I’ve been blogging about water for a a couple of years, and John Fleck’s been doing it much longer than that. Water policy is incredibly complex, but can very easily be painted with a local or regional brush. With the drought-fed fires in California last week and the Georgia water scare, our liquid assets are [...]

Via John Fleck is this Santa Fe New Mexican article that puts some great perspective on the state’s peak water woes: New Mexico’s water math isn’t adding up. Real water plus paper water are supposed to equal water supply, but it doesn’t, especially during drought. Real water: That’s wet water, the stuff one needs for [...]

I haven’t had time to even start poring over this document, but the New Mexico Environment Department in conjunction with Northern Arizona University recently released this report. Why? This Watershed Improvement Plan and Strategy (WIPS) is an inventory and data resource in support of a science-based approach to watershed resource planning. Watershed remediation work to [...]

I’ve got an article (PDF) in today’s Daily Press discussing a recent project in the Mangas Watershed to restore fire into the natural cycle of the ecosystem. A big part of the article details the cooperation among the agencies involved in the process, but the real interesting stuff if the way prescribed burns are helping [...]

Via Headwaters News comes this report on the first day of the State of the Rockies Conference, currently underway in Colorado Springs: But Day 1 really began to cook at the first panel on water sustainability. Attendees packed the room and, following panelists’ presentations, the audience threw tough questions at the speakers. The first speaker [...]

John Fleck tipped me off to the latest drought monitor. Here’s New Mexico: More at John’s place.

Well, for some reason our Web site doesn’t have the Friday edition online yet, but I did want to get you a copy of my story on Richardson’s veto of $945,000 for studies of the Gila and San Francisco rivers. Here’s a PDF of the story. Richardson’s explanation of the veto (the “appropriation language was [...]

Craig Roepke, the Interstate Stream Commission deputy director, just passed along a list of the studies that would have been completed on the Gila this year, if Gov. Bill Richardson hadn’t axed the funding yesterday: Extinction Risk Analysis for Spikedace and Loachminnow ($30,000) Land-Use and Land Management of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers ($50,000) [...]

I wrote a story in today’s Silver City Daily Press about House Bill 42 (PDF of the bill here, of my story here). There’s quite a bit going on here. On one side, you have the Gila Conservation Coalition and Rep. Mimi Stewart, arguing that the $66 million tied to the Arizona Water Settlements Act [...]

Well, it looks like it’s that time of year again, so I’m leaving in the morning. This trip will be about the opening day and the Gila River. I should arrive in time for Gov. Bill Richardson’s State of the State address, and after that it’s off to visit legislators. In the evening, I’m going [...]

Cameron Creek I was out at Fort Bayard yesterday covering a meeting by the state Legislature’s Health and Human Services committee, and went for some photos once the meeting adjourned for the day. This was my favorite. On a related note, I met state Sen. Dede Feldman, who’s blog I’ve linked to the past. She’s [...]

From the Santa Teresa weather gurus: WEAKENING HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT AND A LARGE LOW IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ARE CAUSING A SHIFT IN THE MOISTURE PLUME. SATELLITE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATES THE PLUME HAS SHIFTED BACK OVER THE STATE TODAY. WITH INCREASED MOISTURE PRESENT…SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. SATELLITE IMAGERY [...]