If so, please join the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) for a discussion of the sources, history, and administration of water in our valley.  Bruce Smith, Water Commissioner for Chaffee and Lake Counties, will discuss his role in enforcing water decrees that affect our area.  Terry Scanga, General Manager of the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, will present historical information on water use, law, and compacts and will describe augmentation plans that his agency oversees.  Both Bruce and Terry will describe how they interface with Colorado state officials and institutions involved in water use and management.

This discussion will take place on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District office at 339 E. Hwy 50 in Salida.  The event is free, but pre-registration is requested.  Please contact GARNA at 539-5106 or email info@garna.org by Tuesday, April 17 if you plan to attend.

Spring is early this year and it is time for monitoring local bird nesting boxes. Each spring and summer GARNA partners with the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife to monitor bird nesting boxes in Chaffee County. Boxes are at various locations and volunteers check them weekly and record information about the nesting birds. Mountain Bluebirds, Tree and Violet Green Swallows and House Wrens are the typical birds that use the boxes in the area. A training workshop will be held on Saturday, April 7 at 10:00 a.m. at the Division of Wildlife office on Hwy 50 in Salida and in Buena Vista at 1:30 p.m. at the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association meeting room on Hwy 24. Volunteers will learn about the life cycle of the birds, how to monitor the boxes and how to record information. The program coordinators will record the information gathered on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nest Watch website. There are backup volunteers who will check boxes when regular volunteers are out of town. Please call Denny Arter at 539-0787 with any questions.

courtesy of Bat Conservation Int'l

On Wednesday, February 8, the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) will host a program on bats following their annual association meeting. This year’s program will be led by GARNA Board Member Dr. Paul Robertson. The fact that 2011-12 has been declared the European and International Year of the Bat by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an affiliate of the United Nations, may come as a surprise to many people. The fact is that the more than 1,000 species of bats are immensely important both ecologically and economically to most of the world’s peoples via the control of crop pests and the pollination and seed dispersal of economically and ecologically important plant species. Bats also play a critical role in the natural restoration of ecosystems particularly in tropical forests and savannas. Dr. Robertson will introduce the audience to the world of bats both locally and in exotic locales, their value to humans and the world’s ecosystems, conservation challenges faced by their champions, and the story of how Bram Stoker, the original Dracula author, came up with a story that has fascinated many for over a hundred years. The program will be set against a back-drop of some of the best bat photography ever taken. Dr. Robertson is currently The Nature Conservancy’s San Luis Valley Project Director. He received his undergraduate degree in zoology at Louisiana State University, his master’s degree in evolution and his Ph.D. in ecology at the University of Kansas, and for several years was the Executive Director for Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas.

The event will be held at the Salida SteamPlant annex. The public is welcome to attend beginning at 7:00 p.m. for dessert and refreshments. The Bat program will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last about an hour. The event is free and people of all ages are encouraged to attend. For more information please call GARNA at 539-5106.

Led by GARNA volunteer and former Alaskan National Parks Service Ranger Karen Fortier, the tour is a multi-agency effort to educate skiers and snowboarders about the land they are recreating on. GARNA executive director Alison Ramsey said, “a lot of skiers don’t even realize they’re on public land.” The tour features instruction about forest ecology, wildlife in the winter, the history of recreation on Monarch Pass, the ski area-USFS partnership, Monarch Mountain’s green mission and more.

This free tour will be offered every Sunday except for Christmas Day. “Next time you’re enjoying skiing or boarding at Monarch Mountain, enhance your experience by attending a ski with a naturalist tour,” Ramsey said.

For more information about GARNA or the Ski with a Naturalist Program, please visit www.garna.org or call 539-5106.

See…a home sculpted into a hillside; a home heated using geothermal water; a production home modified to be a Net-Zero energy home…and more.

A self-guided environmentally friendly home tour will be held on Saturday, October 22. This is GARNA’s 5th home tour of this kind and we are pleased to showcase 10 outstanding homes. The homes incorporate a wide variety of green building strategies to reduce the impact of home construction on the environment and future use of energy. Some of the green technologies that will be featured are high-energy efficient designs, passive, PV and thermal solar energy, sustainable materials, efficient windows and more. Homes in the Buena Vista and Nathrop area will be open from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and homes in the Salida area will be open from 12:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.

The Friday evening before the home tour, GARNA is also hosting an Expert Forum: Living Green in 2011. A panel made up of local experts will discuss current opportunities, issues, trends and certifications to help homeowners understand today’s green industry. The event will be held on Friday, October 21 at 7:00 p.m. at the Salida Community Center, 305 F St.

The Living Green Home Event is a GARNA fundraiser. Tickets are $20 for GARNA members and $25 for non-GARNA members. Ticket price includes tour of all 10 homes and entrance to the Expert Forum. Tickets for the Expert Forum only will be available at the door for $5.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.garna.org or by sending a check made out to “GARNA” to PO Box 1522, Salida, CO 81201. Tickets will also be available on Friday, Oct. 21 beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Expert Forum; on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 8-10:30 a.m. at Mother’s Bistro, 414 E. Main St. in Buena Vista; and on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Café Dawn, 203 W. 1st St. in Salida.

Please call GARNA at 539-5106 or email info@garna.org for more information.