image: Wikimedia Commons

Here is a list of birds seen over the weekend by watchful locals Andrew and Gene:

On the north side of the railroad tracks across from the ball field, in the calm, backwater of the Arkansas River there was two Gadwall pairs, one Wood Duck pair, one American Coot, and a male Hooded Merganser. On CR 163 I found 2 Northern Shrikes, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, and Northern Pintail, Mallard, Gadwall, and Green-winged Teal in the pond. There was also a dead Great Blue Heron at the pond that was caught in a strand of wire as part of the fence that runs across the pond. On the opposite side of the River from Mt. Ouary State Wildlife Area was a Bald Eagle.

Rough-legged Hawk circling above Kobe just south of Leadville, and a juvenile Golden Eagle soaring near the Toes of the Indian in BV. Good birding!

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.

Our school is working to pass an ordinance that would place a 5-10 cent fee on plastic bags in Salida stores. Consumers would have the choice to bring their own reusable bags (for free of course!) or pay a fee for each plastic or paper bag used. Similar fees have been passed in Ireland, Washington D.C, and Basalt, CO; these towns have reduced plastic shopping bag use by 50-90 percent!

Come learn more about the “Bag-it Salida” campaign and why plastic bags are so bad for us at a FREE showing of Bag-it  the movie, at 6:30 on February 2nd at the Community Center on 3rd and F st.  We hope to see you there!

The Valley’s Unique Sense of Place was recognized nationally when Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, a native son to “El Valle”, unveiled a grand new conservation and tourism initiative last week.

The assessment of the regions historical, cultural and natural resources, could clear the path for a new National Park in the region.

While the Valley and State have been abuzz about the new plan, some locals and Coloradans are worried.

A  little known proposal to build two 656-foot tall solar thermal tower powers could intrude on the Valley’s unfettered views, wide-open spaces, decimate migrant eagle, Sandhill Crane, Brazilian Free-tail bat populations, and pose unknown hazards (such as retinal damage from glare) to surrounding communities.

The project was proposed by Saguache Solar Energy, LLC, a Project-specific entity owned by SolarReserve, LLC, based in Delaware.  The company wants to build the massive twin towers on a 6,500-acre swath of land just north of the town of Center, located, not surprisingly, near the middle of the Valley.

Just 58-feet short of the tallest building in Denver — the 56-story Republic Plaza — the massive twin towers will dominate the mostly uniform plain of the 120 x 75-mile valley floor, for miles around.

The towers will rival the 650-foot “High Dune”, the tallest dune in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve – a mere 30-miles east of the towers.

Both photos above are of the actual 600-foot solar thermal power tower just completed by SolarReserve in Nevada, from 1 mile away (first photo) and between 5 and 6 miles from the tower (second photo).

As you can see, the facility is sited in the middle of a broad basin, similar to the San Luis Valley, near Tonopah, Nevada (visit Basin and Range Watchto see more pictures and learn more about the very similar “Crescent Dunes” project).

According to the SolarReserve application, each of the two 100 MW units will contain up to 17,500 individual 24 x 28-foot tracking mirrors (called “heliostats”) on 12-foot pedestals.  The mirrors will be placed in concentric rings extending 1.6 miles in diameter around each tower in an approximately 6,500-acre field.

The Nevada heliostat field has not been built yet.  If the above visual “simulation” is reflective of the “truth in advertising” that can be expected from SolarReserve, what can the citizens of Center, Saguache County and surrounding communities make of the rest of their analysis?

As the Saguache County Commissioners near a decision, many unresolved questions and concerns about the project remain, including:

1) What are the costs to the County? New short-and long-term costs will have to be absorbed for school, housing, emergency, road maintanence and other county services.  How will the project impact housing costs and other infrastructure?  (See “Big Solar’s Promise” for an analysis of a similar project proposed by Tessera Solar last year).

2) What are the impacts on wildlife and agricultural resources? How will the power tower, mirrors and salt-saturated evaporation ponds effect migrant birds,  including federally protected Golden and Bald Eagles, and the roughly 20,000 Sandhill Cranes and 200,000 Brazilian Free-Tailed bats that migrate to the valley (and provide free pest management services to farmers) each year?

According to local experts, the power tower is located on “some of the most productive agricultural land in the San Luis Valley”.  While the need for agricultural withdrawals is a daunting reality in the Valley, as farmers work to make aquifers “whole” again, is conversion of 6,500 acres of prime agricultural land the best choice when degraded or unused land is readily available?

3) What are the opportunity costs? It’s no secret that local community power creates significantly more jobs and local revenue than absentee owned energy generation (See Al Weinrub’s Community Power Report, for more on this).

What path dependencies would the San Luis Valley and Colorado be obligated to that could stymie the ability of our rural communities, farmers, ranchers and businesses to develop local, distributed solar generation in the future?

How will the project impact the ability of other Colorado communities to develop local renewable energy resources given the current limited utility market for renewable energy?

4) How will the project impact ratepayers? SolarReserve is promoting the power tower as a “proven technology”, yet it plans to seek an exemption from the 2% rate cap required by the Renewable Energy Standard, allowed for “experimental” technologies.  If such an exemption is granted, will there be no limit to what Xcel Energy can bill ratepayers should it negotiate a Power Purchase Agreement with Solar Reserve?

These, and other concerns deserve a full examination before Saguache County Commissioners approve a project that could severely impact the San Luis Valley’s most precious natural resources and future prospects for locally-owned and controlled renewable energy development.

Please feel free to share this flyer with anyone who might be interested!

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.

Need to prune your old fruit trees?  Join Angie Jenson from Fire Ready on Friday, November 18 from 10 am to 12 pm in Poncha Springs to learn to prune your old fruit trees.  This will help make them more productive and attractive again.

Jenson will present basic techniques and tips to allow you to do the work yourself.  She is Chaffee County’s only ISA Certified Arborist.

The workshop is co-hosted by the Morgan Center for Earth Literacy, a sustainability-focused business owned by Dave and Suzanne Ward.  The workshop will be held on their property, located at 145 Chipeta Avenue in Poncha Springs.

The workshop is free, but donations are welcome.  For more information, please contact Dave Ward at 719-539-8523.

…FULL DENVER POST article

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.

New transmission lines could cost ratepayers billions of dollars while ensuring Investor Owned Utilities 100% cost recovery and high rates (10-17%) of return on investment.

More than 40,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Huerfano County have already been sold by BLM, most in May of 2009, but, since CHC was only formed in July 2011, the November 2011 sale caught citizens by surprise. With only a few weeks to respond, CHC consultant Ceal Smith pored over the draft BLM Environmental Assessment (EA), and comments already made by the Center for Native Ecosystems and Division of Wildlife. New information was also brought to light about impacts from oil and gas development, and Ms. Smith was able to identify numerous substantive reasons for the BLM to withdraw or defer all fourteen of the Huerfano County parcels.  Most, however, centered around three main issues:

1. Inadequate analysis of impacts as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). One of the most glaring weaknesses of BLM’s analysis is that it portends to only consider the effects of the lease sale, not the subsequent actions and impacts (i.e. potentially large scale oil and gas drilling) enabled by the act of leasing as required by NEPA.  The BLM concluded there would be no significant adverse impacts on the local economy, air and water quality and other public health parameters yet they failed to provide concrete analysis or scientific evidence for such a conclusion.  Cumulative effects analysis and proposed safeguards and mitigation measures were also lacking.
2. The need for BLM to take a “hard look” at new information concerning the environmental effects of the lease sale that were unknown or not included in the draft EA.  Here is where we asked the BLM to consider the mountains of new information coming to light about the health and air quality effects and earthquake hazards associated with fracking and drilling in the complex and unique geology of Huerfano County.
3. Site-specific information that the BLM failed to consider in their initial analysis. For example, BLM didn’t consider impacts on several sensitive species known to occur in Huerfano County including the endangered Canada lynx, Mexican Spotted Owl, Gray Vireo and greenback cutthroat trout.

During the U.S. House of Representatives debate of the FY 2012 Interior funding bill, Congressman Lamborn sponsored and introduced an amendment to H.R. 2584 with the stated purpose of zeroing out any Land and Water Conservation Fund monies available to the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service to protect wildlife habitat and clean water.

In a time where lack of access to quality hunting and fishing opportunities is a reason for declining participation, Rep. Lamborn has proven his willingness to further degrade a unique American legacy of wildlife management and conservation prized by hunters and anglers throughout the nation.    According to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, nearly half of the nation’s 32 million hunters and anglers conduct a portion of their hunting activity on public lands.

The Land and Water Conservation fund has provided funding for projects and conservation efforts in Congressman Lamborn’s district including  the Arkansas River, the Royal Gorge and Ramah Reservoir.

Established by Congress in 1965, LWCF is funded by royalty payments paid by oil and gas companies drilling offshore in public waters.  It is not funded by taxpayers.  However, Congress has failed to fully fund the program since its inception and has continuously redirected funds intended to protect and enhance public lands. Recent polling shows 9 in 10 Americans oppose any diversion of funding from the LWCF.

“We must be sure that we are not leveraging our national heritage of hunting and angling against short term gains,” said Gaspar Perricone of the Colorado-based Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Sportsmen and women across Colorado need our elected officials to stand up to special interests and honor our American sporting traditions and the resources  that support them.”

WHAT: Bull Moose Sportsmen press event to unveil a billboard expressing disappointment in Congressman Lamborn’s failure to protect the public lands that matter to sportsmen.

WHO/WHEN: Tuesday, August 30, 2011:  11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance Co-Directors Gaspar Perricone and Tim Mauck will make remarks and take questions about LWCF and Making Public Lands Public.

WHERE: North Chelton and East Platte Ave in Colorado Springs. The billboard is located above the IHOP at 512 North Chelton.  The press event will be held in front of the billboard on the public right of way.