UES’ Post

The Colorado River, and many other water supply systems, are too complex for all but the most engaged scientists to understand without careful explanation and context. This paper makes the case that water resources models of the Colorado River are necessary to give policy makers, and the general public, the tools they need to meet the challenge of a drying river.

🌡️ 🌍 As greenhouse gases warm the planet, scientists are starting to brainstorm simple answers to complex questions - what if we just removed them? A recent Fast Company article discusses a collaborative Berkeley Lab effort studying the possibility of commercial-scale air capture facilities with the potential to capture at least 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Read more about how this work could contribute to a just transition to a carbon-free future: https://bit.ly/3V2NaE2 Jake Bittle, University of California, Berkeley - School of Law

🌿 Top Takeaways from the 2024 NAWM Annual Meeting 🌿 Did you make it to the #NAWM Annual State/Tribal/Federal Coordination Meeting last week? If so, maybe you ran into Ecobot’s Kim Nichols, MBA in a session or out in the field! We're proud to have sponsored this important gathering and knowledge exchange. ICYMI, here are our top takeaways from the meeting: ♦️ The environmental community is already repositioning after last year's Sackett ruling, identifying three key drivers to sustaining and growing our nation's vital wetlands: education, collective action, and policy at the tribe, state, and local levels. ♦️ With much of the Arid West outside of jurisdiction post-Sackett, collaboration, flexibility, and creativity are needed to tackle the complexities of connecting waters and wetlands more effectively, taking historical alterations into account. ♦️ Beavers: Champions of wetland restoration or destroyers of fledgeling mitigation sites? It seems like they came out ahead after Day 3's sessions! Check out #BeaverCON2024 to learn more. Did you encounter a standout topic at the conference? National Association of Wetland Managers

“Activists are hell to live with but they make great ancestors” – Robert Liberty 51 years ago, Oregon defined itself as a visionary pioneer for sound land use planning. In reaction to the unbridled growth and urban sprawl across farmland and forests of the 1960s and 1970s, Oregonians advocated for a solution to the rapid loss of natural resources and shared values. On May 29, 1973, Senate Bill 100 was signed into law. This landmark system it created was based on this simple concept: urban uses and development belong inside cities and towns while rural lands should be preserved for farms, forests, and open space. Since then, the legacy of SB 100 has shaped our remarkable quality of life and allows us to continue defending and planning for Central Oregon’s livable future. Learn more about the land use system that makes Oregon different: https://lnkd.in/gJ--dv8q

It might be important to review the history to evaluate the current water rights/claims in California within the context of first-come, first-served. So, who was first in California? Well, it wasn’t exactly farmers, whose claims were staked more than a century ago. It was Native Americans. There were about 135 distinct peoples or nations in California with an estimated population of 300,000 individuals. Then the Spanish arrived and occupied the area for 45 years. When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, it held California for 25 years. Then the US took California after the Mexican-American War, which began in 1846. Discovery of gold in 1848 led to the admission of California as a US state two years later. Under the US, the land and water rights were taken from Native American communities as well as the Spanish and Mexican colonists who had settled in the area. California actually has a water policy, but no one owns water; individuals and others have permits, licenses, and registrations to beneficially use reasonable amounts of water. Farmers have a right to farm, but as water becomes scarcer, they will have to justify how they use resources, including water, especially when it affects others.

We can make changes, and do big new things. Examples: 1. Trees - https://lnkd.in/evpxDwzK - analysis thanks to Mallory Barnes; cooling thanks to many many people over decades 2. A one two on guns: convictions - https://lnkd.in/eQb3VqZq - courtesy of county prosecutor Karen Mcdonald, judge Kwame Rowe, and the jury, and new laws - https://lnkd.in/eH-dkT9t 3. Food access - https://lnkd.in/ekMaBqEm - thanks to Detroit People's Food Co-op Science, infrastructure, and community.

Join us June 6 & 7 at our 2024 Conference: Next Chapters on the Colorado River: Short-Term Coping, Post-2026 Operations, and Beyond to dive deeper into this discussion! https://lnkd.in/gH8v5EuA https://lnkd.in/gJE6svc5

🚨 Coloradans, we need you. 🚨 Oil and gas operations have numerous adverse and long-lasting impacts on Colorado’s communities and the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, poor air quality in our communities, and the destruction and disturbance of natural areas and wildlife. The state of Colorado incurs significant costs in addressing these harms, and they jeopardize Colorado’s economy, biodiversity, and quality of life. This week, legislative leadership introduced a package of bills that will drive legacy investments to address some of these harms, improve Colorado’s air quality, and fund land conservation. Learn more about what these bills do and urge your senators to vote yes on SB24-229 and SB24-230. 👇

So, Squirell damage. How do we as an industry do better? This short video shows extensive damage to a 12 year old Conifer restock, where trapping and shooting is active but we do seem to be loosing the battle. Whilst some new traps offer a better solution we need a landscape scale solution to a very big problem impacting the future woodlands and our ability to sequester carbon.

From the editors of our online magazine, '& the West,' we bring you a collection of the latest environmental news from around the region. When we curate content for you from publications covering the American West, we call these posts '& the Best.' Today's stories include reporting on the difficulty in collecting data on heat deaths; Utah’s legal attack on federal ownership of public lands in the state; massive amounts of carbon released from Canadian wildfires; new challenges as the Wilderness Act turns 60; trucking grizzly pairs around the mountain West; and more: https://lnkd.in/gRZp8zbV