Salazar Rio Grande del Norte Center

This week the Salazar Center will be traveling to Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico with Adams State University students, faculty, and administrators to meet our counterparts at the Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro as we pursue future exchange opportunities between the two universities. Looking forward to learning more about the university and some of the water-related issues in the state of Querétaro. Stay tuned for updates on our travels!

Also, if you haven't already signed up for the March 29 Rio Grande State of the Basin Symposium, please do so as soon as possible so we can plan accordingly on meals. Registration at https://forms.gle/1Lhi1Phnh26pjmUHA

Scholarship Opportunity for high school students planning on attending college in Colorado: 💲+💧➡️👩‍🎓🟰🙂

The Colorado Water Conservation Board is pleased to oversee a $2000 one-year scholarship for a Colorado high school student or a Colorado college freshman interested in western water issues and planning to attend a public college or university in Colorado.

Diane Hoppe served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1999-2006 and was the chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Livestock & Natural Resources Committee, the Water Interim Committee, and the Water Resources Review Committee. She also served as the minority whip. Diane was a founding member of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and served as president from 2002-07. Governor Hickenlooper appointed Diane to the Colorado Water Conservation Board as the South Platte Basin representative in 2012. She was elected chairwoman of the board in 2015. Diane passed away on February 27, 2016. Her family worked with the Colorado Water Conservation Board to establish this scholarship in her honor.

For more information, see https://cwcb.colorado.gov/about-us/diane-hoppe-memorial-scholarship?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery.

This weekend's Congreso de las Acequias in San Luis was a great success with many attendees and local organizations gathering to celebrate the history of this place and its unique water history, learn about best practices in farming and water use, and enjoy good music and food. The Salazar Center was grateful to be one of the many sponsors for the event and to reconnect with many friends and colleagues stewarding our lands and waters.

Here is a link to Adams' March newsletter with an article about an ASU alumna working in the water industry.

Geology alumna helps assure her community’s water - Adams State University “I love my job. When the district hired me, they did not have a defined Water Resource Program..."

Upcoming events spondered by CSU Extension!

The Central Colorado Conservancy District is currently recruiting for a Stewardship Coordinator.

The Stewardship Coordinator is an integral member of the Conservancy’s team working to protect, restore and steward Central Colorado’s land and water resources. The primary responsibilities of the Stewardship Coordinator are managing the monitoring and stewardship of our conservation easements and the Conservancy’s Hands for Lands volunteer program. The Stewardship Coordinator also will be responsible for coordinating the Badger Creek Watershed Partnership and the Arkansas Headwaters Wetland Focus Area Committee. This position collaborates with Conservancy program staff to build and sustain trust-based relationships with partner organizations, local governments, agency staff, and landowners to advance open space and conserved lands initiatives, stream and wetland restoration projects, and agricultural resilience undertakings. This is an excellent opportunity for a self-motivated individual to take the lead role in deepening landowner engagement and enhancing the Conservancy’s monitoring and stewardship activities in accordance with the Land Trust Alliance’s Standards and Practices and requirements for Land Trust Accreditation.

Applications are due by the end of Friday, February 28. For more information, please visit: https://www.centralcoloradoconservancy.org/stewardship-coordinator.

Adams State's WATR 201 class had the opportunity to visit Worley Family Farms and learn about their potato production from seed to table stock, a process that takes about three years. Thanks to Matt Smartt and the Hi-Land Potato employees for hosting and showing us the packaging facility-definitely worth a visit. Thousands of planted acres produce millions of pounds of spuds. That's a lot of taters!🥔

Sign up today, registration is now live!!

Thanks to 91.5 KRCC and Colorado Public Radio for sharing our initiative to preserve local history at Adams State University!

Rio Grande Library Initiative aims to preserve and showcase the water, land and cultural history of the San Luis Valley They want to gather and digitize all kinds of materials ranging from photographs and books to maps and legal documents for this Rio Grande Library.

Great day at the Colorado Water Center’s water workforce career fair at CSU Spur Campus with Allen (Adams State) and Olivia (Alamosa High). Talked with many students and professionals about career paths in the water industry, informed our fellow Coloradans about the whereabouts and beauty of the San Luis Valley, and dropped in on the state legislature and happened to hear our own Senator Simpson.

Looking forward to next year’s fair and bringing more students to learn about the many diverse and exciting careers in water. 💦

Hello everyone!
Just wanted to introduce myself! My name is Stefanie Lopez, I am the current Salazar Center Project Assistant. I will be assisting with different projects and activities around campus. I am very thankful and excited for this opportunity and hope all of you community members and students will make this a great learning experience by showing support with all that the Salazar Center does!

Announcement:
Those who wish to attend this workshop should contact Dr. Chayan Lahiri at [email protected].

Hi All,

I will be offering a workshop on Mapping Watersheds using open resources. The workshop will focus on the following topics.

1. What is a watershed? Comparison of watersheds in steeper and gently sloping terrain.
2. Delineating watershed boundaries in Google Earth.
3. Downloading watershed boundaries from USGS StreamStats.
4. Comparison of 2 and 3.

The workshop will be offered on two days Feb 22 and Mar 1 (9 am-1 pm) at Adams State campus. Please sign up if you can.

Thank you,
Chayan

PS. Both Google Earth and USGS StreamStats are open resources.

Day 3 of the ag conference wrapped up with conversations about the Valley's current water situation. Not a lot of good news about projected runoff and the ongoing decline of the aquifer. But thanks to those working hard to provide good data to understand what we're working with.

Kudos to Larry Brown, Madeline Wilson, and the rest of the Valley's team to putting on a great conference. Such a valuable opportunity for the agricultural community to share ideas and network and for new comers to gain a greater appreciation for the families producing our food.

Day 2 of the Southern Rocky Mountain Ag Conference. Kicked the day off with Peterson Farm Bros talking about using social media as a platform to educate about farm life. Stephen Nicholson, an economist with Rabobank gave the keynote and offered more insight into the challenges and opportunities U.S. agriculture faces today. These include water and labor, weather extremes, and lack of growth in rural America. Did you know that 41% of American-grown corn is exported to Mexico? Revegetation was the name of the game for the afternoon sessions I attended. Takeaways: plant succession needs to pair with soil succession; Indian Ricegrass, Alkali Sacaton, and Sand Dropseed are some of the many options that can be used in the San Luis Valley to restore native growth; the Rye Resurgence Project is a testament to innovating around local challenges to our water, food, and economic systems, and those rye and oat cookies are scrumptious!

Day 1 of the Southern Rocky Mountain Agriculture Conference is underway at the Ski Hi Complex in Monte Vista. So far, we've had federal and state legislative updates, an overview of current issues facing the National Potato Council, instruction on global economics and their possible impacts on the US agricultural sector, and now learning about small farm and ranch production addressing topics from the Rio Grande Farm Park, regenerative agriculture, alternative energy in greenhouse operations, and transitioning to organic. Other sessions today hit on the potato industry, livestock production, and mental health in the ag community. So many great talks to attend!

Some points to chew on:

-lack of affordable labor has significant implications for SLV producers--labor is #1 cost in specialty crop production
-new farm bill has many hurdles to successfully pass--supposed to be revised every five years--2018 bill has been extended into 2024 and 2025
-SNAP benefits (food stamps) form 85% of farm bill spending
-U.S. potato industry's total contribution to national economy exceeds $100 billion (2021 figure)
-economic global outlook is flat (3.2% growth in 2024; projected to be 3.3% and 3.3% in 2025 and 2026, respectively)
-China's demographic cliff, the Ukraine/Russia conflict, new tariffs, energy transitions, and "slowbalization" are some of the many issues that impact U.S. and SLV producers.

Enjoying the Colorado Water Congress convention in Aurora, one of the largest gatherings about Colorado's water resources in the state. We've had the opportunity to hear from members of the Colorado delegation, state water officials, federal representatives, educators, and others discussion the challenges and opportunities the state currently faces in managing its waters. Amber Pacheco, Deputy General Manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District and Rio Grande Basin Roundtable chair emphasized the basin's unique collaborative spirit and what is needed to sustain the organization in the months and years to come. The Salazar Center even had an opportunity to address the audience about the various current water education and community outreach initiatives.

The image of students below captures this year's cohort of Water Fellows--undergraduate and graduate students from universities and colleges throughout the state. State and other funding supports their participation at such conferences and professionalization/mentoring activities to help them transition into water careers. The Salazar Center is working to bring a chapter of the Water Fellows program to Adams State and hopes to have a group of Grizzlies at the next Water Congress.

Huge score for Rio Grande Basin water projects: $24.9 million from federal government! Here's the announcement from the CWCB:

The San Luis Valley and Conejos Water Conservancy Districts, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District and the Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado are among the eight recipients selected under one cooperative agreement to receive $24.9 million for several drought resiliency activities in the Upper Rio Grande Basin. The projects are essential to addressing the long-term drought and water security in the region by improving operations and increasing reliability of water supplies, and include projects such as infrastructure efficiency improvements, for sustainability and better management at low water flows, ecosystem restoration, and advanced water acquisitions to more effectively manage surface and groundwater withdrawals for long-term sustainability of water resources and the communities that depend on them.