The German philosopher with the impressively bushy mustache, Friedrich Nietzsche (below), said that all things are subject to interpretation. Had he lived in the Western U.S., he might have tacked on a clause: “Especially when it comes to water policy.” A House bill to be voted on this week hammers his point home, with policy […]
Water
Posted inGoat
California’s drought is not about “fish versus farmers”
If there was a moment when the California drought fully entered the national media spotlight, it came earlier this month when President Obama swooped into California’s parched Central Valley and announced $200 million in federal emergency aid. The president’s visit came days after the announcement of a bill from California Democratic senators Dianne Feinstein and […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 2014: The Gila $olution
The Sacramento-San Joaquin deltas of 1772 and today
Remembering explorers past of this California water source.
Posted inGoat
Living with less water: Lessons for Californians – and the rest of us – from a New Mexico village
Let me start right off by saying that I failed. Miserably. Last summer I moved to western Colorado after spending most of my 29 years in exceptionally rainy places, and amid discussions of water rights and fights and rivers drying up and unraveling, I decided it would be a good idea to limit my own […]
Posted inWotr
A wild river usually claims right of way
And this one is close to sweeping away a historic chalet.
Posted inWotr
Water and waste are an old story
This resource in the American West will always be dammed, diverted or otherwise purloined.
Posted inGoat
With Gila River deadline looming, New Mexico debates its water options
In the Colorado River drainage basin, where states and cities routinely wrestle over limited water, and where a 14-year drought may portend long-term scarcity, new water sources are rare and precious. Thanks to a decade-old settlement, New Mexico has access to just such a resource. But, after years of debate, and with just months before […]
Posted inGoat
Vegas’ new water czar has a tough row to hoe
John Entsminger has his work cut out for him, to put it mildly. He will soon be responsible for keeping Las Vegas and its associated sprawl from drying up and evaporating back into the desert. Current Southern Nevada Water Authority director Pat Mulroy, notorious throughout the West for her water-grabbing ways, hand-picked Entsminger to be […]
Posted inGoat
Forecast for drought continues Westwide
El Nido is a small settlement of some 300 souls located almost right in the middle of California, in the grand agricultural enterprise known as the San Joaquin Valley. Translated into English, El Nido means “the nest.” It’s a fitting name for the place, though its founders couldn’t have foreseen how. Today, El Nido is […]
Posted inGoat
New study shows how helping desert soil could save our snow
It’s the start of snow season, which means that everyone who cares about water is keeping an eye on the mountains, anticipating how long we’ll ride the wave of snowmelt into next summer. The runoff season is never as predictable as anyone would like, but in the last decade or so there’s been a new […]
Posted inArticles
Drought, Glen Canyon Dam, climate change and God
Stopping by the dam during a days-long experimental flood, it’s clear that even this massive feat of engineering can’t fix the arid West.
Posted inGoat
Drought and population growth punch Colorado in face, state fights back with water planning
Last week, while speaking at lunch during the Upper Colorado Basin Water Conference in Grand Junction, the director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board could have put his audience to sleep in their cannoli. He was talking about the narcolepsy-inducing topic of water planning, after all. Instead, James Eklund captured the room’s attention by quoting […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
A review of Our Beautiful, Fragile World: The Nature and Environmental Photographs of Peter Essick
Our Beautiful, Fragile World: The Nature and Environmental Photographs of Peter Essick Foreword by Jean-Michel Cousteau, 122 pages, $34.95. Rocky Nook, 2013. “I know that when people see and feel the beauty of the natural world, they understand in a profound way the need to take care of our water planet,” writes Jean-Michel Cousteau, son […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Political theater – with consequences
Suspending regulations? A review of irrational red tape? Boards of experts being replaced by political appointees (“A groundwater legacy on the rocks,” HCN, 10/14/13)? The Republican governor of Indiana used the exact same rhetoric as New Mexico’s governor, and called for the review of environmental regulations by folks with little expertise. These sorts of moves […]
Posted inOctober 28, 2013: Lifeblood of the Delta
New Hope for the Delta
During the worst drought in more than a century, the Colorado River may flow to the sea once more.
Posted inOctober 28, 2013: Lifeblood of the Delta
How does the Colorado River drought stack up?
It’s one of the worst of the millennium.
Posted inOctober 14, 2013: The New Geronimo?
New Mexico’s groundwater protections may take a hit
The state has long been a leader in this area – is that about to change?
Posted inOctober 14, 2013: The New Geronimo?
KDNK Radio and Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock on Front Range floods
September’s massive flood devastated the front range town of Lyons, and recovery efforts there and in other affected communities are ongoing – even as a partial government shutdown threatened to pull National Guard members from essential work repairing roads and bridges. For the latest edition of Sounds of the High Country, KDNK’s Eric Skalac talks […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: Seashells on Desert Mountaintops
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of western Nevada’s Great Basin Desert. Our daughter Caroline is six years old, a fact that is less important to her than the much more exciting fact that she is about to turn seven. The other day Caroline and I […]