In May 1983, avid hunter, fisherman, outdoorsman and writer, Dutch Salmon, made a 200 mile journey by foot and canoe down the Gila River from its headwaters at Bead Spring to the Solomon Dam in Arizona.
This wasn’t any old journey, since Dutch’s companions were his hound dog, Rojo, and his tomcat. This week on Earth Matters, host Allyson Siwik, Executive Director of the Gila Resources Information Project and the Gila Conservation Coalition, talks with Dutch as he reminisces about his adventure, canoeing and fishing the Gila, mountain men, and river protection. Dutch wrote about his journey in the book, Gila Descending, now in its fourth printing.
You can listen to Dutch’s interview on Earth Matters Tuesday and Thursday at 10 am and 8pm via web stream and any time via podcast.
Copies of Gila Descending can be purchased through High-Lonesome Books or O’Keefe’s Bookshop.
As a follow-up to the April 9 organizing meeting, the Gila Conservation Coalition and its partners will host a Save the Gila River Organizing Meeting on Wednesday, May 29 at 6:30 pm in the 3rd floor Seminar Room of the WNMU Student Memorial Building.
Join us and find out more about:
Follow-up to April 15 Interstate Stream Commission AWSA public meeting;
Update on GCC outreach and education initiatives and exciting new opportunities;
We want your feedback on some new outreach materials.
FULL SCHEDULE AND REGISTRATION AVAILABLE IN EARLY JULY
The 9th Annual Gila River Festival is all about changes, choices, and community empowerment. We’ve all read – or tried to ignore – the alarming predictions about climate change in the Southwest. A healthy response would be to acknowledge that obstacles present us with a chance to break with the past and to steward our environment in smarter and more responsible ways.
“First, do no harm” should be our oath to keep the water in the Gila River and stabilize its health. Second, we have opportunities – should we choose to accept them – to restore degraded systems and to build resiliency into our natural and human communities.
At the Gila River Festival, we’ll talk about the prognosis for future climate change – higher temperatures, lower precipitation – and how we can act as a community to moderate the expected impacts and balance the needs of the environment while also meeting our future water needs. Restoring our streams is a vital way to build resiliency into our wild lands, as well as our urban communities, and will help ensure that aquatic and riparian ecosystems survive climate change with minimal damage.
Gila River Festival keynote speaker, Kenneth Brower, learned about environmental issues – such as misguided dam projects – from his father, the great conservationist David Brower. Together, they worked on many Sierra Club publications, which increased public awareness of the nation’s wild places and the need to protect them.
Kenneth Brower’s most recent book, The Wilderness Within: Remembering David Brower, honors his father on the centennial of his birth. His new book on climate change will be published next year.
At the festival, Kenneth Brower will talk about how building resiliency into our riparian ecosystems is one of the most important actions we can take to prepare for coming changes. Diverting river water is the antithesis of resiliency, and it greatly increases the potential for species extinctions. As Brower well knows, dams and diversions have other unintended consequences as well. And just as Kenneth Brower did, we, too, can learn from his dad’s impressive career as the “godfather of the modern environmental movement.”
We are the ones we have been waiting for. The Gila River Is In Our Hands.
Jim Dunlap, Chairman of the Interstate Stream Commission: Don’t Divert
the Gila River through the AWSA
Aldo Leopold High School student, Ella Kirk, has a petition on change.org.
Please sign the petition to Jim Dunlap, Chairman of the Interstate Stream Commission, to not divert the Gila River through the Arizona Water Settlements Act.
On March 11, 2013 the Grant County Commission held a public meeting to approve or disapprove the resolution R-13-18 which supports a project that will divert water from the Gila River in Grant County to Deming through funding from the Arizona Water Settlements Act which needs to first be approved by the Interstate Stream Commission. This diversion or any diversion project would drastically harm the Gila River which is a fragile and pristine water-way that is home to the endangered loach minnow, spikedace, and southwestern willow flycatcher, as well as the elusive mountain lion and 350 recorded species of birds. The Gila River is worth preserving for its cultural values as well. The Gila River was home to generations of Native Americans and has many petroglyphs and other artifacts preserved between the walls of its stunning canyons and hidden among its tranquil wetlands. Approximately 1,000,000 people visit the Gila National Forest each year through which the last free-flowing river in New Mexico runs: the Gila. Please do not displace this legacy. Please do not divert the Gila via the Arizona Water Settlements Act. A diversion project would cost New Mexico far more than the allotted $128 million. Southwest New Mexico can meet its water needs in other ways. Instead choose non-diversion projects for instance: municipal conservation that would extend the life of our water, water reuse projects, sustainable groundwater use, or watershed restoration.
ACTION ALERT: Hold Grant County Commissioners Accountable!
Contact your County Commissioner and Confirm his Position on the Deming Diversion/Pipeline Project
The Grant County Commission is having a work session on Tuesday, March 19 where they will discuss the recent Gila River resolution. Contact your county commissioner by 5pm on Monday March 18 to hold them accountable for their Gila River resolution
Background
On March 11, the Grant County Commission approved Resolution R-13-18 that supports the amended Deming Diversion/Pipeline Project (aka “Southwest New Mexico Regional Water Supply Project) contingent upon two conditions – it must include:
Grant County’s water projects; and
Recharging the aquifer within the borders of Grant County.
The amended Deming Diversion/Pipeline project:
Does not include Grant County’s water projects;
Includes a pipeline to Deming rather than keeping the water in Grant County.
Therefore, the Grant County Commission appears to not support the Deming Diversion/Pipeline Project.
Email your commissioner TODAY and ask him: given Deming’s amended project, do you support the Deming Diversion/Pipeline project?
SAVE THE GILA RIVER EDUCATIONAL & ORGANIZING MEETING
Saturday, March 16, 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
3rd Floor Seminar Room
Student Memorial Building
Western NM University, Silver City
The Gila Conservation Coalition and its partners will host a Save the Gila River educational and organizing meeting on Saturday, March 16 from 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm in the 3rd floor Seminar Room of the WNMU Student Memorial Building.
We hope you’ll join us to find out more about the Arizona Water Settlements Act, what lies ahead under the AWSA process, and how you can get involved.
Monday, March 11 @ 2pm Grant Co. Administration Building
Speak up for a Free-Flowing Gila River!
Tell Grant County Commissioners to DISAPPROVE Resolution to support Southwest New Mexico Regional Water Supply Project
The Grant Co. Commission has called a special meeting for Monday, March 11 at 2pm in the Commission Chambers. On the agenda is approval/disapproval of resolution R-13-18 to support the Southwest New Mexico Regional Water Supply Project.
To date, Luna County, the City of Deming and the Southwest County Commission Alliance have signed this resolution that supports “the design and construction of multiple diversion storage facilities, with at least one large water storage facility that would contain the majority of the storage allotment maximum of 60,000 acre feet” for distribution in the four counties of southwest New Mexico.
In resolution R-13-18, Grant County Commissioners are ready to sign up our community for an expensive water project, the Southwest New Mexico Regional Water Supply Project, outside of the public AWSA stakeholder planning process and without any engineering, cost or environmental information to inform their decision. We need to strongly oppose this.
The Grant County Commissioners are supporting “the regional water project submitted by the Grant County Water Commission, Grant Counties effluent conveyance, retention and recharge project, and a permanent irrigation solution for the Gila Valley.” We should thank them for support of these cost-effective non-diversion projects.
Please tell the Grant County Commission that you DON’T SUPPORT the Southwest NM Regional Water Supply Project for the following reasons:
This project is expensive – The exchange cost is projected to be over $2.2 million per year by 2018 well before this project is even constructed. Operations and maintenance costs are estimated at $3.7 million per year. The construction cost has been estimated at $323 million – more than double the promised $128 million federal subsidy.
AWSA subsidy isn’t enough to cover the construction cost of a diversion leaving taxpayers and water users to foot the bill – The AWSA subsidy will cover only 40% of the estimated cost of construction. The additional cost would be shouldered by local taxpayers and water users and burden local government with debt. At a time when federal, state and local budgets are spread thin, a diversion project outstrips our financial resources.
Building a pipeline to Deming increases the chances of exporting Gila River water and other water rights into the Rio Grande.
A diversion/storage/pipeline project would destroy the ecological values of the Gila River that provide economic benefit to the region from recreation and tourism.
Please tell the Grant County Commission that you do SUPPORT common-sense, cost-effective non-diversion alternatives that secure our water future at low cost and keep the Gila River flowing. The following non-diversion alternatives have been put forward by local municipalities and stakeholders to meet our future water needs:
Grant County Regional Water Supply Project that will benefit 26,000 people in Silver City and the Mining District
Water reuse projects in Deming, Bayard and Silver City
Municipal and agricultural conservation
We apologize for the late notice, but we just found out about this special meeting.
Gila/Mimbres Community Radio Earth Matters Program on Gila Pipeline Threat
This week’s program focuses on a funding proposal by NM State Senator John Arthur Smith for a pipeline which threatens the Gila River and a cascade of developments regarding the Arizona Water Settlements Act.
Earth Matters co-producer Allyson Siwik of Gila Resources Information Project and the Gila Conservation Coalition hosts this week’s program with Todd Schulke, senior staff and co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity in which they discuss the details behind Senator Smith’s threat and what it means for the future of the Gila River.
Senator Smith’s $25M capital outlay request for a pipeline from the Gila to Las Cruces had its desired effect. In secret meetings not open to the public, state and local officials have been scrambling to cut a back room deal on the Arizona Water Settlements Act to divert Gila River water for use in Silver City, the Mining District and Deming so that Senator Smith won’t fulfill his trumped up threat to send the Gila water to the Rio Grande if southwest New Mexico doesn’t come up with a unified plan.
Tune in this week: tonight (Tuesday 2/26) at 8pm and Thursday (2/28) 10 am and 8 pm via web stream.
YOUR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS WANT TO INCREASE YOUR TAXES AND WATER RATES!
Tell your county commissioners and elected officials you support common-sense, cost-effective non-diversion AWSA alternatives that secure our water future affordably and keep the Gila River free-flowing!
In response to a trumped up threat by Senator John Arthur Smith to pipe the Gila River to Las Cruces, pressure is being applied to local governments to support a large-scale diversion and pipeline project that will have profound implications to the Gila River, as well as raise taxes and increase water rates.
Secret meetings have been taking place between state and local government officials to cut a back room deal on the Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA). These meetings are not open to the public, subverting the public process that citizens in Southwestern New Mexico have participated in the last several years. The multi-stakeholder planning process under the AWSA resulted in a range of non-diversion projects being put forward for consideration. The analysis of these projects has not been completed yet.
As documented in the draft resolution for governmental entities to sign in support of the new diversion project and handed out at the February 19 Gila-San Francisco Water Commission meeting, “the cities of Deming, Silver City, Hurley, Bayard, and Santa Clara, and Luna and Grant counties met on February 12,2013” and “provided direction to the City of Deming in amending its [AWSA Tier 2] application…..[for] a diversion project with one or two storage facilities capable of diverting and storing the full amount of AWSA water for future use.” Deming’s proposal is to divert and pipe the Gila River to Deming via Silver City and the Mining District. There is pressure being applied to communities to withdraw their local AWSA proposals and to support this new project instead.
Please tell Senator John Arthur Smith, the Interstate Stream Commission, and your county commissioners that you DON’T SUPPORT the new diversion project for the following reasons:
This project is expensive.
$2 Million in exchange costs every year to repay the Gila River Indian Community for their Gila water that NM would divert;
$323 Million (or more) to build a diversion and pipeline – more than double the promised $128 Million subsidy;
$195 Million – the amount taxpayers and water users will have to come up with to fill the funding gap for diversion and pipeline;
$3.7 Million (or more) for yearly Operation & Maintenance of diversion and pipeline.
AWSA subsidy isn’t enough to cover the construction cost of a diversion leaving taxpayers and water users to foot the bill – The AWSA subsidy will cover only 40% of the estimated cost of construction. The additional cost would be shouldered by local taxpayers and burden local government with debt. Water rates for water users will increase. At a time when federal, state and local budgets are spread thin and businesses are suffering, a diversion project outstrips our financial resources.
Building a pipeline to Deming increases the chances of exporting Gila River water and other water rights into the Rio Grande.
A diversion/storage/pipeline project would destroy the ecological values of the Gila River that provide economic benefit to the region from recreation and tourism.
Please tell Senator John Arthur Smith, the Interstate Stream Commission and county commissioners that you do SUPPORT common-sense, cost-effective non-diversion alternatives that secure our water future at low cost and keep the Gila River flowing.
PLEASE ACT TODAY!
Senator John Arthur Smith (D-35, Doña Ana, Luna, Hidalgo, Sierra)
(Scroll to the bottom for an update on this issue)
With a little more than a year to go before New Mexico makes a decision on the use of 14,000 acre-feet/year of Gila River water, powerful interests have begun to show their cards in the nearly decade-long Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA) planning process. Senator John Arthur Smith (D – Doña Ana, Luna, Hidalgo, Sierra counties), chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, submitted a capital outlay request during the current 60-day legislative session for $25-million for the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) “to plan, design and construct a water conveyance pipeline from the Gila-San Francisco water basin to the Las Cruces metropolitan area in Hidalgo, Luna, Doña Ana, and Grant counties.” Senator Smith’s staff has cited the Lower Rio Grande water rights dispute and helping Mesilla Valley farmers with their “Texas problem” as the reason behind his request.
Senator Smith’s request to fund the export of Gila River water to the Rio Grande Basin flies in the faces of southwestern New Mexico stakeholders who have been working for years through the AWSA planning process to determine how New Mexico should utilize funding and/or water under the AWSA. This process is not complete. There is no engineering, cost, or environmental impact assessment available yet that tells us if a diversion and storage facility from the Gila River is economically or environmentally feasible — and if end-users can even pay for it. Funding a pipeline before those questions are answered is premature at best.
A Gila pipeline capital outlay would be a small fraction of the price tag for projects that will cost much, much more. AWSA federal funds are only 40% of the estimated capital cost of a $300-million (or more) diversion and storage project (DB Stephens & Associates, 2012). Construction alone of a pipeline from a Gila-San Francisco Basin diversion/storage facility to Las Cruces could cost well over $100-million, not factoring in 30% of construction costs for “construction/ installation contingencies” (e.g., rights-of-way, pumping stations, environmental mitigation, etc). Piping Gila water to the Rio Grande might also require a storage reservoir in Doña Ana County.
According to Legislative Finance Committee staff, this year’s revenue projections look bleak and there may only be $100-million available for the capital outlay requests of 112 House and Senate legislators. So what’s going on here? Senator Smith’s staff indicates that he is trying to “send a message” to force stakeholders to agree on a project(s) that will use Gila River water. These “message bills” represent irresponsible governance and create fear and division among stakeholders who have dedicated years of their time and effort to work together to determine how best to use AWSA funds and/or water.
UPDATE 2/21/13 – Senator Smith’s $25M capital outlay request for a pipeline from the Gila to Las Cruces had its desired effect. In secret meetings not open to the public, state and local officials have been scrambling to cut a back room deal on the Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA) to divert Gila River water for use in Silver City, the Mining District and Deming so that Senator Smith won’t fulfill his trumped up threat to send the Gila water to the Rio Grande if southwest New Mexico doesn’t come up with a unified plan. At the February 19 Gila-San Francisco Water Commission meeting and as documented in a draft resolution for governmental entities to sign, GCC learned that a meeting was held on February 12 with the State Engineer’s Deming Office, county commissioners, and other local government officials to “provide direction to the City of Deming in amending its [AWSA Tier 2] application…..a diversion project with one or two storage facilities capable of diverting and storing the full amount of AWSA water for future use.”
These meetings have not been open to the public, subverting the AWSA public process that citizens in Southwestern New Mexico have participated in the last several years. The multi-stakeholder planning process resulted in a range of non-diversion projects being put forward for consideration. None of the analyses for any of the diversion or non-diversion projects has been completed, yet there is pressure being applied by state officials for communities to withdraw their local AWSA proposals and to support this new diversion project instead. It is short sighted for local communities to support only one diversion project before enough technical, economic and environmental information is available to make a sound decision on how to meet our future water needs in a cost-effective way without damaging the unique Gila River. Please take action TODAY on this important issue that has profound implications for the Gila River, our taxes and water rates!
30th Anniversary of Gila Descending
