{"id":794,"date":"2009-05-16T16:30:08","date_gmt":"2009-05-16T22:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/?p=794"},"modified":"2012-11-29T18:10:37","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T01:10:37","slug":"river-currents-issue-9-may-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/river-currents-issue-9-may-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"River Currents Issue #9, May 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dear Friends of the Gila River:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest news from the Gila Conservation Coalition. As you start to plan your summer vacations, mark your calendar for GCC\u2019s 25th Anniversary Party at the River. Hope to see you in July!<\/p>\n

Update: Arizona Water Settlements Act Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA) Stakeholders Group is poised to initiate a number of water supply, demand and ecological studies that will assist the region in assessing the future water supply needs of the four-county area. The AWSA provides New Mexico consumptive use of an additional 14,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Gila and San Francisco Rivers and a federal subsidy of $66 million to meet water supply needs regardless of whether additional water is developed in the Upper Gila Basin. The AWSA planning process was established to facilitate consensus on how to utilize the AWSA in a cost-effective manner to balance historical and future water demands against uncertain supply while protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the legislature made available $800K for the AWSA planning process, and the Stakeholders Group, through its Implementation Committee, has allocated that funding for contractor support for development of planning studies and other services, such as facilitation, data compilation, communications coordination, and modeling. A draft work plan is being reviewed and discussed for water supply\/demand studies. A public forum is scheduled in June to present and receive public input on ecological study questions and design that will be incorporated into a work plan for ecological studies.<\/p>\n

GCC is strongly encouraging that a public forum or workshop be organized to obtain public input on the water supply\/demand study work plan. These assessments are critical for objective evaluation of the water supply needs for southwestern New Mexico. In the past, projections of water demand have been greatly exaggerated in an effort to justify development of Gila River water.<\/p>\n

Later this month, an economics forum will be held to provide the public with an overview of the economics tools available to assist in the AWSA planning process.<\/p>\n

Gila Economic Forum \u2013 May 28; 8 am \u2013 5pm; Global Resource Center Auditorium, Western New Mexico University, 12th and Kentucky Streets, Silver City. Topics include: \u2022 benefit methodologies for residential, agricultural and commercial water use \u2022 tools for determining economic values of instream flow \u2022 valuing multidimensional ecosystem services \u2022 demographic and economic trends \u2022 projected hydrological climate change \u2022 flexible water allocation mechanisms<\/p>\n

Gila Ecological Studies Forum \u2013 June 3 \u2013 4; Global Resource Center, WNMU. Agenda forthcoming.<\/p>\n

Dave Foreman to Speak at the 5th Annual Gila River Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 5th annual Gila River Festival, September 17-20, features prominent author, conservationist, and environmental historian Dave Foreman as our keynote speaker. Other Festival highlights include an Aldo Leopold Living History performance, natural history and birding field trips, kayak trips, kids\u2019 activities, and much more.<\/p>\n

The full Festival schedule will be posted on our website in July, and online registration will begin in August. For more information about the 5th Annual Gila River Festival or to request a Festival brochure, email us at info@gilaconservation.org call 575.538.8078.<\/p>\n

River Otters: Returning Soon to the Gila River<\/strong><\/p>\n

otterskissing.jpgOnce abundant in New Mexico\u2019s rivers and streams, river otters played an important role in river ecology by helping to maintain balance between native fish and other aquatic species. After an absence of more than five decades, this important keystone species will soon be reintroduced on the Gila River, and The Nature Conservancy has made available its Gila River Preserve as a home for these playful mammals.<\/p>\n

The Upper Gila Watershed Alliance (UGWA), a partner in the Gila Conservation Coalition, has received funding for a biological assessment, a crucial step in the reintroduction process. Once the paperwork is completed, otters will be transported here from the state of Washington. If all goes as planned, we can welcome otters back to the Gila, perhaps as early as this fall. For more information, call UGWA at 313-2203.<\/p>\n

GCC Upcoming Events Calendar<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 11 – AWSA Implementation Committee Meeting. 10am; Grant County Administration Building, Silver City.<\/p>\n

May 28 – Gila Economic Forum. 8am – 5pm; Global Resource Center Auditorium, WNMU, 12th and Kentucky Streets, Silver City.<\/p>\n

June 3, 4 – Gila Ecological Studies Forum. Global Resource Center, WNMU<\/p>\n

May 30 – Next Meeting of San Augustin Water Coalition. 6pm, Datil Gym.The San Augustin Water Coalition would like to invite you to the annual meeting of protestants to the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC attempted water grab. Bruce Frederick of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center will be present to bring us up to date from his perspective on what has transpired since the amended application was filed. The meeting will begin at 6:00 PM (registration at 5:00 PM) in the Gym in Datil on Saturday, May 30th. We are in the process of recruiting other speakers that can bring new and helpful information to this proceeding. For more information, contact Lucy Cloyes at 575.772.537r or lcloyes@gilanet.com.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends of the Gila River: Here\u2019s the latest news from the Gila Conservation Coalition. As you start to plan your summer vacations, mark your calendar for GCC\u2019s 25th Anniversary Party at the River. Hope to see you in July! Update: Arizona Water Settlements Act Planning The Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA) Stakeholders Group is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,28,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-32","category-archives","category-rivercurrents","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gilaconservation.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}