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.
The Boulder Valley & Longmont Conservation Districts are hiring a Conservation Forester to join our team in the Longmont office. This position reports to the Conservation Districts' District Manager. The position undertakes a variety of office (approx. 50%) and fieldwork (approx. 50%) duties, with a focus on the support and delivery of USDA Farm Bill programs through partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This position involves significant landowner outreach, education, and coordination toward the development and completion of private lands forest conservation projects. Applications close on February 5th, 2021. For more information click HERE.
Applications for 2021 Growing Water Smart Workshops in Colorado and Arizona are open. The virtual workshops will be held over 3-4 days; mid-May for Colorado and mid-June for Arizona. This physically distanced but highly collaborative workshop provides a great opportunity for counties, municipalities, or regions to link water and land use, create an action plan, and qualify for technical assistance to support your path forward. There is no cost to participating teams. Contact climateresilience@sonoraninstitute.org with questions. Applications are due by February 15th, 2021.
USDA is seeking members for a new advisory committee on urban agriculture, part of a broader effort to focus on the needs of urban farmers. The 12-person committee will advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the development of policies and outreach relating to urban, indoor and other emerging agricultural production practices as well as identify any barriers to urban agriculture. Interested individuals or organizations may nominate themselves or others by March 5, 2021. Read the full press release HERE.
The City of Longmont Ecosystem Management Division is excited to launch our new funded research program to provide grants for scientific research, monitoring, and resource inventories. Priority will be given to projects on City lands but we will consider projects on other properties that will help further the City’s understanding of our natural resources and management practices. Funding is available up to $10,000. Proposal deadline is March 5, 2021. See HERE for more information and proposal submitting guidelines.
Colorado State University is surveying ranchers in Colorado, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, and Nebraska on ranch management planning. Results will inform outreach and program design on ranch management planning, not just for Colorado State, but also other groups supporting ranching. Too often, programs come to producers via national or university programs that may not match rancher needs and preferences. Here is your chance to have a voice and help steer programs to be more effective for conservation AND ranchers. Please help us circulate the survey through sharing this link with landowners you work with! The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and is anonymous.
Winter is tough on wild critters, that’s why Colorado Parks and Wildlife maintains State Wildlife Areas to protect critical habitat that provides refuge areas for big game. In Montrose and Ouray counties, the Billy Creek State Wildlife Area and the Cimarron State Wildlife Area provide more than 11,000 acres of important winter range that is well used by deer and elk. Please click HERE to read more about closures protecting wildlife this winter.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife managers at Highline Lake State Park are hosting a virtual meeting the evening of Jan. 13 to discuss a proposal to designate one day each week for a mellower on-water experience. The proposal would create “Wakeless Wednesdays” at the park - meaning that no boat or watercraft is allowed to operate at speeds that create a wake. Click HERE for more information.
Aquatic biologists and researchers at Colorado Parks and Wildlife have launched an intensive review of data on Bear Creek after a routine survey revealed a troubling decline in greenback cutthroat trout populations.Read the full article HERE.
The City and County of Denver, Denver Water, Mile High Flood District, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, the Greenway Foundation, and CWCB have come together to create Denver's first One Water Plan. Complete and share this short survey to inform the process and help ensure the Denver One Water program meets the goals and needs of the community. The survey will remain open until early 2021.
2020 Review and 2021 Plans for Colorado River Headwaters
Impact in 2020 looked very different for River Network and the groups served. Cultivating community and youth stewardship of waters was no less important this year – in fact, it was more important than ever. Read highlights from the River Network staff about a few of the many programs supporting these types of activities, both in and on the water, with community in mind. Click HERE to read more.
Get to know the US's landmark water policy, the Clean Water Act! This video, produced in collaboration with Resource Media, provides an overview of the history and contents of the Act including designated uses, water quality criteria, and antidegradation (as well as what all that means!). It's a great primer for your community scientists, monitoring program staff, or anyone else interested in Clean Water Act policy and advocacy.
Construction work is getting underway to improve the heaviest use areas in Rifle Falls State Park. When completed the waterfall viewing area and trails near the falls will be more able to handle the growing number of visitors at this West Slope treasure. To read the full article, click HERE.
Green Team Academy is offering complimentary sponsorships for the 2020 International Climate Action Challenge to Climate Reality Chapters and Branches. The challengers are planting trees, doing cleanups, and transforming their communities! To get started click HERE and request a free Level 2 Sponsorship as a Climate Reality Chapter or Branch.
Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT) is pleased to announce the completion of a Conservation Easement on the 71-acre Sacramento Creek Ranch located near Fairplay within MALT’s Red Hill to Hoosier Pass Priority Area! The Conservation Easement on Sacramento Creek Ranch will prevent the future subdivision of the property and protect critical open space and wildlife habitat for Elk, Moose, Black bear, Beaver and numerous other species that call this area home. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program has identified this region as having “Very High Biodiversity Significance." In addition to critical biodiversity protection, the Conservation Easement specifically ensures use of the property for public recreation, education and research purposes. If you are interested in visiting Sacramento Creek Ranch or learning more about the public uses, please send an email to malt@savetheland.org or call the MALT office at (303) 679-0950.
The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) has just recently released the 2020 Forest Action Plan (FAP), which is a road map to improving forest health across Colorado in the next decade. The 2020 FAP was created by forestry experts at the Colorado State Forest Service. This in-depth analysis of forest trends offers solutions and guidance for improving forest health and ensuring our forests — and the resources they provide — persevere for future generations. This plan will also help assist decision-makers in investing in our forests where these investments will make the most difference. If you would like to take a look at the plan please click HERE and HERE. Additionally, there is a Forest Action Plan app on the CSFS Forest Atlas page HERE. This is an easy, interactive tool that drills down into the themes of the Forest Action Plan and is an important tool to understand and know how to use. For CSFS and federal grants, partners will need to show where their project fits in relations to the FAP and will need to convey how the projects that they are proposing ties into this plan.
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, Colorado Outdoors dives 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.
Help plan your public areas. 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.
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.
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.
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.