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Thursday, July 5, 2007
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So down in Arizona they retired two hydro-electric dams and Fossil Creek sprang back to life. There is an incredible beauty in our desert streams. Here's an excerpt from The Arizona Central:
Jane Marks plunged into the hip-deep water, dodging a partly submerged cottonwood tree as she crossed over to a spit of land that put her in the middle of Fossil Creek. Which is exactly where she wants to be two years into the remarkable rebirth of a desert river once left for dead below a hydroelectric dam. Marks is leading a Northern Arizona University research team that will study the effects on Fossil Creek of retiring the dam and returning water to 14 miles of riverbed.
Her work, in a state that helped start the West's rush to build dams, has gained her international recognition as momentum grows behind a movement to tear dams down and repair the damage to waterways. "We've done the reverse," she said. "We've taken water from rivers. This gives us a chance to see what happens when you put water back." Because Marks and her colleagues started their project before the Fossil Springs Diversion Dam was decommissioned in 2005, their studies, and others under way at NAU, will likely break ground in the still-developing field of river restoration...
Marks joined NAU in 1999, after spending several years working overseas for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and she wanted to find a long-term project. Dam removal was becoming more common, but little research existed about its effects. She decided Fossil Creek offered an ideal setting, and she won a National Science Foundation grant to pursue the work. For a long time, no one except environmental advocates talked much about removing dams, which were seen as necessary for water storage, flood control, power generation and recreation. When author Edward Abbey wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang in 1975, he was roundly condemned for portraying eco-terrorists plotting to blow up Glen Canyon Dam. But dams live limited lives. They grow obsolete as generators wear out or reservoirs fill with sediment. Nearly 500 dams have been decommissioned around the United States since the early 1980s, according to studies by groups such as American Rivers and Friends of the Earth. The Fossil Springs dam was the first major structure in Arizona to be retired.
More coverage from the Center for Biological Diversity. They write:
Fossil Creek was brought back to life nearly two years ago after a decade of work and negotiations. Two aging power plants that removed water from Fossil Creek were retired, and full flows are now returned to this incredible Arizona stream.
This success inspires hope for Arizona's watersheds, wildlife and native fish, but the future of Fossil Creek is not yet fully secured. To provide lasting protection for Fossil Creek, it should be designated as a Wild and Scenic River, which requires congressional approval.
Senator McCain and Representative Renzi introduced legislation in 2006 and 2007 to designate Fossil Creek as a Wild and Scenic River in S. 86 and H. R. 199, but Congress has yet to act on these bills. Cosponsors of the bills are Senator Kyl and Representatives Franks, Grijalva and Pastor.
We know that this isn't a Colorado water story. Relax, it's a Colorado Plateau water and success story. 
"colorado water"
8:23:34 PM 
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Captain's Quarters: "Given Fred Thompson's decision to enter the primaries late, one might expect him to fare poorly in head-to-head matches, especially with candidates of the other party. Rasmussen's latest polling will surprise some, as it shows Fred in a dead heat with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton."
Out in Left Field: "Fred Thompson is about to join a cadre of candidates who are clamoring to out anti-choice each other."
"2008 pres"
6:53:36 PM
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Andrew Sullivan: "Leading Christianist, Albert Mohler, lays down the gauntlet. Mormons aren't any sort of Christian that Mohler recognizes."
"2008 pres"
6:45:18 PM
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Unbossed: "The most thought-provoking part of Michael Moore's Sicko is not the trip to Cuba - though that certainly is interesting. It's the discussion among the American ex patriates about life in France, a life that demonstrates that it values families and human beings."
"2008 pres"
6:37:54 PM
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Daily Kos: "Domenici has added himself to the list of Republicans who say they want a change in Iraq."
"2008 pres"
6:34:29 PM
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Andrew Sullivan: "There is no coherent defense of this commutation; and no defense of a pardon. There's just elite privilege and rank, shameless abuse of presidential power. People in Libby's privileged circle simply don't believe the criminal law should apply to their friends."
Here's a cartoon view from up north in Canada.
"2008 pres"
6:27:57 PM
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The Denver Post is running an article about the difficulties that candidates are having controlling their messages, or keeping information accurate, on fan websites and parody websites. They write:
This was going to be the presidential campaign where all the walls came down, where candidates used the Internet to reach out directly to voters. But with more than a year still to go before the election, candidates are already learning there is a downside to all that reaching: Sometimes the voters reach back. Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback is a self-described social conservative. The Kansas senator does not believe in evolution, supports prayer in schools and opposes abortion rights, even in the case of rape. And if you peruse some of the blogs supposedly authored by his supporters, such as baptistsforbrownback (baptistsforbrown2008.wordpress.com), you'll see that he believes in lots of other things too. Like that the Earth is flat - and does not revolve around the sun. And that rape should be referred to as an "unplanned sexual event" in order to "eliminate the excuses given by many women" for getting an abortion. It appears these so-called supporters - who also run the site Blogs 4 Brownback (blogs4brownback.wordpress.com) - are really using the sites to parody the senator's conservative political and religious beliefs, and perhaps make it appear that he is aligned with people who hold some, well, extraordinary notions. The sites look official and have blogrolls linking to a number of bona fide conservative websites, including Brownback's presidential campaign. Postings from bloggers with names such as Mrs. T.D. Gaines-Crockett and Sisyphus provide just enough accuracy, and religious scripture, to appear oddly legitimate - even to other conservatives who comment on the musings.
The Rocky Mountain News is on the ground in Iowa. From their report:
Five presidential candidates made a combined 19 Independence Day campaign stops in -Iowa. Two others marched in parades here the day before. It's a full-fledged frenzy, with flags and bunting and bands and signs and television ads and town hall meetings at a pace that stuns folks more accustomed to watching slower, rolling starts to these races for the Iowa caucuses that will take place in January. "I think you have some people who are political junkies who are very much into it," said Lois Van Houwelingen, a Republican schoolteacher from Pella who joined the curious onlookers at a neighborhood gathering for one of the Democratic front-runners, Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois. "Personally, I think it's plenty early," she said. "There's so much, so soon - people think, I'll check into it later." But it's hard for anyone to tune out the race at this point - six months before the first caucus votes are cast, more than a year before the two major party nominating conventions in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul, and 16 months before the November 2008 election.
"2008 pres"
6:31:20 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:07:35 PM.
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