyson Siwik, Executive Director of the Gila Conservation Coalition. “We are grateful for the Grant County Commission, and town councils from Silver City, Bayard, Hurley and Santa Clara, as well as Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Tom Udall and Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales for stepping up to oppose this harmful idea.”

Silver City Daily Press – 2/1/21 – Air Force opts not to fly F-16s over Gila