Due to COVID-19, RiversEdge West's 19th Annual Conference will take place virtually over the course of two weeks, from February 16-19 and February 23-26, 2021. The conference will feature a mix of live sessions and panels with interactive discussion, pre-recorded presentations followed by live Q&A, field tours, and demonstrations, as well as plenty of virtual networking opportunities! Abstracts for oral presentations are due on November 19th, 2020. View the call for abstracts here and submit yours before November 19th.
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is launching a pilot program to take an in-depth look at training designed to strengthen volunteer stewardship within two Colorado Parks & Wildlife regions. They are seeking proposals for contracted professional services to perform the initial assessment within each of the two regions that will then help determine the required next steps of this pilot project. Anticipated services include data collection through remote gatherings, one-on-one and group interviews, and electronic survey(s) to ascertain aspects of regional capacities that lend themselves to sustained volunteer investments within outdoor stewardship organization and agency programs. The contractor will also provide a written final report by February 15th, 2021 with data-driven recommendations for what specific volunteer stewardship capacity efforts are needed to address each region’s stewardship priorities. Click here for the full RFP. Proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. MST on Friday, November 20th, 2020.
Due November 30th, 2020: Call for papers! The SWAT (Soil & Water Assessment) special issue journal Sustainability: Sustainable Water and Land Management to Build Resilience against Climatic Shocks and Other Stressors is accepting submissions. You do not need to have presented at a SWAT conference in order to submit a paper.
The Call for Special Session Proposals for the AWRA Specialty Conference: Connecting Land and Water for Healthy Communities has been extended to February 1st, 2021. Hopefully this is a little relief for those who were planning to submit and will be incentive for those who wanted to submit but couldn’t due to the tight timeline.
Community Agriculture Alliance: Colorado Water Rights Abandonment List. “Every 10 years, the Colorado Division of Water Resources publishes its water right abandonment list. The list, released July 1st, represents water rights that each division engineer is recommending for abandonment based on real or perceived non-use over the past 10 years. A water right may be placed on the abandonment list if the amount of water diverted over the past 10 years is less than the decreed amount.”. Read the full article by Phil Brink and Greg Peterson HERE.
Arapahoe County Open Space is currently looking for input online, on potential priorities for Arapahoe County’s Open Spaces program for the next decade and beyond. Please take a few minutes, if you haven’t already, to complete a questionnaire and review an interactive tool that overlays these potential priorities on a map of the County. Click HERE to take the survey.
At the opening of Fishers Peak State Park in Trinidad on Friday, October 30th, Governor Jared Polis signed an Executive Order creating the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is ending the emergency public fish salvage that was enacted at Barr Lake State Park back on September 4th. Anglers are expected to revert to fishing under the normal regulations.
We are so happy to share Colorado Water Conservation Board’s newest podcast, "3 Birds and a Fish," highlighting the importance of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program. To listen to this podcast on various platforms, click HERE.
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is one of the most comprehensive environmental statutes in the United States. It seeks to protect both human health and ecological resources, to maintain healthy waters, and to restore waters that are impaired. The Clean Water Act provides states and authorized tribes with the tools and guidance necessary to protect and maintain healthy waterways in cooperation with federal government agencies. To explore River Network’s Clean Water Act resources, click HERE.
2020 has seen the three largest wildfires in Colorado history and over 600,000 acres have burned across the Centennial State. Along with many of the obvious concerns that come with fires of such magnitude, additional concerns have been expressed towards the impacts on wildlife. In the newest podcast episode of Colorado Outdoors, we dive right into the pros and cons of wildfire as it relates to wildlife, aquatic life and the health of our forests. Providing the context on the subject is senior wildlife biologist for CPW's northeast region Shannon Schaller, northeast region senior aquatic biologist Jeff Spohn and Casey Cooley, who is CPW's forest habitat coordinator. Listen to the podcast HERE.
Arapahoe County Open Spaces is in an exciting stage of 2020 master planning efforts!
Youth Adventure Workbook- This ACTIVITY GUIDE will help bring some structure and joy amid these challenging times. Please share with kids, educators and parents, and help encourage submissions. Return the completed workbook by November 6th (extended deadline) to receive a free bike frame bag from ACOS.
LISTEN Engagement Report- This DOCUMENT summarizes what has been learned to date from the community and County stakeholders through a variety of surveys, interviews, and targeted discussions during the LISTEN public engagement phase (spring/summer 2020).
2020 Master Plan Survey Results- This REPORT is for people who want to dive deeper into public survey data and key findings from the 2020 master plan survey. A SUMMARY is presented, along with the FULL SURVEY RESULTS.
The Denver Parks and Recreation Landscape Typology Manual is a system to identify landscape typologies and the health of individual typology sites. This is a great resource to evaluate and prioritize urban forest health efforts.
A $1 million science experiment is measuring the impacts of growing a native hay species in Grand County on a low-water diet in an attempt to conserve water without sacrificing nutrients provided to cattle. Read Water Education Colorado’s full article HERE.
The 2020 water year, which began Oct. 1st, 2019, and ended Sept. 31st, is now Colorado’s third driest on record, trailing behind only 2018 and 2002 for lack of precipitation. Click HERE to read Water Education Colorado’s full article.
The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, proudly co-funded Swimming Upstream, a new StoryMap that highlights collaborative conservation efforts to protect endangered, native fish populations in the Upper Colorado River Basin and enhance critical streamflow management for recreation and agricultural needs in and around Grand Junction, Colorado, along a stretch of the Colorado River commonly known as the 15-Mile Reach. The StoryMap was developed by the Conservation Innovation Center for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, in collaboration with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Click HERE to access the map.
Share your drought related-stories! Faced with the challenge of traveling and touring in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Colorado Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources invite all who are experiencing the impacts of drought, particularly in agriculture, to submit their drought-related stories online through a dedicated “Drought Virtual Tour” website managed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board.