GRAND COUNTY ECO-NEWS BLOG

There is a rally this Thursday, January 26th in downtown Denver to show support for keeping the upper Colorado River alive despite threats to its flows and future.

The Rally for the Colorado River kicks off at 12pm on the corner of 16th street and Wynkoop in front of the EPA Region 8 headquarters in downtown Denver.
Bring your friends. Pizza and signs will be provided to all, along with free t-shirts to the first 100 participants.

Why rally? In a matter of weeks, federal agencies, including the EPA, will decide how best to protect the Upper Colorado River from potentially devastating impacts of the Windy Gap Firming Project – a proposed water project that threatens to reduce the Colorado River’s flows to less than 20% of its historic levels. Through this rally, we hope to convey to our decision-makers that Coloradans care about our rivers and support policies that adequately balance development with protection.

Please RSVP on the Facebook event page or email Erica at estock@tu.org so they know how much pizza to order and how many signs to make.

Did you know that you can purchase your groceries and raise money for a sustainable Grand County at the same time? If you purchase Safeway gift cards from Infinite West, Safeway will donate a as much as 5% of your purchase to the organization. It’s that easy. Please contact Infinite West if you would like to help their cause while you shop. So far, they have raised over $1,500 to help fund programs in 2011. Learn more about what they are doing at www.infinitewest.org.

They have $300 and $500 cards available immediately, but can order other denominations for you as well. To reserve a card, simply email infinitewest@live.com.

Sound Community Models of Economic and Environmental Innovation Sought by BCLC and Siemens

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 04, /CSRwire/ – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) is calling for nominations for the 2012 Siemens Sustainable Community Awards. Now in its fifth year, the program recognizes local governments, chambers of commerce, and other local organizations for the tremendous steps they’ve taken to improve quality of life and enhance their ability to sustain a successful community for generations to come.

“Sustainability, simply put, is figuring out ways to make tomorrow better than today – economically, environmentally, and socially,” said Stephen Jordan, founder and executive director of the Chamber BCLC. “The Siemens Sustainable Community Awards are designed to recognize innovators in this field and raise awareness about new strategies for community and economic development, which, in these challenging times, are badly needed.”

The Siemens Sustainable Community Awards recognize communities in the categories of small, midsize, and large, based on population. Nominations will be accepted until January 13, 2012. Community-based coalitions, chambers of commerce, community developers, and other local agencies are encouraged to complete the application process. The winning community in each category will receive $20,000 worth of trees from Siemens Corporation.

To continue reading the press release, click here.

Join BWB and BEDA on September 14 at 6:00 p.m. at the Mountain Parks Electric Community Room in Granby for a workshop featuring Jack Taylor of the Small Business Development Center as he discusses the services that the SBDC provides to small businesses.

Jack will talk about small business funding, effective and inexpensive marketing ideas and much, much more!  Bring your questions along. Light fare and beverages will be provided.

Workshop Details
What: Free SBDC Workshop
When: September 14, 2011 6 p.m.
Where: Mountain Parks Electric Community Room, 321 West Agate Ave, Granby, CO 80446

Light fare will be served. Download the event flyer

Brews and Crews Spirit of the Lake Regatta set for Aug. 27
This fun event raises headwaters awareness in a fun way

GRAND LAKE, CO — The first-ever Grand Lake Brews and Crews Spirit of the Lake Regatta is set to take place Saturday, Aug. 27 in Grand Lake.

The event, billed as an effort to help save the headwaters of the Colorado River, features Grand Lake’s first rowing regatta, a canoe race, kayak race and stand-up paddleboard race. This will be a timed event over a specified course on Grand Lake in each category.

There’s even a fun race for the fun-seekers and more socially adventurous. It’s called the Chiller Caterpillar Water Crawl, with awards for best-dressed boat and the esteemed Martin and Lewis Award.

The Water Crawl is a fun race, which consists of six-person teams (maximum) of men and women, boys and girls or a combination of all in a single canoe. No paddles allowed. Contestants will use their hands. One canoe per team and life jackets for every member. Awards for ‘Best Dressed Team’ and ‘Best Dressed Boat’ so bring your costumes!

This event is a joint effort between Infinite West and the Colorado Environmental Coalition’s “Beer Not Water” campaign, a light-hearted way to raise awareness of water conservation issues in the sensitive habitat surrounding the Colorado River’s headwaters — that is, Grand Lake and most of Grand County.

Infinite West is a non-profit focused on promoting sustainable communities in the rural mountain west. For more information, visit infinitewest.org

Live music will be featured during the Grand Lake Brewfest to include Washboard Annie and the Acme Tribute band.

Registration takes place from noon to 7 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce office 14700 U.S. Highway 34, Grand Lake and the day of the event from 6-7 a.m. on the lake.  For more information, call 970-390-1292 or call the Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce at 970-627-3402.

It’s also possible to register on-line. Go to http://roninregistration.com/index.asp?p=default&pt=rowing

For more information on the event, go to spiritlakeregatta.com

Grand County Water Community – The Grand County Water Information Network has opportunities this summer for high school students to earn community service hours AND help  out with monitoring programs.

Secchi Monitoring – Sarah Hershfelt, our Field Technician, goes out every Wednesday morning from 8:30am-12:30pm on the Forest Service boat leaving from their dock on Shadow Mtn Reservoir. Students can help record data from the Secchi monitoring and assist with raising and lowering of the Sondes.

Healthy Headwaters – the next two monitoring events are July 19 and August 16. Jane Tollett will be running the July 19 event, & Ben will run the August 16. This is an almost all-day sampling where we visit 8 sites from Kremmling to Winter Park. We take water samples, do some filtration for dissolved metals and organic carbon (July only), Sondes readings, and take site pictures. Student can help get the water sample, partition into sample jars, take pictures and help with the Sondes. Plus since this is an all-day event we will buy lunch!

Students would need to bring their community service sheets for us to sign. Students would also need to be able to arrange their own transportation although for Healthy Headwaters sampling we always meet at the Java Lava in Granby as we calibrate the Sondes there before going out.

If interested, please call or writet:
EJ Tollett – Director
Grand County Water Information Network
PO Box 1503
Grand Lake, CO 80447
970-627-8162 office
970-531-1866 cell