Death, Taxes, and the CRB?
Friends of Confluence West -
In this issue of Three Drop Thursday, we focus on the rapidly moving parts in the Colorado River Basin and, in the Good News department, a piece on those charismatic rats, the western beaver.
At Confluence West HQ, we’ve been developing a “zone of agreement” for federal National Forest policies for western water agencies dependent on supply sourced in headwater forests. As with all cat herding, this project is taking some time. Stay tuned.
For the West,
Kimery
Death, Taxes, and the CRB?
There is a certain inevitability with what is happening in the Colorado River Basin - push is coming to shove. A
nd you'll see all the dynamic pieces in motion at the 2024 Getches Wilkinson Center Conference on the Colorado River.
This annual CRB conference has been the place to be for the past few years. Players from all over the Basin are talking (yes, talking with one another) over the two-day event. The most current science and the diverse stakeholders' points of view are all there. (Although I don't recommend the food, it's a beautiful campus.)
T
o summarize the moving parts, The Lower Basin, Upper Basin, and the conservation communities' recommendations to the Bureau of Reclamation's Interim Guidelines are out. Twenty of the forty CRB tribes have adopted a statement of principles. The Gila River Tribe has said it doesn't like the LB's plan and is submitting its option. Nods are made to Mexico, with the Basin players noting that negotiating with a foreign country is not in their wheelhouse.
Based on all the submissions,
Reclamation has until December of this year to create a draft EIS for new interim guidelines. The climate change science Sword of Damocles continues to hang over the Colorado River Basin.
Here's what we said about the 2023 conference: "The Good, Bad, and the (really) Ugly." The conference sold out early last year, so register soon!
And now, for some encouraging news
We all know the statistic: In the American West, about 60% of our water supply (muni, ag, et al.) comes from snowpack in headwaters forests – and almost all from National Forests. We also know the various grim statistics on the health of those forests and the impact of catastrophic wildfires.
Beavers? Yes, beavers, ya’ll. These charismatic rats aren't the answer to all the natural infrastructure desperately needed in forests, but they can be a great addition to many habitats. Alex Wigglesworth wrote an excellent piece in last month's Los Angeles Times
on the new policy California adopted last year formally recognizing the beaver as a keystone species. Five staff members are working in the state's beaver restoration program.
As one example of how the state and tribes work together, the Mountain Maidu introduced seven beavers to a meadow on ancestral lands in the Sierra Nevada.
Here’s our “The Year of the Beaver” post from last December. Let's all pump our fists and say, "Beavers rock!"
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