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Water Watch: California Cutting Supplies

The CBS affiliate in San Francisco is reporting that the California Department of Water Resources will cut supplies to water districts by up to 90 percent.

A spokeswoman for the department said:

“It’s pretty serious right now. . . .  California has had its second critically dry year. We are looking at going into a third potentially dry year. We have actually drawn down our reservoirs . . . we are actually having difficulties delivering water this year.”

I won’t be surprised if we see the number of Californians considering a move to Arizona increase next year, economic downturn notwithstanding.  Specifically to the White Mountains where we have plenty of water.

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2008 10 29 Jim General
Water & Climate
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Autumn in the White Mountains

The leaves are beginning to change.  My favorite time of year.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This is a shot of Escudillo Mountain near Nutrioso.  Maggie Leef of Leef Photography says it can be seen for miles and accompanies you as you drive between Show Low and Springerville, east of Show Low.

Every once in a while I still meet someone from back East who thinks all of Arizona is a desert.  Now just imagine living in the White Mountains and being minutes away from a place like this, and still only a half-hour flight or three-hour drive away from the Valley of the Sun.

By the way, Maggie’s solo show at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park begins this coming Sunday and runs though Nov. 29.

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2008 10 29 Jim General
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A Call for Hunters to Take Lead on Climate Change

The White Mountains have some of the best hunting and fishing in Arizona.  It’s a sportsman’s paradise.

But what if climate change ends all that?  It could happen.

This is not the opinion of a tree-hugging environmentalist but a hunter.  And not just any hunter but the founder of Orion: The Hunter’s Institute in Montana and the author of three books on hunting, including Rifle in Hand which Amazon says tells the story of how American hunters saved “the wild lands and wildlife of North America during the 20th Century.”

His name is Jim Posewitz.  He and University of Wyoming botanist Stephen T. Jackson gave a presentation at Casper College, Wyoming about how climate change will affect hunting and the responsibility of hunters on the issue.

Jackson’s prediction of global warming’s effect on Wyoming’s wild lands was dire, according to the Casper Star-Tribune:

“Wyoming will see their fish populations decline and will lose entire forest ecosystems that were once teeming with wild game. . . .  A frightening scenario for Wyoming’s future: vanishing forest species and declines in fish populations as a result of a warming of the planet.”

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2008 10 23 Jim Environment
Recreation
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Water Watch: Crisis in California

While taking a short break from WMF, I couldn’t help but notice that California’s water supply woes are reaching crisis proportions.  Given that more people move to Arizona from California than from any other state in the nation, this is a trend worth tracking.

They move here for vacation properties, second homes to which they will retire and primary residences.  They move here for lots of reasons but, based solely on the conversations I’ve had with more than a few of them over the years, it basically seems that life can be more difficult in California than Arizona.

Long commutes, natural disasters, higher cost of living, an unfriendly business environment – I’ve heard all these reasons.

It’s time to add a serious water supply crisis to this list.

CA water 1

The Delta Vision Task Force, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, reported last week that California will have to beef up conservation programs, build more dams and a billion-dollar canal, reform governmental resource management, and invest in desalination plants.

As the San Francisco Chronicle declared in its story on the report, either something’s done soon or the state faces “economic and ecological disaster.”

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2008 10 21 Jim Environment
Water & Climate
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New Threat from Pine Beetles?

Pine beetles are eating their way through the Apache-Sitgreaves National forest as they are in every other forest in the western U.S.  Their damage isn’t just aesthetic and economic, however; try climatic.

pine_beetle

A four-year study of forests from southern Wyoming to northern New Mexico has begun and though its scope is broad and intensive, one subject will be the climatic and air quality effects of the pine beetle.

According to a Science Daily report on the study:

“Preliminary computer modeling suggests that beetle kill can lead to temporary temperature increases of about 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit. This is partly because of a lack of foliage to reflect the Sun’s heat back into space. Scientists also believe that beetle kill stimulates trees to release more particles and chemicals into the atmosphere as they try to fight off the insects. This worsens air quality, at least initially, by increasing levels of ground-level ozone and particulate matter.”

Turns out that the international team of scientists doing the study are interested in the pine beetle’s effects because of what it could mean for how a forest interacts with the atmosphere.  Pine beetles may, in other words, be disrupting the chemical processes that occur naturally in the forest.

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2008 09 25 Jim Environment Comments (0) Permalink

Water Watch: A Tale of Two Cities . . . and the State

I began this morning by reading this KTAR story which I thought was reassuring.  I mean the headline was reassuring: “SRP says Valley’s future water supply looks good.”  And the guy from SRP, Bruce Hallin, said the Valley is prepared to supply water for future growth.

But then came his first discordant note:

“There are areas in central and northern Arizona where their water supply is very precarious today because they don’t have a lot of infrastructure in place and they haven’t developed historical water supplies.”

Granted, there might be a little politicking going on here, considering that SRP is challenging Prescott Valley’s legal right to water from the Big Chino Basin.  On the other hand, SRP has its hands in most of the state’s surface and underground water, so you’d think they know something about “precarious” water supplies.  And it’s no secret that water supply is an issue for cities like Prescott, Prescott Valley and Flagstaff.

Then Hallin introduced the “X-factor”:

“I think a big uncertainty is climate change and the impact of global warning.”

This brings me to Tucson which prides itself on being one of the nation’s most sustainable cities.  It may be a little less sustainable than it thought . . . because of water.

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2008 09 24 Jim Environment
Growth and Development
Water & Climate
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TRACKS Announces Major Addition to Trail System

This is big news.  TRACKS has completed a new trail, the Osprey, connecting the Timber Mesa and Ice Cave trails.  It’s big because all the trails in the White Mountain Trail System that are on the east and south sides of Penrod Road are now interconnected.

According to Nick Lund, president of TRACKS, once a new connector trail is put in along the planned completion of Scott Ranch Road, practically the entire 180 (approximate) miles of the White Mountain Trail System will be interconnected.

The Osprey doesn’t show up on the TRACKS website yet, but you can get an idea of its significance with the following maps.  The Timber Mesa Trail is connected to the Panorama by the Sawmill and Flume connectors.  (Click on the map for a larger image.)

Timber Mesa Trail

Timber Mesa Trail

At the bottom of the Timber Mesa Trail map you’ll see the trailhead off Porter Mountain Road.  Just south of Porter Mountain Road is Scott Reservoir, and just south of Scott Reservoir is the Ice Cave Trail, which leads to Blue Ridge Trail.

Ice Cave Trail

Ice Cave Trail

The Osprey Connector brings these two systems together.  As Nick wrote in his announcement,

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2008 09 19 Jim General
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Ahhh . . . Cool, Clear Water

If you enjoy being around water, you’ll enjoy the White Mountains.  WMF’s photo contributor, Maggie Leef of Leef Photography, gives us a close-up view.  This photo was taken at Woodland Lake Park in Pinetop.  Yes, another park in an urban area.  And yes, she’ll be posting some shots from the White Mountains in the coming weeks.

Woodland Lake Park

Woodland Lake Park

Speaking of water, this has been a very cool and wet summer in the White Mountains.  It was a fantastic monsoon season, with lots of rain to keep things green but not so much that you couldn’t enjoy the forest.  I know everyone is hoping for a white winter too.

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2008 09 19 Jim Maggie Leef Photo Gallery Comments (0) Permalink

Warning to the White Mountains: “We’re in Paralysis”

Grady Gammage Jr. is a long-time zoning attorney in Phoenix who has been involved in probably every development and land-planning confab the Valley’s leadership has convened since the floods.  (Note that’s plural, as I’m talking about the seven floods that devastated Phoenix between 1977 and 1980.)

Grady Gammage Jr.

Grady Gammage Jr.

Well, they just had another confab and Grady was there.  And this is what he said.

“We’ve been convening meetings like this for 30 years and we keep asking, ‘What is our vision?’ What is the deal with Arizona and the vision thing? We always talk about it and never do anything.”

“We’re immature. We’re a baby state. Texans have a strong self-image. Arizonans don’t.”

“We’re in paralysis.”

(Click here for the complete Phoenix Business Journal article about the Fall Real Estate Seminar.  By the way, congrats to Jan Buchholz for this story, the best I read on the event.)

I’m sure a few instant pundits on the mountain will laugh at this and say Grady was just saying what everyone in the White Mountains always knew.  Truth is, I had a good laugh when I first read his comments.

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2008 09 11 Jim General
Growth and Development
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Introducing Photo Contributor Maggie Leef

I’m pleased to introduce Maggie Leef as WMF’s new photo contributor.  Her photographs will show you why the White Mountains are so special.  And why figuring out how to protect, preserve and enhance the White Mountains experience is so important as the region grows.

sl-lake0988 Introducing Photo Contributor Maggie Leef

This is Show Low Lake.  Yes, this lake is within the City of Show Low.

About Maggie. . . .

After getting a bachelor’s degree in Renewable Natural Resources at the University  of California-Davis, she moved to Flagstaff and got a master’s in Educational Administration at Northern Arizona University.  She then worked as Center Manager for 18 years at Northland Pioneer College, the community college system in Navajo County.

In 2005 she turned full-time to photography, starting Leef Photography in Springerville.  Her work has appeared in state and regional publications, at Chamber trade shows in Phoenix and Glendale, and on KPNX-TV in Phoenix.  She is also a public speaker on photography and self-improvement.

Maggie is also very active in the Site Steward Program with Arizona State Parks and is the 2008 Site Steward of the Year.  Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior will feature her work in November this year.

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2008 09 10 Jim Maggie Leef Photo Gallery Comments (0) Permalink