Crane Photography by Patrick Myers

(Park Ranger at Great Sand Dunes National Park)

Spring into Action. Fundraiser for SLVEC.

What places do you love in and around the San Luis Valley? We are a public lands advocacy organization, and your financial support would be greatly appreciated at this time.

Please fill in this survey and tell us your favorite places around the San Luis Valley.

Map Credit: Alison Gallensky, Rocky Mountain Wild

SLVEC Accomplishments:

24 Years of Dedication

The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, your public lands advocacy organization, has been in service to the greater San Luis Valley's people, fauna, flora, and environment since 1996. Read more about our work in the creation of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, protecting Wolf Creek Pass, preventing oil and gas development, water quality testing, providing public comment on public lands management, air quality education, solid waste diversion, and much more.

Renewable Energy Blog Post Part 2:

Hydro Electric Power in the San Luis Valley

As the San Luis Valley begins to think about transitioning to more renewable energy sources, it’s important to consider some of the successful projects already underway. This week, Mark Jacobi, Facilities Manager at Valley View Hot Springs near Moffat Colorado, speaks with the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) about the history, function, and design of (perhaps) the only, “Micro-Hydro Class”, (less than 200 KW), hydroelectric power plant in the Valley. 

Micro Grids Conversation

Empower Hour: Learn about Microgrids

Tuesday, April 11 at 5pm our Empower Hour will feature Elisa Wood, of Microgrid Knowledge: How microgrids can eliminate the need for transmission.

Elisa is an award-winning writer and editor who specializes in the energy industry. She is chief editor and co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge, a  publication providing news on microgrids and distributed energy resources.

Water Quality and Ag Survey Events a Success

From our partners at the Colorado School of Public Health:

Thank you to everyone for supporting these community efforts! We have received approximately 330 responses on our Ag Worker survey promoting Total Worker Health® and have had nearly 800 households sign up to provide samples for our water quality assessment of the Rio Grande Aquifer system in the San Luis Valley.

The community response for our private well water testing is much larger than we originally anticipated, and we are excited to share the results with the community! We were able to provide this opportunity due to federal grant funding from the National Institute of Health and partnership with the lab analyzing these samples. We are currently focusing our resources on processing these samples and will send individual result reports via email as soon as we have them.

As we gather water quality data from the first phase of this multi-year project, we'll be working with many community partners (e.g. the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council) to share our results with the community. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Project Coordinator Nick Stoll (nicholas.stoll@cuanschutz.edu) or Project Director Kathy James (kathy.james@cuanschutz.edu).

Outdoor Citizen Podcast

Alamosa Citizen and SLV GO! spark a new partnership with a podcast channel, The Outdoor Citizen. Tune in with SLV GO! staff and local favorite, Marty Jones, as we deliver seasonal outdoor reports. 
 

“Hello everyone, this is Marty Jones and this is
The Outdoor Citizen podcast.”

Rio Grande State of the Basin Symposium

Save the date, Saturday May 6, for the Annual Rio Grande State of the Basin Symposium. RSVP information is coming soon. For more information contact Nick Saenz, Ph.D., professor of history and special assistant to the president, at cnsaenz@adams.edu.

Newsletter content and design by:

Isabel Lisle (Communications Manager, SLVEC)