Pete McBride's video "Chasing Water" highlights plight of Colorado River Delta
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- Published on Thursday, 01 March 2012 23:20
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Pete McBride's award-winning film "Chasing Water," a look at the state of the Colorado River, has appeared in film festivals and publications around the world. Today's article "Running Dry" from Bohemian.com explains what happens when McBride and his occassional traveling pal, source-to-sea adventurer Jon Waterman, reach the Colorado River Delta:
"The delta, we learn, used to be a braided network of lagoons where birds nested and shrimp hatched," writes Traci Hukill, author of today's article "Running Dry.". "But in the film, McBride and Waterman have to walk the last 29 miles across dried mudflats and scrubland in order to complete their mission of following the river's old course to the Sea of Cortez."
The final stretch of the aquatic portion of their journey ends in what McBride calls the "Frappuccino pit" of the Colorado River Delta, which is comprised primaily of agricultural runoff and flows so low a kayak scrapes the bottom. If you haven't yet, check out the film. The more people who know about the Colorado River Delta, the more we can do to help bring life back to the end of the Colorado.
(Photo courtesy of Sonoran Institute)
Source-to-Sea journeys to the end of the Colorado River
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- Published on Thursday, 16 February 2012 21:08
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If you magine running a river from its headwaters to the sea, you probably envision paddling your way to your trip's end. But not so for two groups of paddlers who, on separate journeys down the Colorado River, had to carry their lightweight boats on their backs in order to reach the sea.
In 2008, author Jonathan Waterman ventured on a 1,450 mile source-to-sea journey down the Colorado River, joined at times by his friend, photographer Pete McBride. Then four years later, two Colorado College alums--Will Stauffer-Norris, and Zak Podmore--completed a similar adventure, reaching the delta just last month. A few miles into Mexico, both groups arrived at the same end: the quick realization that there was no more river left to paddle.
Since the construction of Hoover Dam in the 1930s, and the subsequent filling of Lake Mead and other reservoirs on the river, Colorado River flows have diminished immensely. Save for a few flood years in the late '80s and mid '90s, the Colorado no longer reaches the sea.
What this means for folks such as Waterman and McBride, Stauffer-Norris and Podmore, is not just a laborious end-of-journey hike over hardpan and mud flats--a landscape which once formed one of the largest desert estuaries in the world. Rather, it's a matter of posterity: what kind of world do we wish to leave for future generations? Waterman ponders this question in a recent New York Times article which highlights the need for increased binational cooperation over the Colorado River. And he wonders, Will we find a way to allow the river to once again meet the sea? At Sonoran Institute, we are working hard to be able to answer this question with "Yes."
Today marks World Wetlands Day
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 23:44
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Every year, February 2nd marks the celebration of World Wetlands Day, an international event which aims to raise awareness about the importance of wetlands world-wide. The date marks the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands which took place in Ramsar, Iran on February 2nd, 1971. Read more about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands here.
The Colorado River Delta is host to two RAMSAR sites, otherwise known as Wetlands of International Importance. These include: Humedales del Delta del Rio Colorado and El Sistema de Humedales Remanentes del Delta del Rio Colorado. Follow this link to read more about these wetlands.
Today we are celebrating the wetlands of the Colorado River Delta at Las Arenitas wetland--a wastewater treatment wetland designed and developed by a collaborative team including the Sonoran Institute, Pronatura Noroeste, and various federal, state and local government agencies. The theme for this year's celebration is Wetlands and Tourism. Find out more about the theme here. Las Arenitas wetland currently hosts over 141 different bird species, making it a great place for bird watching and simply enjoying the natural beauty of the Mexicali Valley.
Above photo: View over Las Arenitas wetland of Cerro Prieto.
Photo credit: Sonoran Institute
Miller-McCune article highlights fishing and conservation in the Delta
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- Published on Saturday, 04 February 2012 20:03
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If you haven't yet had a chance to read the article on fishing and conservation in the Colorado River Delta, published last week in Miller-McCune online magazine, be sure to give it a read. The article includes quotes from Program Director of the Colorado River Delta Program at Sonoran Institute, Francisco Zamora, regarding the Institute's efforts to improve the estuary--where the Colorado River historically met the Upper Gulf of California. The article, written by Rex Dalton, also offers a great look at other challenges currently facing the delta region. Check it out!
Lighthawk donates flights over Delta
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- Published on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 23:35
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We have many partners in the Delta region. One of these is the environmental aviation organization Lighthawk, a group of experienced pilots who give their time and experitse to help protect the natural world. Lighthawk has provided Sonoran Institute with many overflights of the Colorado River Delta, offering otherwise impossible vistas of this vast and complex landscape. From the air it all starts to make sense. Parcels of seemingly-fragmented land miraculously become stitched together. The topography of the landscape--it's slope, grade, contour, elevation--is sensed. One starts to get an idea of where water wants to move.