More upcoming events Spring-Summer 2021
May 6
Ramon DC Alatorre of the City of Flagstaff Sustainability Program will lead this meeting 7:00-8:00 PM on Thursday May 6. This City has ambitious goals, and it ain’t gonna be easy. Over the next few days and weeks the plan will be revised in light of additional study and community feedback. Attending this meeting is an excellent way to ask questions and give live feedback to City staff.
Meeting URL:
Meeting ID:
859 6704 1282
Passcode:
207072
June 3
Jim David, the force behind the creation of Frances Short Pond from essentially a dumping ground, will lead a walk at the pond at 5:00. He is aa former teacher at Flagstaff Jr High and the author of the bookJust A Teacher.
July 8
Trevor Henry from City of Flagstaff Engineering will lead a walk on the Rio de Flag from Bonito Street to City Hall at 5:00 discussing the changes in the channel with the upcoming flood control project.
August 5
Researchers from the Museum Fire project will lead a walk near Schultz Pass Road, showing how the possible flood events are monitored on the watershed. Details to follow, especially as the monsoon season progresses
Sept 2
Tom Bean and Paul Beier from the Friends of the Rio board will lead a walk on the Sinclair Wash tributary of the Rio demonstrating how to use the new Rio app to discover cool places and plants on the Rio.
Thursday May 6 at 7pm Learn about and discuss the Flagstaff Climate Action Plan with Ramon DC Alatorre from Flagstaff Sustainability.
Ramon DC Alatorre of the City of Flagstaff Sustainability Program will lead this meeting 7:00-8:00 PM on Thursday May 6. This City has ambitious goals, and it ain’t gonna be easy. Over the next few days and weeks the plan will be revised in light of additional study and community feedback. Attending this meeting is an excellent way to ask questions and give live feedback to City staff.
Meeting URL:
Meeting ID:
859 6704 1282
Passcode:
207072
You will get a LOT more from the meeting if you prepare by reading the draft Carbon Neutrality Draft Plan. You will learn that our emissions come from two sources that are cheap and easy to fix: burning fossil fuels for the electricity we use (about 32%), and gasses emitted in our landfill (about 10%). The other 60% will be much harder fix because the emissions come from vehicles (about 30%) and burning natural gas for space heating (about 25%), and the City can’t realistically force us to rip out our gas heaters nor can it ban gas vehicles. Probably the best we can do is require efficient electric heat pump systems on new buildings, encourage people to bike and walk, encourage housing to be built close to where people work, and hope that people gradually transition to electric vehicles as the auto industry shifts. No matter how you do the math, we will still emit GHGs, and getting to zero will require “sequestration” (pulling GHGs out of the air and storing them safely), which is much more expensive – and risky – than avoiding emissions. Expect to spend a half hour or more doing the math and thinking.
It’s called a Draft plan because your input can change the plan! Please read the draft plan, learn more on May 6, attend City Council meetings, fill out the feedback forms the city will put online, and otherwise engage in this important process.
Rio de Flag awarded 2021 Learning Network Expert Award in the category of Environmental Justice & Equity
On February 16, the Urban Waters Learning Network announced that the Friends of the Rio de Flag will be awarded a 2021 Learning Network Expert Award in the category of Environmental Justice & Equity. The award is for our work during 2016-2018 to support education, dialogue, and coordination with Southside residents and community partners. Through surveys, public meetings, walking tours, and partnership building with the City of Flagstaff and Southside Community Association, Friends of the Rio de Flag helped residents plan for the future of their river after having suffered management-induced floods for decades. Ultimately, this work contributed to the success of the Southside Community Specific Plan, which received an award from the International Association for Public Participation.
This work was carried out primarily by Friends of the Rio de Flag’s former Executive Director Chelsea Silva, and our former Outreach Coordinator Matt Muchna. Their work was supported by Friends of the Rio de Flag members like YOU, who generously responded to appeals to fund their work during 2017-2018. As part of the award, Friends will receive $6000 worth of professional support for capacity building, communications, and design services or programs.
This award-winning work was also the catalyst for our current collaborative watershed planning effort, which launched in 2020 when we received a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART grant. In that effort, the Friends has led the effort to create the Watershed Alliance for the Rio de Flag (WARF). Over the last 6 months, many of us have attended some or all of the WARF’s seven virtual meetings, which will result in a watershed plan in June 2021.
You can read more about the award, and how we earned it, here: https://www.urbanwaterslearningnetwork.org/resources/centering-environmental-justice-to-strengthen-community-partnerships-oct-2020/. Please congratulate yourself for your good work!
–Friends’ Board President Kathy Flaccus
World Wetlands Day 2021
Water and Wetlands
The 2021 campaign highlights the contribution of wetlands to the quantity and quality of freshwater on our planet. Water and wetlands are connected in an inseparable co-existence
Website: www.worldwetlandsday.org
Hashtags: #WorldWetlandsDay #RestoreWetlands
Twitter Handles: @RamsarConv @martharojasu1 Secretary General
FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/RamsarConventionOnWetlands
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ramsar_convention_on_wetlands/
Rio for the People Session 5 – January 20th 5:30-7:00
Nature Elevated: Benefiting Native Ecosystems of the Rio de Flag Watershed
We want to hear from you as the watershed plan for the Rio de Flag is developed.
Please come join us for the third community Zoom event for the Rio de Flag watershed restoration plan:
Nature Elevated, where speakers Larry Stevens, Hannah Griscom, Paul Beier, Tom Whitham, and Max Taylor will present ideas and discuss the ecological communities of the Rio de Flag watershed
Register for the event by clicking on the poster below!!
The Explore the Watershed series is brought to you by the new Watershed Alliance for the Rio de Flag.
Learn more about the whole project here:
Join us for the Kickoff event Nov. 10 at 5:30pm: Understanding Our Changing Watershed
Please come join us at the kickoff event, Understanding Our Changing Watershed, learn about the watershed from a wide range of perspectives, and then provide your public input on the upcoming watershed restoration plan! Teaser: there will be a cool interactive map.
Register for Understanding Our Changing Watershed here: https://us02web.zoom.us/
Explore the Watershed brought to you by the new Watershed Alliance for the Rio de Flag. Learn more about the whole project here: watershedalliancefortherio.net
Parched: The Art of Water in the Southwest
This very cool art exhibit is on display and open to the public at the Center for the Arts, 2300 N. Ft Valley Rd. You can read more about the exhibit in an article that appeared in the Arizona Daily Sun on Sunday 11/1
Tune in to a virtual panel discussion with local water scientists on November 12 at 5 pm. Denielle Perry (one of our board members), Abe Springer, Colleen Cooley, and Julie Comnick explore the complex and conflicting issues surrounding water Here’s the Facebook post to get more information on the discussion or go to https://flagartscouncil.org/
Use this Zoom Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/
DamNation screening on November 12
You are invited to join the Society of Ecological Restoration NAU Student Association for a synchronous screening of DamNation and a virtual panel discussion with river restoration experts to follow on Thursday, November 12, 2020 at 5:30-7:30pm MST.
DamNation is a documentary on the building and removal of dams in the USA. You can watch the trailer here.
The virtual panel discussion will include Jane Marks (NAU), Michael Bogan (UA), and Bridget Deemer (USGS) and will be held on zoom after the screening. Zoom link will be provided at the screening.
Register for the screening here! The link and password will be provided on the screen after you submit your registration. Make sure to save that information and log a few minutes before the screening begins.