Bosque in Bloom Family Event

Click on image to enlarge.

Friends of the Rio Bosque has partnered with El Paso Water Utilities on “Bosque in Bloom.” The public is invited to experience the display of wildflowers coming into bloom at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. El Paso Water Utilities began piping cleaned wastewater to the park last year to replenish plants and wildlife after several years of drought took its toll. The water has helped bright yellow blooms of bitterweed (a native wildflower) return to large areas of the park.  

WHAT: “Bosque in Bloom”, a FREE event where families can take guided and self-guided walks of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park and learn about the wildlife that call it home. Enjoy bird-watching and interactive fun for kids.

WHERE: Rio Bosque Wetlands Park
Park at the corner of Pan American Dr. and Winn Rd. (MAP) Shuttles will be provided to park site

WHEN: April 17, 2016, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

For more information about Bosque in Bloom visit www.RioBosque.org; or call Bill Hoover at 915-487-7154 or Sylvia Price at 915-252-1897.

The Friday Video: Urban Wildlife Facebook Page

Burrowing Owls

Swainson's Hawk

Burrowing Owl

Harris's Hawk

Check out the El Paso Urban Wildlife - Texas Parks and Wildlife Facebook page. Like it. Follow it. Share its posts. Go there to see a number of great videos of burrowing owls.

I mention this page because this morning I took a Celebration of Our Mountains tour of the burrowing owls of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. Lois Balin, our Urban Wildlife Biologist for TPWD, guided us. Not only did we see the owls (who weigh about a fourth to a third of a pound), we saw Swainson's Hawks, Harris's Hawks, a Roadrunner, a Kestrel or two, a Snowy Egret, Mexican Ducks and more. It was a perfect morning - mostly overcast and cool. The bit of sunlight that broke through made the Franklins and the Sierra de Juarez look as if they were covered with dazzling white snow. We saw the footprints of what we believe to have been a gray fox. Our tour was not only educational, it was joyful.

Lois is leading another tour next Friday,  September 11th, beginning at 7:30 AM. Reservations are required and there is a maximum of 7 people. (Our birdblind was the TPWD vehicle that can seat 7. It was better than a ride at Disneyland.) Check out Events on Celebration of Our Mountains for more details.

Rio Bosque Wetlands Threatened - Again

Click image to enlarge.

Our Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is threatened once again. This in spite of new sources of water for almost the entire year. If done in its preferred route by TxDOT, the planned Border East Highway means bad news for the Bosque.

The El Paso Times reported recently: Officials: Border Highway East project to cost $711.6M. Item 7 on tomorrow's 9AM Transportation Policy Board for the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (EPMPO) reads: "Discussion and action to allow the Transportation Policy Board Chairperson to execute a Resolution in support of the Border Highway East (BHE) Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study." Do see the full proposal and presentation HERE.

TxDOT's preferred route for the Border East Highway would go from the Zaragoza International Port of Entry to the future Tornillo-Guadalupe International Port of Entry following the Rio Grande. There would also be an extension from Tornillo to Interstate 10. 

The Rio Bosque hugs the Rio Grande on its western border. The Riverside Canal sets the eastern boundary of the park. The El Paso County Water Improvement District plans to cement the Riverside Canal. That by itself will negatively impact the wildlife at the Rio Bosque. A border highway hugging the concreted canal will certainly be harmful to the wildlife of the park according to John Sproul the park's manager.

In addition to threatening the Rio Bosque, the planned border highway will upset the primarily rural towns from Socorro through Clint and San Elizario to Tornillo. San Elizario and Clint already face having a dangerous pipeline running near homes and schools. For more, go HERE and HERE.

Now is a very good time to become a Friend of the Rio Bosque. Also visit and like The Friends of the Rio Bosque Facebook page.

The EPMPO meets tomorrow at 9AM at 211 N. Florence, Suite 103. MAP

Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso 

"green".

Turning the Valve at the Rio Bosque

Picture by Victor Calzada, El Paso Times

After thirteen years with no reliable water during the growing season, John Sproul, Manager of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, turned the valve to release water from EPWU's Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant this past Friday morninng. 

Read the El Paso Times headline front page story. Watch the KVIA News video.

Picture by Victor Calzada, El Paso Times

Memorandum of Understanding Shortchanges Rio Bosque Wetlands Park

Click image to enlarge.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) and the El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 (EPWID) shortchanged the amount of water promised to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. Because the EPWU built a pipeline over EPWID land (rather than using its own right-of-way), they had to cut a deal with the water district that will deny water to the wetlands. When Johnny Stubbs, the President of the EPWID, told conservationists and Friends of the Rio Bosque that the Board was their best friend, it seems that he may have been exaggerating just a bit. Earlier enthusiasm over the water district's permitting EPWU to build a pipeline over its land, has now been dampened. That permission has come with a cost to the EPWU and most especially to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.

Of interest is the fact that the water district's permission for EPWU to build the pipeline was granted on January 28, 2015. The details of the Memorandum dated January 15, 2015 is only now coming to light. 

In a report, the President of the Friends of the Rio Bosque, Richard Teschner, wrote:

The reduced water availability under the MOU means there will still be four months each year (February, March, April and October) when the Park’s wetland cells are dry. Habitat will be lacking in the cells for wintering and migrating water birds during those months, and groundwater recharge will not take place. Due to work on the pipeline, the cells were dry for most of this past fall and winter, and groundwater levels at the Park are currently the lowest they have been in March since groundwater monitoring began in 2001. (The Park’s wells do not contribute to net groundwater recharge. They deplete vicinity groundwater and redistribute it in the Park but bring no new water into the system.) [Emphases mine.]

Dr.Teschner's full report can be seen HERE.

Former PSB member, Dr. Rick Bonart, a candidate for District 1 City Council Representative, was outraged:

"I am absolutely livid about this! 

"Completely not what was suppose to happen. That pipeline should have been built over our [PSB/EPWU] right-of-way. That would have given EPWU/PSB control over 15K acre feet of water. Then the Citizens of El Paso would have had an asset to sell and give to Rio Bosque as well.

"This thing was to be $400k and 6 months to design and build in house. If done properly it would have been profitable in the first 6 months.

"This IMO was an expensive squandered opportunity to benefit the Bosque and the rate payers!"

Bosque to Get Pipeline from Bustamante

Click on image to enlarge.

From Richard Teschner just now:

"All: Good news. The EPCWID#1 Board just passed, unanimously, Item 1683, which will allow the B-to-B Pipeline to cross over District land. Hooray!"--Richard

The "District" is the El Paso County Water Improvement District #1. Their agreement allows a pipeline to be extended from the Bustamante Treatment Plant directly to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. The agreement was necessary because the District owns a narrow strip of unused and abandoned land over which the pipe needs to be laid.

What does this mean? A true wetalands all year round with numerous bird species and other animals nesting and living there. It means more ecotourists and birders coming to El Paso spending money and paying sales tax.

Hooray indeed!

The Monday Links: Rio bosque, PSB, City Planning and More

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.] 

The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park

Austin bird lover had great visit to El Paso, wetlands (A must read proving the point so many of us have made. Austinite writes: "The Rio Bosque wetlands were a real jewel that the whole city can be proud of. Please appreciate the intrinsic and economic value of your unique local wildlife, and preserve and restore habitat where they can continue to flourish."

New projects to save water, help bisque [sic] park,

EPWU, irrigation district working together on pipeline, drain, new lake Looks like the Rio Bosque will finally get a steady, permanent supply of water. Birds and birders will flock to El Paso now.

The Public Service Board (PSB)

David Nemir: City Council must leave El Paso PSB alone (online the Times now has it right)

Keystone Pipeline and Climate Change

Heinrich Speech In Opposition To Keystone Pipeline (It's not just the pipeline that's bad. What's worse is the vast ecosystem destruction caused by tar sands mining. We need to realize that we are part of these vast ecosystems that have evolved with us. Destroy them, and we undermine our survival.)

This chart of rising ocean temperatures is terrifying (Drives home more of what Sen. Heinrich was saying)

City Planning

System A and System B

When the research favors compact, mixed-use neighborhoods, why does government favor sprawl? 

Why small will go big in 2015

Green Cities Provide Demonstrable Health Benefits (Note to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez: trees work.)

Brand new apartments planned near the Downtown El Paso ballpark?

Brand new apartments planned near the Downtown El Paso ballpark? (An infill project here in El Paso)

Online course and webinar

Water in the Western United States

WEBINAR: Green Infrastructure and Flood Resiliency – Land Use Management as an Adaptation Strategy in the Built Environment 

January 29, 2015 – 12:00 PM EST

This webinar addresses assessment, planning, and adaptation to not only better prepare for the next emergency, but to sustainably manage flooding, and stormwater to maintain human health and a vibrant local economy. Participants will leave this webinar with knowledge about the latest innovative approaches to understand the effects of inland flooding and apply low-impact development (LID), site design, and smart growth practices at different scales of implementation. There will be reference to pioneering hydrology-based, sub-watershed approaches that have shown mitigation potential not only for storm water and flooding, but to the loss and degradation in water quality. 

Learn more and register here.

So what happened with the EPCWID#1 Board Meeting?

Apparently the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park will get its water via a direct pipeline from the Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant. The EPWU's plan to build the pipeline had been delayed because that pipeline crossed a narrow section of abandoned land owned by the El Paso Water Improvement District #1. It took getting something in return to gain the easement.

John Sproul reported that, at the end of its open meeting yesterday, "the [EPCWID #1] Board discussed scheduling a special board meeting to take place in a week or so.  Board President  Johnny Stubbs said this will be the meeting at which the board takes action on Application 1683 for the Rio Bosque pipeline crossing."

At the beginning of yesterday's meeting, Board President Johnny Stubbs stood and addressed the seven or so members of the Friends of the Rio Bosque and explained that the Improvement District was their best friend and that they would soon grant the EPWU's request. He mentioned that they had concerns. What he didn't mention was their wanting something in return. Nevertheless, members of the Friends thanked him and, when I addressed them, said that I took them at their word.

Apparently the EPWU agreed to pay for some improvements to the drain downstream of the Bosque for a small sum. (Unknown what that is.) The EPWU has issued the Improvement District a check for the license fee and it should be issued within a day or two - perhaps after their special meeting. The date and time of that meeting has not been posted yet on their web site.

Plan to Attend and Support the Rio Bosque

Please plan to attend and speak out for the pipeline to be extended from the Bustamante Treatment Plant to the Rio Bosque without further delay:

El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 Board Meeting
Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 8:30 AM
13247 Alameda Avenue, Clint, TX 79836-0749 (MAP)

Here's the background:


In July 2014, El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) Public Service Board awarded the contract for a pipeline to allow effluent form BWWTP (Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant) to flow to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.  Construction of the pipeline is almost complete except for where it would cross a drain owned by EPCWID#1. The drain, abandoned for at least 30 years, has been filled in and is nonexistent in the area of the pipeline. Without a license to cross the drain from EPCWID#1, the project will be delayed increasing the costs and unnecessarily complicating the pipeline design. 

EPWU owns the effluent from the RBWWTP which produces an average of 28 million gallons per day, but they have no facilities to hold that water.  Once water enters infrastructure owned by EPCWID#1, as happens today without the pipeline, the water belongs to EPCWID#1.

In the early 1990s Rio Bosque Wetlands Park was identified as the preferred site for a wetland project to mitigate for natural habitat loss caused by the American Canal Extension.  The wetland project at the Park was designed to utilize effluent from the adjacent BWWTP.  Currently, the Park only receives water from BWWTP for a few months in the winter.  To realize its potential for critical habitat restoration, ecosystem services, aquifer recharge, and economic benefit from eco-tourism, the Wetlands Park needs water.

Wetlands ecosystem services provide a myriad of benefits to El Pasoans including clean air, clean water, and aesthetic, cultural and spiritual value. Services provided by wetlands include stormwater storage, nutrient removal and climate regulation.  Using extremely conservative estimates by Robert Costanza, Professor of Public Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the value of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park ecosystem services would be over $1 million per year.  Using data from the nonprofit independent research group, Headwaters Economics, elpasonaturally (30 September 2011) estimates that the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park could bring $18 million in Eco-Tourism dollars to El Paso. 


Farmers benefit from having water in the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park because it will recharge the aquifer they pump from to irrigate their fields.  The water from the BWWTP will improve the quality of the water in the aquifer which according to Art Ivey is so salty, "We're pouring poison on our [pecan] trees.”  (El Paso Times, 15 Dec 2014).  There is also the possibility of extending the pipeline to a proposed regulating reservoir immediately south of the Park which will capture “tail” water and make it available to farmers.

The Water District maintains that they have reasons to extort money from the EPWU concerns about the project which need to be addressed. John Balliew, CEO of EPWU, says that they are trying to respond to those concerns so that the pipeline can be put on the water district agenda soon. That agenda item has been effectively tabled since the October meeting.

Question to raise: What are the concerns that they have about the pipeline going across abandoned, unused land? (Question for John Balliew and the PSB/EPWU: Why did you not know in the first place that you didn't need easement across this land?)

In spite of State law requiring the water district to post agendas and minutes, the EPCWID#1 still does not do so. No agenda for tomorrow's meeting is posted on their website anywhere.

Several members of the El Paso conservation community plan to attend tomorrow. A letter from State Rep. Joe Moody (District 78) in support of the pipeline will be read.

Stalled!

Stalled!

A simple request by the EPWU to have an easement across an abandoned water drain owned by the El Paso County Water Improvement District has been delayed now for months because the water district board won't act on it. EPWU wants to provide water for the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park from the Bustamante water treatment plant; but the water district has stalled the pipeline project and done so without accountability or transparency. (Read Judy Ackerman's post on the subject HERE.)

The water district had the matter on their October 2014 agenda. It went into executive session and never made it out. The matter was not brought up in November and December. In answers to pleas to allow the easement, District Manager Chuy Reyes only says that he is working on an agreement with John Balliew. It appears that Reyes wants to dictate when and how much water will go to the wetlands as a condition for the agreement. 

It is difficult to understand what goes on behind the closed doors of an executive session especially one so tightly controlled by a clandestine coterie: the water district board. In addition to their lack of public accountablily and transparency is their violation of Texas State Law by failing to post all of their agendas and minutes online. Just take a look at their gaps in posted minutes.

The Board meets the second Wednesday of each month at 8:30 AM in Clint, TX. There next meeting then will be January 14, 2015. The address for the water district office and board meetings is 13247 Alameda Avenue.  It may be a long drive but worthwhile to press the water district board to act on an easement with the EPWU and to do so without any conditions.

Why Is the Rio Grande Pipeline Stalled?

El Paso wetlands park has no water!  The pipeline to pass water from the Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant (BWWTP) to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is on hold.  Most of the project is done, but there is a gap where the pipeline crosses an abandoned drain owned by El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 (EPCWID#1).   To complete the pipeline as designed, El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) needs a license from EPCWID#1, to cross their drain. 

In the early 1990s, Rio Bosque Wetlands Park was identified as the preferred site for a wetland project to mitigate for natural habitat loss caused by the American Canal Extension.  The wetland project at the Park was designed to utilize effluent from the adjacent BWWTP.  Currently, the Park only receives water from BWWTP for a few months in the winter.  To realize its potential for critical habitat restoration, ecosystem services, aquifer recharge, and economic benefit from eco-tourism, the Wetlands Park needs water.

Water in the Rio Bosque will recharge our aquifer benefiting farmers and all El Pasoans.  The water from the BWWTP will improve the quality of the water in the aquifer which according to Art Ivey, EPCWID#1 Vice President, is so salty, "We're pouring poison on our [pecan] trees.”  (El Paso Times, 15 December 2014).  There is also the possibility of extending the pipeline to a proposed regulating reservoir immediately south of the Park which will capture “tail” water and make it available to farmers.

Wetlands ecosystem services provide a myriad of benefits to El Pasoans including clean air, clean water, and esthetic, cultural and spiritual values.  Services provided by wetlands include stormwater storage, nutrient removal and climate regulation.  Using extremely conservative estimates by Robert Costanza, Professor of Public Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the value of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park ecosystem services would be over $1 million per year.  Using data from the nonprofit independent research group, Headwaters Economics, ElPasoNaturally (30 September 2011) estimates that the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park could bring $18 million in Eco-Tourism dollars to El Paso. 

The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is a tremendous classroom in the open.  Visiting children learn critical STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills and, if there is water, graduate students utilize the Park for scientific research projects.

In July 2014, EPWU Public Service Board awarded the $1.1 million contract for construction of the pipeline (BWWTP) to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.  The project should have been completed by 26 December 2014.  Now, instead of delivering water to the Park, the pipeline is stalled because EPCWID#1 has not issued a license to cross its drain - a drain that is non-functional and has been abandoned for more than 30 years. 

To complete the pipeline, EPWU could bypass the EPCWID#1 land, but that would unnecessarily complicate the pipeline, make it significantly longer, cause additional delays and increase the cost all EPWU ratepayers.

EPWU owns the effluent from the BWWTP, but they have no facilities to hold that water.  Once water enters infrastructure owned by EPCWID#1, as happens today without the pipeline, the water belongs to EPCWID#1.  According to the 2001 Implementing Third-Party Contract, BWWTP delivers 13,333 acre-feet of water to EPCWID#1 each year.  But EPCWID#1 actually receives about 31,000 acre-feet per year, nearly all that BWWTP produces.

Could it be EPCWID#1 wants control of when and how much water enters the pipeline, before they license an easement across their abandoned drain?  EPCWID#1 already controls all the water in the Rio Grande.  Maybe they want to be sure they also control water that belongs to all El Pasoans. 

- Judy Ackerman

Rio Bosque Pipeline - Your Action Needed!

Click image to enlarge.

Dear Friends,

The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park needs your help.  Please contact members of the El Paso County Water Improvement District # 1 (EPCWID#1) and ask them to approve a license to allow completion of the pipeline from the Roberto Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant (RBWWTP) to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.  A sample letter and EPCWID#1 members’ contact information are below.  Please e-mail, phone, and / or send a US Postal letter to all members. 

Also, plan to attend the next meeting of the EPCWID#1 Board, Wednesday, 14 January 2015, 8:30 AM, District Board Room, 13247 Alameda Ave, Clint, TX.

Background:

Construction of the pipeline is almost complete except for where it would cross a drain owned by EPCWID#1.  The drain, abandoned for at least 30 years, has filled in and is nonexistent in the area of the pipeline.  In July 2014, EPWU Public Service Board awarded the contract for pipeline construction and expected completion by 26 December 2014.  Without a license from EPCWID#1, the project will be delayed increasing the costs and unnecessarily complicating the pipeline design.

EPWU owns the effluent from the RBWWTP which produces an average of 28 million gallons per day, but they have no facilities to hold that water.  Once water enters infrastructure owned by EPCWID#1, the water belongs to EPCWID#1.

In the early 1990s Rio Bosque Wetlands Park was identified as the preferred site for a wetland project to mitigate for natural habitat loss caused by the American Canal Extension.  The wetland project at the Park was designed to utilize effluent from the adjacent RBWWTP.  Currently, the Park only receives water from RBWWTP for a few months in the winter.  To realize its potential for critical habitat restoration, ecosystem services, aquifer recharge, and economic benefit from eco-tourism, the Wetlands Park needs water.

Wetlands ecosystem services provide a myriad of benefits to El Pasoans including clean air, clean water, and esthetic, cultural and spiritual value.  Services provided by wetlands include stormwater storage, nutrient removal and climate regulation.  Using extremely conservative estimates by highly regarded researchers, Robert Costanza et al, the value of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park ecosystem services would be over $1 million per year. 

Farmers benefit from having water in the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park because it will recharge the aquifer they pump from to irrigate their fields.  The water from the RBWWTP will improve the quality of the water in the aquifer which according to Art Ivey is so salty, "We're pouring poison on our [pecan] trees.”  (El Paso Times, 15 Dec 2014).  There is also the possibility of extending the pipeline to a proposed regulating reservoir immediately south of the Park which will capture “tail” water and make it available to farmers.

Sample Letter:

Dear EPCWID#1 Board Member,

I implore you to approve a license that will allow completion of the pipeline from the Roberto Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park by allowing the pipeline to cross the Rio Intercepting Drain right-of-way. 

Without the license, El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) will need to design and engineer a more convoluted route for the pipeline that will increase the expense to all EPWU rate-payers and delay completion of the pipeline. 

Adding water to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park will benefit farmers by recharging and improving the quality of the aquifer.  Farmers will also benefit when the pipeline is extended to the proposed regulating reservoir where “tail” water can be utilized by irrigators. 

Sincerely,

Your Name and Contact Information

EPCWID#1 Board members’ contact information: 

Name	Position	E-mail
Jesus Reyes	General Manager	jreyes@epcwid1.org
Johnny Stubbs	President	Jpstubbs8210@gmail.com
Art Ivey	Vice President	tudiiv@hughes.net
Indar Singh	Secretary	None
Miguel Teran	Board Member	mteran@cpmellc.com
Larry Ceballos	Board Member	lceballos2012@yahoo.com

US Postal address:  PO Box 749, Clint, TX 79836-0749

Phone:  915-872-4000

Tempest in a Teapot

Want to brew a tempest in a teapot? Here's how:

Item 12d on yesterday's agenda of the El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 Board meeting was:

Application 1683, by El Paso Water Utilities-Public Service Board, for a 25 year license to construct a 36-inch reclaimed water main crossing the Rio Intercepting Drainage Canal at approximately Station 39+65.

The “36-inch reclaimed water main” is the planned pipeline from the Bustamante Plant to Rio Bosque and, in time, to a regulating pond as part of the utility's conservation strategy. 

At Water District Engineer Al Blair’s request, the item was moved to “closed session.”  After 2 hours of closed session, which also included many other items on the agenda, the board reconvened in open session, and Board President Johnny Stubbs stated the board was taking “no action” on Application 1683.

Naturally the lack of action raised fears among conservationists and friends of the Bosque and seemed to dampen the jubilation expressed in the recent Rio Bosque News. Here's your tempest in a teapot brewing.

Even though the EPWU will seek clarification, one wonders if it really matters what the District does that can hold up construction. Whoever can't read maps that show rightaway or whichever maps are incorrect, construction will go on even if EPWU will have to zig and zag a bit. Of course in November, the Water District Board may just grant the license.

Of course, elpasonaturally will keep an eye on this. However, for the time being, a deep breath might be helpful. Balliew and crew are trustworthy.

The matter though raises another issue that I have been planning to blog about for awhile now: the greed of those who serve on the Water Improvement District Board and hence their unwillingness to care anything about anyone but themselves. 

Picture this: you own a large pecan farm in the lower valley. You also have sat for decades on the Water District Board. Your Daddy served on it before you. Your Board is unanswerable to anyone else and YOU set the price you will pay for water for your water-guzzling pecan trees. That indeed is how it works.

Wouldn't it be nice for any one of us to sit on a board that sets the price we pay at gasoline pumps or at the grocery store? We set prices low for us but high for everyone else.

Here's what Water District Board President Johnny Stubbs pays for his water:

The EPWU buys water for as much as $260 an acre foot! It's less on different contracts but not nearly what Johnny and the boys pay - the price set by themselves for themselves. Again, nobody oversees the district board - at least nobody who gives a hoot and a holler.

Rather than being civic-minded and, in truth, patriotic, members of the Water District Board will clench their fists in an executive session (which may not have been legal) and make no decision on a request that helps neighbors and could encourage an $18 million dollar per year eco-tourist site at the Rio Bosque. But, of course, that $18 million dollars won't go into their pockets. 

Open Space Equals Millions of Eco-Tourist Dollars

Picture of Franklin Mountains courtesy of Scott M. Cutler

Read the following press release dated July 18, 2014 from Karl Pierce of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Now imagine preserving more of our Franklin Mountains, saving Cement Lake, providing enough water for the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park and conserving Castner Range. Come on, El Paso! Good stewardship of open space means major eco-tourist dollars!

Tourism to Guadalupe Mountains National Park creates $8,500,500 in Economic Benefit

Report shows visitor spending supports 111 jobs in local economy

Pine Springs, TX – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 145,670 visitors to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in 2013 spent more than $8.5 million in communities near the
park. That spending supported 111 jobs in the local area.

“Guadalupe Mountains National Park is proud to welcome visitors from across the country and around the world,” said Superintendent Dennis A. Vásquez. “We are delighted to share the story of this place and the experiences it provides and to use the park as a way to introduce our visitors to this part of the country and all that it offers. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy - returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service - and it’s a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”

Vásquez continued “as we begin to wind down summer and head into fall, which is traditionally the busiest time for park visitation, people come from around the region to enjoy the colorful fall foliage in McKittrick Canyon, Smith Spring, Dog Canyon and Devil’s’ Hall during Fall Colors. In the coming weeks, we will open the new Salt Basin Dunes Day Use Area, near Dell City, and are confident that visitors will enjoy that unique area of the park, which contains the third largest gypsum dune field in the world. The park contains the largest Congressionally-designated wilderness area in the state of Texas, and we hope everyone will join us as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964 this fall. We look forward to partnering with the Texas Mountain Trail, the Texas Master Naturalists and others on a variety of programs. We invite our neighbors, from throughout Far West Texas and Southern New Mexico, to actively participate in upcoming park planning efforts, such as a new wilderness stewardship plan,
through http://parkplanning.nps.gov, through participation in public meetings, or by contacting your park with questions, concerns or suggestions, in addition to enjoying the wonderful natural, cultural and recreational resources that this park offers.”

The 2013 economic benefit figures are somewhat lower than the 2012 results. The 16-day government shutdown in October 2013, along with closures of the park, which resulted from historic
flooding and storms damage in September 2013, accounted for most of the decline in park visitation. The authors also cited inflation adjustments for differences between visitation and visitor spending, jobs supported and overall effect on the U.S. economy.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by U.S. Geological Survey economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Christopher Huber and Lynne Koontz for the National Park
Service. The report shows $14.6 billion of direct spending by 273.6 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported more than 237,000 jobs nationally, with more than 197,000 jobs found in these gateway communities, and had a cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy of $26.5 billion.

According to the 2013 economic analysis, most visitor spending was for lodging (30.3 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.3 percent), gas and oil (12.1 percent), admissions and fees
(10.3 percent) and souvenirs and other expenses (10 percent). 

The largest jobs categories supported by visitor spending were restaurants and bars (50,000 jobs) and lodging (38,000 jobs).

To download the report visit http://www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/economics.cfm. The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state. To learn more about national parks in Texas and New Mexico, and how the National Park Service works with Texas and New Mexico communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/Texas or www.nps.gov/NewMexico.
-NPS-

Water for the Bosque

Read the new July 2014 Rio Bosque newsletter and rejoice! The lead article Water Currents says it all. Become a member of the Friends of the Rio Bosque.

See, I told you that the TWDB wasn't listening to Lois Balin. Here's the press release from the Dallas Country Club look-a-likes:

Texas Water Development Board approves $200,000 in an agricultural water conservation grant to the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1

For immediate release.  Contact: Kimberly Leggett at 512-463-5129

AUSTIN – (May 29, 2014) – The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) today approved an agricultural water conservation grant in the amount of $200,000 to the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 (El Paso County). The grant will assist with agricultural irrigation system improvements to the Riverside Canal.

The El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 will use the funds to line the canal with fiber-reinforced concrete to reduce water loss.

The TWDB is the state agency charged with collecting and disseminating water-related data, assisting with regional planning and preparing the State Water Plan for the development of the state’s water resources. The TWDB administers cost-effective financial programs for the construction of water supply, wastewater treatment, flood control, and agricultural water conservation projects.

I learned also that the lifelong dream of WID#1 Board President, Johnny Stubbs, is the concrete lining of the Riverside Canal. Some people want to cure AIDs. Some want to save rain forests. Some want to save a less than one mile strip of a natural ecosystem along the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in El Paso, Texas. Johnny? Johnny dreams of concrete.

Riverside Canal at the Rio Bosque Should be Preserved not Lined with Concrete

Click to enlarge image. Canal is red line at top of park boundary.

I attended the meeting of the Texas Water Development Board at the TecH2O Center this morning. The reports were basically nodding-off boring with the exception of Malynda Cappella's briefing on Zero Discharge Desalination. ZDD's not exactly a party pleaser but the presentation made it so. I didn't stay for the report on the Texas v. New Mexico litigation. I did hear Chuy Reyes, the General Manager of Water Improvement District #1. You can always count on Chuy to say some things that make you shake your head and wonder if God at some point ran out of neurons.

Mr. Reyes trumpeted the cornucopia of El Paso farmers: pecans, Pima cotton, corn, wheat, chili, onions and alfalfa. Then he said that "some of us" are working to get dairy farms back to El Paso. Mind you that his remarks were made in the context of water conservation and what the water district was doing for water conservation. Pecans, cotton, dairy farms - these are all pretty heavy consumers of water. When the Texas State Wildlife Biologist, Lois Balin, addressed the board following Chuy, she began with a suggestion that less water hungry crops could replace our current guzzlers. Her words fell on the deaf ears of what could pass for the Dallas Country Club - a board of 4 men, 1 woman and no Hispanics or blacks. Not one asked Ms. Balin a follow-up question about crops or the Rio Bosque.

Reyes went on to talk about the need to concrete all canals. There is some virtue in concreting canals - but there is never any virtue in destroying wildlife habitats and precious ecosystems in the process. Balin's principal point was the need to preserve the less than one-mile stretch of canal which borders the Rio Bosque. It is earthen - river alluvian. Ms. Balin said that, on her most recent visit to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, she counted 25 species of birds using that canal, observed soil invertebrates and, of course, the rich plant life. Concrete some of the canal beyond the borders of the wetlands sure, maybe. But don't concrete line that portion that makes up the precious ecosystem of the Rio Bosque. People who see only the dollar and cents of concrete lining canals can at least understand the dollars to be gained by ecotourism. Again, a similar area in New Mexico brings in $18 Million a year in tourism.

It would, however, be nice if these concrete loving folks would understand one other very simple concept. If I lose a gall bladder and a kidney, I can limp along. If other vital organs start shutting down, I'm in trouble. An organism needs the complexity of organs, glands, skin, blood and sinew working together to be healthy, live and keep on living well for a length of time. Now think of the living world as one big organism. It's made up of vertebrates such as ourselves, invertebrates, things flying, things crawling, microscopic things making processes work in soil and in gut. If you start shutting things down in this organism, life becomes less healthy and less lengthy. 

A less than one mile stretch of canal with a rich ecosystem should be preserved.