the San Luis Valley Ecosystem council

CONTENTS

A Tribute to May Engquist

~Beloved SLVEC Board Member and Friend~

Acknowledgement of Maison (May) Engquist, who passed away on Friday, October 8th, 2021. By SLVEC Director Chris Canaly. 

"May was a wonderful SLVEC supporter and board member for well over a decade. She participated with so many critical issues through the years, the Baca National Wildlife Refuge exploratory drilling proposal and our challenge in court (2008), going up to many hearings in Denver; participating with our Solid Waste Audit at the SLV Landfill, attending all of our Task Force meetings regarding the development of a recycling infrastructure for the SLV, participating in meetings for years regarding the Rio Grande Forest Plan revision and recently, informing Saguache County Commissioners about Wildlife Corridors and writing an email in support of wildlife connectivity for their just recently passed resolution. There’s been so much activity and genuine support for public lands legacy that May embraced, enjoyed actually, and she stepped up many times. She gave me a book a while back by Margaret E. Murie, Two in the Far North, about the life of Margaret and her husband Olaus in the Alaska outback, who both became fierce advocates for wilderness and landscape protection. Margaret testified on its behalf in 1977, at a hearing in Denver, CO; a bill sponsored by Rep. Morris Udall called the Alaskan Lands Bill. May ended up meeting Margaret in 1993 and stayed on her ranch. May told me Margaret was a huge inspiration for her. I know May stayed involved because she understood the importance of healthy ecosystems, watersheds and wildlife for future generations. Many blessings your way May, peace and love be with you. You will be missed by all who knew you."

Be Bear Aware

~Protect Your Property and the Bears~

As we endure months of piled up snow and below freezing nights, many of us naturally adopt a slower pace and richer diet during the winter. Our high-altitude neighbor, the black bear, takes this notion to the extreme. Inactive for nearly half of the year, bears are some of the most iconic species to hibernate in North America. Their impressive winter behavior brings up many questions for us non-hibernators:

How and why do bears hibernate? 

How can humans support them in doing so? 

How might climate change impact black bears? 

Did Humans ever hibernate? 

This article was first featured in the October 2021 edition of the  Crestone Eagle newspaper. 

The 2021 Colorado Beaver Summit

~ Register Today~

This October 21st and 22nd, virtually engage in an imperative conversation about beaver conservation as a tool for combatting climate change. View the program, a more intensive list of summit topics, and the featured speakers list at https://coloradobeaversummit.org/

From Apathy to Action

~ Eco Tips from Sandi Sturm's Climate Action Guidebook ~

In Family Survival Guide for Our Changing Climate, author Sandi Sturm empowers readers to resign their feelings of helplessness by incorporating some, or all, of her 52 actions to take against climate change. These actions are logical, easy to adopt, economical, and take minimal time and effort to implement. Sturm claims that by following these eco tips loyally, families and individuals can reduce their carbon footprint by up to 50%.  No one of us should take on the entire weight of the climate crisis, but each of us should be routinely evaluating our day to day activities so to limit our impact on the planet. 

While Sturm’s guide offers a variety of actions to take, SLVEC has selected five of her suggestions that we challenge readers to adopt before the end of 2021: Zero Waste Dining, Eco-Friendly Laundry, Limiting Car Idling, Recycling E-Waste, and Unplugging Household Items. 

Want to Support SLVEC?

Visit our donation page to see all the ways that you can  support our mission of protecting and restoring the biological diversity, ecosystems, and natural resources in the Upper Rio Grande Basin. 

For the children of today and tomorrow, San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council is committed to protecting the 3.1 million acres of public lands that surround the Valley.