Tuesday, December 4, 2007

? for President? Political Wire: "A new USA Today/Gallup national survey finds Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic presidential race with 39%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 24% and John Edwards at 15%. In the last month, Clinton's support has fallen 11 points with Obama and Edwards each rising 3 points. Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani leads with 25%, followed by Mike Huckabee at 16%, Fred Thompson at 15%, Sen. John McCain at 15%, and Mitt Romney at 12%. In the last month, Huckabee has risen 6 points while Giuliani has fallen 9 points." "2008 pres" 8:10:47 PM

Great Outdoors Colorado Legacy Grants The Valley Courier weighs in on GOCo's largesse in the San Luis Valley. From the article: The Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT), the local land trust in the San Luis Valley, is the recipient of the state's largest award in the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (GOCO) Legacy Grant round, with $7.385 million going towards the Rio Grande Initiative. Governor Ritter announced the awards Mon., Dec. 3 at the Capitol in Denver... This award will fund protection of 5,630 acres of private land through voluntary conservation easements along the Rio Grande river corridor in Mineral, Rio Grande, Alamosa and Conejos Counties in Colorado's San Luis Valley. Once protected, these historic ranches will permanently remain in open space, provide important wildlife habitat and be available for agricultural uses. Key partners on the project include the San Luis Valley Wetlands Focus Area Committee (SLV WFAC),The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited and the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Thanks to SLV Dweller for the link. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 6:44:23 PM

Correction One of the members of Coyote Gulch's circle of experts called our attention to a mistaken use of the term, "Stormwater runoff," in this post about the Groundwater conference earlier this fall. We're all in agreement now that stormwater runoff generally refers to runoff in the cities and towns, into their stormwater system, if they have one. We're going to refer to runoff from summer storm events in undeveloped areas as surface water runoff. Not a big deal but we wanted to show the network effect of blogging. "colorado water" 6:22:24 PM

? for U.S. Senate? More coverage of the attack job ads being run agains Mark Udall from The Rocky Mountain News. They write: Udall campaign spokesman Mike Melanson called both ads false and misleading. Melanson said Udall at one time was one of 44 sponsors of the Department of Peace bill. He withdrew his sponsorship after becoming "uncomfortable" with some of the details of the bill, including the $8 billion price tag, Melanson said. On the drilling issue, Melanson noted several other countries are benefiting from oil exploration off Cuba. As for Roan, he said Udall's opposition to drilling there is garnering support among the state's hunters and sportsmen. Jennifer Duffy of the bipartisan Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C., said the ads exploit Udall's biggest vulnerability: being branded as a Boulder liberal. It's a label that will hurt Udall more than if Schaffer is branded as a Fort Collins conservative, she said. "Typically in races like that in Colorado, Republicans have emerged fairly successfully because it comes down to suburban voters," she said. "denver 2008" 7:03:22 AM

Colorado River District's Annual Grant Program From email from the Colorado River District (Martha Moore): A farmer wants to install an efficient irrigation system, but can't afford the entire cost. A land owner wants to remove invasive tamarisk trees that are harming the watershed and needs funds for eradication. An irrigation company wants to line a leaky irrigation ditch that is losing water. These are just some of the projects that have received financial assistance from the Colorado River District's Annual Grant Program. Since its inception 10 years ago, the program has distributed more than $1.3 million of matching grants to individuals, companies, municipalities and others. The program supports projects within the district's 15-county area that: - Develop new water supplies - Improve an existing water supply system - Improve instream water quality - Promote water use efficiency - Reduce sediment - Implement watershed management actions - Control tamarisk, a non-native plant that grows along streambeds Applicants should submit a completed grant request form and supporting documents by Jan. 31, 2008. The form and additional information can be found at www.ColoradoRiverDistrict.org. or by request by calling 970-945-8522 or emailing: grantinfo@crwcd.org. The Colorado River District was formed in 1937 to protect Western Colorado water. The district includes all of Grand, Summit, Eagle, Pitkin, Gunnison, Ouray, Delta, Mesa, Garfield, Rio Blanco, Moffat and Routt counties and parts of Saguache, Hinsdale and Montrose counties. FOR ADDITIONAL INFO CONTACT: Martha Moore, Public Affairs Specialist, Colorado River District, 970.945.8522, ext. 226, mmoore@crwcd.org "colorado water" 6:48:47 AM

Central Colorado Water Conservancy District fall water users meeting From The Greeley Tribune "reg", "The Central Colorado Water Conservancy District will conduct its fall water user's meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Tri Pointe Events Center in Evans. The meeting will include updates on recharge projects, a look at the snowpack, a legislative update, a report from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and next year's irrigation well quotas as well as legal reports. John Stulp, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture, will be the keynote luncheon speaker. For more information, call (970) 330-4540." "colorado water" 6:41:56 AM

Quaggas and Zebras and high calcium concentrations Here's an article about a new study that tracks the risk for zebra and quagga mussel infestations along with sightings across the U.S. from Eureka Alert!. The quagga mussels were first found this year in the Colorado River Basin at Lake Mead. From the article: The spread of two invasive alien freshwater mussel species - the zebra mussel and the quagga mussel - appears to be controlled in part by calcium levels in streams and lakes and a new risk assessment based on water chemistry suggests the Great Plains and American Southwest could be next in line for invasion. Results of the study were published this week in the online version of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a journal of the Ecological Society of America. The research team that developed the analysis notes that nearly 60 percent of the country, including the Plains states and the Southwest, is in a high-risk ecoregion, based on calcium levels greater than 28 milligrams per liter of water. About 21 percent of the country - including New England, most of the Southeast, and the western portions of the Pacific Northwest - are at low (12-20 mg) or very low (less than 12 mg) risk for invasion. And in about 19 percent of the country, surface waters have highly variable calcium levels and conditions may change from one lake or river to another, based on geology. "The good news is that many of these high-risk areas don't have a lot of lakes," said Thom Whittier, a faculty research assistant in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University and lead author on the study. "However, these mussels seem to be working their way west and becoming established in places where they've never been seen." Until 2007, neither mussel species had been found in the western United States, but well-established quagga colonies were discovered earlier this year in Nevada's Lake Mead, and downstream in Lake Havasu and Lake Mojave, as well as the Colorado-California aqueduct. By this fall, they had been found in several reservoirs in San Diego and Riverside counties in California, as well as in Arizona, Whittier said. Both of these invasive mussel species require more calcium than most native mussels and have difficulty becoming established in low-calcium areas. Unlike most freshwater mussels, these invasive species release their eggs into the water where they are fertilized and the larvae - called veligers - float for up to a month. "If there isn't enough calcium in the water, you probably aren't going to get zebra or quagga mussels," Whittier pointed out. "If you have sufficient calcium, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a problem. These mussels also need colonies in still water to maintain populations over the long term. In rivers, this means there needs to be an invaded upstream lake, canal or reservoir to supply new larvae."[...] These invasive mussel species have caused millions of dollars in damage and untold ecological damage, the researchers point out. When the veligers eventually settle out of the water column, they often attach in large numbers to all sorts of human structures, including water intakes - which they quickly clog - as well as boats, buoys, motors, and engine cooling systems. They also attach to, and weigh down, native freshwater clams and mussels, crayfish and even large aquatic insects like larval dragonflies. When they attach to native clams and mussels, the researchers say, these invaded compete directly for food. "These mussels are extraordinarily prolific," Whitter said. "A female zebra mussel may produce a million eggs a year, and when they establish a colony, they are hard to get rid of. They also filter huge volumes of water, and by consuming phytoplankton, they can dramatically change the aquatic food web of the lake, reservoir or river." The research team - which also includes Paul Ringold, an ecologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Sue Pierson, a geographer with Indus Corp. in Corvallis, Ore. - used calcium concentration data from more than 3,000 river and stream sites across the contiguous U.S. for its study. Most of the reported occurrences of zebra and quagga mussels are in regions the researchers had classified as high-risk based on calcium levels. Some sightings have occurred in low-risk areas, but these usually were in rivers that drain high-calcium regions. Ancient seabeds are high in calcium, the researchers say, while basaltic rock, like that found along much of the West Coast, has low calcium levels. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 6:37:55 AM

Great Outdoors Colorado Legacy Grants More coverage of yesterday's Great Outdoors Colorado legacy grants from The Longmont Daily Times-Call. From the article: A $2 million Great Outdoors Colorado grant for St. Vrain State Park will help make sure there's enough water available to keep the park's ponds full throughout the year, GOCO officials said Monday. That $2 million award, part of more than $75 million in grants the agency announced during a Denver news conference, will be used to acquire rights to about 280 acre-feet of water annually for the state park east of Longmont. Colorado State Parks will match the GOCO grant by providing funds to install the necessary infrastructure to divert water from the St. Vrain River and distribute it throughout the system of ponds northwest of the intersection of Interstate 25 and Colo. Highway 119... Monday's announcement of the latest round of GOCO grants, funded by Colorado Lottery revenues, also included: $600,000 to offset Boulder County's $4.75 million cost of purchasing the 391-acre Benjamin Property Open Space and an adjacent 38-acre conservation easement over private property in the backcountry foothills about 4 miles west of Boulder. $695,000 to Larimer County to help fund priority projects to enhance and expand recreational opportunities at Horsetooth Reservoir. Projects could include converting part of a playing field into a trailhead, building camper services at two locations, creating swim beaches and building a mile of trail. $83,738 to The Nature Conservancy to cover that nonprofit agency's transaction costs for purchasing five donated conservation easements protecting more than 9,780 acres of grassland and 2.75 miles of chalk bluff habitat in northern Weld County east of the town of Grover. Here's a look at grants in the area of Colorado Springs from The Colorado Springs Gazette. They write: The grants will help buy the top of Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Section 16 open space near Manitou Springs, and conservation easements on ranches along Fountain Creek that are part of the Peak to Prairie Conservation Initiative. Colorado State Parks received $843,612 to purchase part of the 962-acre summit of Cheyenne Mountain, directly west of the park. Colorado Springs will purchase the rest using open-space money. The city's TOPS program received $1 million to purchase Section 16, a 640-acre square of land that connects Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Bear Creek Regional Park and Pike National Forest... The big winner in the grant awards was the Peak to Plains Conservation Initiative. The plan, organized by Colorado Open Lands, garnered $4.75 million to preserve working ranches and open space between Colorado Springs and Pueblo... In other corners of the state, GOCO grants funded preservation of rivers and ranchland in the Wet Mountain Valley, along Wolf Creek Pass and on the San Juan Skyway near Ouray. Money also went to buy water rights to fill lakes in St. Vrain State Park near Longmont. More coverage from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: The Minnequa Lake and Open Space Project received an extension to its 2004 grant for $2.3 million by the Great Outdoors Colorado board at its meeting in Denver on Monday. The money would be used to purchase Lake Minnequa from Rocky Mountain Steel Mills for use as a stormwater detention facility and a city park. There also would be water quality and wildlife benefits. The overall cost of the project is estimated to be $7.8 million. The purchase has been held up for several years because of negotiations over water rights associated with the lake. Earlier this year, a plan was announced for the city to purchase only the site. Water would be provided on a pass-through basis by the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, while the Pueblo Board of Water Works would provide water to augment evaporative losses, under an agreement already approved by the water board and City Council. The Lower Ark is expected to act on the agreement in the near future. The GOCo board set a deadline of June 2008 for a land purchase agreement, and June 2009 for final purchase of the lake. Lake Minnequa was built in 1873 to supply South Pueblo. CF&I used the lake as a source of water for cooling in the steelmaking process. GOCo didn't leave out the San Luis Valley according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: Great Outdoors Colorado's second-largest grant of nearly $7.4 million will help aid preservation efforts along the Rio Grande in the San Luis Valley. With Monday's award, the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust will be able to preserve 5,630 acres along the river in four valley counties. Through the use of voluntary conservation easements, the group hopes to keep the ranches and farms along the river in operation, preserve open space and maintain wildlife habitat. The grant was the biggest contribution the group has received since it was formed in 1999 and began working with other conservation groups in the area. "It's the strong partnerships that have positioned us to receive this size award," said Nancy Butler, the land trust's executive director. One of the land trust's partnerships that proved crucial for Monday's award was with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. GOCo grants must be distributed equally for open space, local government, state parks and wildlife, giving the DOW an important stake in the division of funds. Rio de la Vista, a consultant for the land trust and coordinator of the San Luis Valley Wetlands Focus Area Committee, said preserving the river corridor benefits fisheries, big game and migratory birds such as the cranes that visit the valley every year. She said preserving the corridor would also help maintain habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher and prevent its listing under the Endangered Species Act. Water users along the river corridor will stand to benefit from the preservation efforts, as well, said Ray Wright, president of the board of directors for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District. When the region came out of the drought with a good snow year in 2005, Wright and other irrigators found that Mother Nature took the first drink to replenish the wetlands and riparian areas along the river, putting a crimp on irrigators and the region's ability to deliver water downstream for the Rio Grande Compact. More subdivisions along the river would exacerbate that problem, Wright said. "Those of us in the water business are concerned if development continues in these lands close to the river and irrigation water is taken off the meadows, we'll be creating a drought in the river corridor," he said. Here's another article about the legacy grants from TheDenverChannel.com. They write: Conservation projects designed to preserve 138,000 acres of Colorado land received $57 million in grants from Colorado Lottery proceeds on Monday. They include a combined $10.5 million for two greenway projects along the South Platte River in the Denver area and $7.4 million to protect nearly 5,700 acres along the Rio Grande in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado... The other new projects receiving Legacy grants were protecting open space and starting a recreation trail in the Crystal River watershed in Pitkin County, $5 million; starting a 10-year program to protect 250,000 acres along Fountain Creek in El Paso, Pueblo, Lincoln and Crowley counties, $4.75 million; and protecting about 4,400 acres in the Upper San Juan River watershed in Archuleta and Mineral counties, $4.15 million. The existing projects receiving Legacy grants were a statewide wildlife habitat-protection program of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, $8 million; the San Juan Skyway Project in Ouray, Montezuma and La Plata counties, $4.39 million; the Gunnison Headwaters Project in Gunnison and Saguache counties, $3 million; Phase 2 of the Wet Mountain Valley Ranchland Preservation program in Custer County, $2 million; the Yampa Rivers to Ridges Project in Steamboat Springs, $2 million; preserving the top of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, $2 million; Colorado Front Range Trail, $2 million; water for St. Vrain State Park in Weld County, $2 million; and the Manitou Section 16 project, $1 million... At a news conference announcing the grants, Gov. Bill Ritter said they were investments in Colorado's natural assets that benefit state's economy and residents as well as the natural features themselves. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. "colorado water" 5:59:49 AM

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