SAVE THE DATE!

Fall 2021 Outdoor Economics Conference & Expo

September 29 – October 1

We are very excited that the New Mexico Outdoor Economics Conference will be held this fall in Farmington at the Civic Center. The conference will highlight the economic development efforts to develop and enhance opportunities to grow our outdoor recreation economy. Starting on Wednesday, September 29th there will be a welcome reception along with the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. On Thursday there will be some very informative panel discussions given by leaders from New Mexico and across the outdoor industry. There will also be outdoor products expositions and the evening event will be a party by the river held at the Farmington Museum. Friday morning will be some more panel discussions on building our outdoor economy and then each attendant will be able to take a free trip that afternoon. When you register for the conference, you will be able to choose your trip from a list of 10. That list includes a rafting trip, a Bisti wilderness trip, fly fishing on the San Juan river, a round of golf at Pinon Hills, a Chokecherry Canyon 4 X 4 trip, a river and bike adventure, a mountain bike trails run, tours of the Aztec Ruins National Monument and Crow Canyon rock art tour and a majestic enchantment tour that includes the Wines of the San Juan. The cost for the conference is $95 and you must provide a copy of your COVID vaccine card or a negative test result. Don’t procrastinate as some of the tours will fill up fast, especially the rafting and 4 X 4trips. For more information and to register to attend the conference go to https://outdooreconomics.com.

San Juan County has designed a new public boat ramp on the Animas River in Cedar Hill

As stated in our last newsletter, the County Commission approved a $170,000 budget adjustment to move forward with the project. It will be the only public river access between Durango, CO and Aztec, NM located on the former D&RGW Rail right-of-way near the highway bridge on US 550.

www.daily-times.com

The President’s Corner

D’Ann Waters

Summer is almost over, the children are back in school, and fall is just around the corner! The River Reach Foundation has had a busy summer. Even though most of the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in May, we were still not able to hold our annual Riverfest event over the Memorial Day weekend. We did however, launch a new event, the Animas River Jam. It was a much scaled back event consisting of just music and food vendors. During the event we had volunteers walking around asking the public to fill out a short survey to let us know how they felt about the event. In return we offered them the chance to win one of two outdoor recreation trips. One was a rafting trip provided by the Desert River Guides and the other was a full day 4-wheel drive trip provided by Black Bear Unlimited. Congratulations to Bruce Higgins who won the raft trip and Dan Grace who won the 4-wheel drive trip! We were amazed at the number of positive responses we received from the surveys and the Foundation voted to make the Animas River Jam an annual fall event. Our next Animas River Jam will be held in October of 2022.

We have continued to work with the New Mexico Strategic Event Recovery Readiness Initiative (SERRI) and have started implementing some of their recommended changes to reinvigorate Riverfest 2022. We contracted with Ken Collins Marketing to redo and update our River Reach Foundation web page. RiverReachFoundation.com is now up and running so please check it out and let us know what you think of the changes and additions that were made.

Other News

Ken Collins Marketing is now in the process of producing a stand-alone Riverfest web page. This web page will provide the public an easier method of connecting with all the various aspects of the Riverfest event. Each event during Riverfest will have its own page making it easier for the public to learn about the event and how they can participate in it. Hopefully we will have that web page up and running by the end of October.

The Board of Directors made some changes to our by-laws regarding River Reach Foundation memberships. We now have six different membership levels. In addition to our individual annual membership, we now offer an individual 5 year membership level. We have added a family annual membership level and a 5- year family membership. Another new addition is offering full time high school and college students a free membership. Finally we have our corporate annual memberships. Our new membership form is included in this newsletter.

Last month the Financial team submitted a grant offered by the New Mexico Economic Development Department called the Outdoor Recreation Trails + Grant. If granted we will be able to provide informational, educational, and warning signage at eight raft put in locations along both the Animas and San Juan Rivers.

Finally, we have contracted with Zia Drone Operations to provide a 2 – 3 hour video of our Riverine Corridor. The video will be shown at the Outdoor Recreation Conference this month. Portions of it will also be included on our Foundation web page.

What’s the Scoop on Poop in the San Juan Watershed?

Alyssa Richmond
San Juan Watershed Group Coordinator
San Juan Soil & Water Conservation District
alyssa.richmond@sanjuanswcd.com

505-234-6040 X3

Bacteria pollution in the San Juan Watershed has been an ongoing concern of the New Mexico Environment Department Surface Water Quality Bureau (NMED SWQB) and the San Juan Watershed Group (SJWG) for over two decades and poses serious health risks to the community if ingested unprocessed in high quantities. The San Juan River, Animas River, La Plata River, and other select tributaries have been listed as impaired for bacteria (i.e. containing quantities of E.coli over the EPA’s acceptable threshold) for at least 10 years, and both the NMED SWQB and SJWG have taken an active role in conducting water quality monitoring, on the ground projects, and public education to reduce the presence of fecal bacteria in our waterways.

In 2013 and 2014, the SJWG partnered with the NMED SWQB to conduct a Microbial Source Tracking study asking the simple question: Who pooped in the river? This study provided valuable information on host organisms of fecal bacteria and found that 46% of our E.coli samples exceeded the single sample standard for primary contact

(swimming), 94% of our samples tested positive for human source bacteria, and revealed a magnitude of increase in the concentration of human source bacteria on the San Juan River between Farmington and the Hogback.

Now in 2021, we’re partnering with NMED SWQB again to ask the next question: Where is the poop in our river coming from and what can we do about it? On a monthly basis between August and October, lead samplers from the SJWG and volunteer watershed dectives will sample over 17 locations along the San Juan River, Animas River, La Plata River, Shumway Arroyo, and Stevens Arroyo. Both E.coli and human source bacteria concentrations will be analyzed to answer the following questions on a watershed scale. Are high concentrations of bacteria still present? If so, where is the bacteria coming from? How much is coming from these areas? What further outreach, projects, and services can be done to reduce the amount of bacteria entering our waterways? Sampling will be conducted by both raft and vehicle travel, providing volunteers a fun and bird’s eye experience to learn river ecology, watershed science, and what it means to study water quality.

If you’d like to join for a sampling day, register for your spot by contacting me at the above address. Hurry, as space is limited! We’re looking forward to sharing the results of our research and a path forward in winter of 2021.

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