Category

Stewardship

Every Drop Counts

By | Land Stewardship, Stewardship | No Comments

In Colorado’s San Luis Valley (SLV), every drop of water is spoken for. Agencies across the state track streamflow, snowpack, irrigation water delivery, and water rights violations. Water in the west is “use or lose it”: if irrigators aren’t ready when water reaches their property, they can’t take it and store it until they are ready; they have to let it keep flowing to the next person.

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How Can You Help Pollinators?

By | Bird-friendly Living, Stewardship | No Comments

If you had to name one pollinator other than a honeybee, what would be your first guess? More bees? Well, you wouldn’t be wrong, nearly every species of bee pollinates flowers and food crops. But what about beetles? Certain birds? The winged night terrors we call bats? While there are no denying honeybees are crucial to our environment and provide us with an excellent service, the fact is, they are not native to North America.

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A Neighbor Dispute Gone Right

By | Land Stewardship, Stewardship | No Comments

You know the old phrase: Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over. Over the two years that I’ve now been in the San Luis Valley (SLV) of Colorado, I’ve heard a lot of stories that recall that phrase. Stories of family members who no longer speak due to disagreements irrigation strategies, landowners who’ve been shot by trespassers hoping to steal water under cover of night, ranchers on their fifth year of a water court case due to a neighbor dispute. This story, however, is not one of those.

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Inspiring Future Conservationists, One Bluebird Box at a Time

By | Education, Stewardship | No Comments

One of my favorite quotes by Aldo Leopold in his book, A Sand County Almanac. A classic read for any upcoming wildlife biologist, nature-lover, or outdoors person. This quote reminds me of the well-known saying “leave it better than you found it”. A saying that had been engrained in me ever since I was just a kid playing in the river behind my house. I am fortunate that I grew up as an “outdoor kid”.

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