Friday, March 9, 2007

2007 Colorado River Salinity Control Environmental Quality Incentives From the Montrose Daily Press, "The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is holding a second sign-up in the Delta, Montrose and Cortez Field Offices in Colorado for the 2007 Colorado River Salinity Control Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The application period for this second sign-up period will be March 1 through March 30. Only areas in the Lower Gunnison, Mancos Valley, and McElmo Creek are affected. NRCS provides financial cost-share assistance to agriculture producers who voluntarily implement land management and irrigation practices that reduce salt loading. Agriculture producers participating in these efforts are provided incentive payments but are required to contribute at least 25 percent of the cost of the measures installed to reduce salt loading. NRCS also provides technical assistance to producers to plan, design, and install more efficient irrigation systems and to implement other land management practices... "Landowners who are interested in applying may visit their local USDA Service Center or visit the Colorado NRCS Web site at www.co.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/eqip.html." Category: Colorado Water 5:04:38 AM     Resourcism Here's an article from New West on the subject of resourcism. From the article, "The ideology of resourcism has had a number of interlocking pieces throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. I would line them up as follows: Professionalism -- Trained experts are best qualified to manage natural resources and public lands; Progressivism/Optimism -- Progress as a secular religion of material, informational, moral, and organizational advances is key to resourcism, as is an intensely optimistic view of the future benefits of wise management; Engineering -- The science behind resourcism is manipulative and controlling[~]not pure science, but rather technology and engineering; Resources for people -- Resource management by experts is to result in benefits for everyone. (In principle this standard is still touted -- in practice it is corrupted in favor of those with wealth and political power.); Multiple Use -- Properly managed lands can produce multiple uses of timber, minerals, forage, water, wildlife, and recreation, often on the same acre; Sustained Yield -- Lands are to be managed for the maximum they can produce on a sustained basis without harming the future productivity of the land; Utilitarianism -- Resources and the land are here to be used to produce goods and services for humans." Read the whole article it's worth your time. Category: 2008 Presidential Election 4:59:39 AM     New fishing regulations for the Blue River According to the Summit Daily News (free registration required) the Colorado Division of Wildlife has adopted new fishing regulations for the Blue River. From the article, "After several rounds of public input and internal rule-making, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) has finalized adoption of new catch-and-release regulations for a trout-rich section of the Blue River below Green Mountain Reservoir. The new rules, which simply require anglers to return all fish to the water immediately after catching them, go into effect May 1. The change in regulations was prompted in part by a land trade that will enable more public access to the scenic stretch of river through ground managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Anglers concerned about potential impacts to the thriving fishery encouraged the wildlife agency to establish a catch-and-release regime for the reach...Advocates said the catch and release regs are the easiest for the agency to enforce, making it the best way to protect the fishery. Category: Colorado Water 4:49:30 AM     Energy policy: Oil and gas development The BLM has issued new rules around oil and gas development, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. From the article, "A new set of rules issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management aim to meet federal requirements on how fast oil and gas drilling permits are processed while also being realistic about how long it takes to ensure environmental protections on public lands. The rules update a law passed in 1987 to align with the Bush administration's Energy Policy Act of 2005, which included $14.5 billion in energy development incentives and altered the National Environmental Policy Act to allow the BLM to take shortcuts when granting permits for oil and gas drilling. Even with those shortcuts, BLM field offices have built up huge backlogs because they haven't been able to meet the 2005 law's 35-day deadline for issuing drilling permits. The new regulations don't change the deadlines, but do make clear the clock doesn't start ticking until after a visit by BLM officials to sites of the proposed drilling. "Kent Hoffman, minerals manager of the BLM's state office in Salt Lake City, said the order, which goes into effect May 7, changes how the agency tracks applications to drill, known as APDs. In particular, the new order clarifies that the BLM must have visited the proposed drilling site with the energy developer and other federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, if necessary. After that visit, the BLM can start work under the National Environmental Policy Act to ensure wildlife, water and cultural protections are enforced without unrealistic deadline pressure... "The order also deals with split estates, property where those who own the surface land but don't own the subsurface mineral rights. In some states, particularly Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and New Mexico, land owners have found they have little recourse against drillers holding permits to extract natural gas. Now, land owners will be allowed to participate in onsite inspection meetings, and drillers may be required to put up larger bonds than previously required to rectify damage caused by drilling or impoundment of by-product saline water." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 4:41:16 AM     Warming and water supplies There was a time when someone from Denver Water would not be welcome up in Summit County, but yesterday Denver Water resource manager Marc Waage, was on hand in Frisco talking about climate change and the potential effects on water supplies, according to the Summit Daily News (free registration required). From the article, "Rising global temperatures could play out in significant ways in the Colorado High Country, with the effects ranging from earlier snowmelt and a less reliable water supply to a loss of the spectacular alpine scenery that is fundamental to the state's tourism economy, a panel of experts said Thursday evening in Frisco. The climate change forum, presented by Our Future Summit, included a presentation from Denver Water resource manager Marc Waage, who said that even a moderate two- degree rise in temperatures could result in a six percent drop in water supplies and a 12 percent increase in demand. Waage said those numbers were based on a simplified vulnerability study recently completed by Denver Water, but even if the figures aren't spot on, the state's biggest water supplier is looking at ways to reduce its vulnerability to the impacts of global warming... "For one thing, planners are trying to break the habit of relying on historic data to make plans for the future, he said. Resource managers have traditionally based their projections on data from past years, but with the uncertainties stemming from climate change, that approach may not work... "And warming temperatures during the past few decades have already contributed to a measurable change in the timing of snowmelt and spring runoff, said U.S. Geological Survey researcher Dave Clow, outlining a pilot study based on data from 72 automate SNOTEL measuring stations and 40 streamflow gauges. According to Clow, The average change in the onset of snowmelt has been about .5 days per year, or about two and a half weeks during the 28-year period covered by the study. Warmer springtime air temperatures are the primary driver of the changes, Clow said. Those findings tied in neatly with data presented by climate researcher Klaus Wolter, who is refining statistical methods for analyzing climate trends. Among other research, Wolter has pinpointed a marked warming trend in Colorado's north-central mountains, with warming most apparent during the spring months. Temperature maximums don't seem to be quite as affected as minimum temperatures. In other words, it's not getting nearly as cold as it used to in the area, he said... "Tom Easley, of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, outlined how his organization is developing a climate action plan for Colorado. The first step is an emissions inventory and forecast, he said. The group hopes to complete its plan by the end of the year, and Easley said the Ritter administration appears to be receptive to turning those recommendations into legislative action next year. While the challenge is global in scale, taking action in Colorado is important in the scheme of things, he added, explaining that the state produces more greenhouse gases than all but 38 countries in the world. The western U.S. could take the brunt of the warming, with average temperatures climbing by almost another two degrees by 2040. That could mean 24 percent less snow in the region and 36 percent less storage in the Colorado River Basin. The good news, according to Easley, is that many of the actions required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have positive side effects, including the creation of new jobs, less sprawl and lower energy costs for consumers." Category: Colorado Water 4:34:27 AM

© Copyright 2007 John Orr. Last update: 4/1/07; 9:42:23 AM.