Fascinating observation from Jim Lochhead this morning at the Getches-Wilkinson Center Colorado River Conference about the nature of the current negotiations and the role of the federal government. It came during a panel moderated by Anne Castle focused on what we learned from the expiring 2007 river management guidelines, which are the subject of intense …
RATON, NEW MEXICO The decorative streetlights, the hanging planters, the Chamber of Commercial-style tourist banners, the antique stores, the nascent brew pub scene. The old motels, with their seen-better-days charm. The newer motels (but still old), out by the interstate, with U-Hauls in the parking lot and their seen-better-days lack of charm. The abandoned buildings, …
Continue reading ‘Raton, New Mexico: notes on western railroad towns and urban form’ »
Jack Schmidt* and John Fleck** *Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University **Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico School of Law 1 June 2025 We now begin June, when the Colorado River’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, should be swelling with melting snow for use later this year …
Continue reading ‘Colorado River Basin Reservoir Storage: where do we stand?’ »
Eric Kuhn, with some help from Anne Castle and myself, has taken a useful dive into what was known in the 1940s as Congress was considering the treaty between the United States and Mexico regarding how to share the waters of the Colorado River. Drawing on the analysis of Colorado’s Royce Tipton, Eric draws out …
A friend (thanks R!) hipped me to Ross Gay’s Book of Delights, which is what it says on the tin. It is full of charming morsels by a charming writer as he observers his own proclivity for delight. This is a useful life skill. I’m lingering over it a few morsels to start most days …
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By Eric Kuhn and John Fleck The Bureau of Reclamation has released its May 24-Month Study. It confirms that 2025 will be another very dry year and the consequences will be significant. Under the minimum probable forecast, active storage in Lake Powell will fall to an elevation of 3530’ (5.8 maf), only about 9 feet …
Continue reading ‘The May USBR Colorado River 24-Month Study Confirms What We Feared’ »
Unrestricted access and use of open space lands by motorized vehicles has caused severe erosion; led to the creation of excessive dust, noise, littering, dumping, shooting, and vandalism in violation of county ordinances; and the deterioration of the publicly owned resources; and is hereby declared a public nuisance. Bernalillo County Code, Sec. 58-96 Having …
SAN ACACIA – It’s three river miles upstream from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District’s San Acacia Diversion Dam to the Rio Grande’s confluence with the Rio Salado, but the river’s twisty here. It wasn’t much more than two miles of bike ride along the MRGCD’s Unit 7 Drain service road to get to the …
Continue reading ‘The confluence of the Rio Salado and the Rio Grande’ »
The following is signed by a stunningly long list of folks: The Colorado River Basin will feel the loss of Bob Snow with his retirement from the Solicitor’s Office at the Department of the Interior. His more than forty-year presence in the most impactful and most difficult conversations in the Basin has been both a …
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For inscriptions to take place, witnesses are needed. Brighenti, A. M. (2010). At the wall: Graffiti writers, urban territoriality, and the public domain. _Space and Culture_, 13(3), 315-332. doi: 10.1177/1206331210365283 On the northbound morning Rail Runner out of Albuquerque’s downtown station, it’s best to sit on the left side of the train to see the …
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