Day: April 10, 2024

Switching to #drought-resistant crops ‘ain’t pretty’ – but support for farmers is there — The #Durango Herald

Harvesting a Thinopyrum intermedium (Kernza) breeding nursery at The Land Institute By Dehaan – Scott Bontz, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5181663

Click the link to read the article on The Durango Herald website (Reuben M. Schafir). Here’s an excerpt:

March 27, 2024

As state negotiators haggle over who will reduce their use of the over-allocated Colorado River, the farmers who ultimately have to implement the inevitable cuts to water consumption are strategizing how to meet that challenge. Why aren’t farmers just planting crops that use less water? That’s what Greg Peterson, executive director of the Colorado Agriculture Water Alliance called “the big question” during a panel on innovative solutions for agriculture Wednesday at the Southwestern Water Conservation District’s 40th annual water seminar…

But large-scale crop-switching “ain’t pretty.” New crops demand new labor skills, expensive new equipment and different processing facilities. And the market for new, water-efficient crops might be small or nonexistent.

“(It’s a) misconception that farmers are market-makers,” said Perry Cabot, a research and extension leader with Colorado State University. “Farmers are market-takers.”

Greg Vlaming runs a soil health consulting business in Lewis, north of Cortez, and works with farmers to take advantage of some of the state’s incentives. Farmers who install soil moisture sensors see the water-saving benefits of improved soil health, he said. The programs help purchase new equipment that minimize the number of passes a farmer must make over a field, or introduce diverse crops with different rooting characteristics…

“You’re wasting everybody’s time if you’re saying, ‘Hey all of you, let’s go grow some Kernza,’” he said.

Instead, the entities pushing for the adoption of more drought-resistant crops need to teach farmers how to farm them. Peterson points to Colorado Mills in Lamar as an example. The company struggled for five years to teach producers to grow sunflowers for sunflower oil before the operation really succeeded.

#Paonia Spring Workshops Teach About Regenerative AG Practices: #Colorado Farm & Food Alliance Regenerative Agriculture Gardens & Classroom at Arbor Farm launches with series featuring regional practitioners and experts

A bumblebee pollinates a prairie clover. (Erin Anfinson/NPS/Public domain)

Here’s the release from the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance:

Paonia, CO. (April 9, 2024) – The Colorado Farm & Food Alliance is kicking off our Spring Workshops just as the growing season begins, this weekend (April 13) at our new learning center on Lamborn Mesa, just outside Paonia, Colorado.

Miles Filipeli will lead the inaugural offering this Saturday – Natural Farming with Local Amendments, April 13 – provided to the community by the CO Farm & Food Alliance on a gift model by donation with $20 suggested but none required. The following Saturday will showcase Building Soil and Families: Holistic Grazing, April 20, with Jason Wrich of Wrich Ranches.

Workshops continue May 4 with Cover Crops with Jon Orlando of Rock n Roots Farm and Colorado Farm & Food Alliance’s Elizabeth Agee, May 18 with Native Pollinators in the Market Garden with Paige Payne of Online Landscape Design, and May 25, with our final offering, Alley Cropping with Elizabeth Agee. Information on the series and the full schedule can be found at colofarmfood.org/blog.

Colorado Farm and Food Alliance is excited to bring this series to the Regenerative Agriculture Gardens and Classroom, which is back at its new location in partnership with our host, Arbol Farm, a working farm with a multi-generational legacy of hosting educational events as well as the early days of the local farmers market on-site. (The market has since moved but has kept the Arbol name).

The practices these workshops cover, and that will be demonstrated at our Gardens & Classroom, can offer many benefits to Colorado’s producers. These include market benefits like improved yields and nutrition, as well as more system resilience, habitat enhancements and boosted ecosystem services, and increased adaptation to and mitigation of the effects of climate change.

The Regenerative Ag Gardens and Classroom is the centerpiece of our Just Good Food program, and includes both an indoor and outdoor learning space. Workshops mostly feature a classroom component followed by a hands-on project or planting to solidify the learning in action. The Just Good Food program works to teach, model and advance practices and to promote engagement to further food security, farm resilience, and rural equity. Through these workshops, participants can creatively engage with and explore ways to incorporate some of these practices in their operations.

Colorado Farm and Food Alliance is grateful to continue the educational legacy of Arbol Farm by offering a fun and engaging space for learning, with demonstration and food gardens, workshops of regenerative agriculture principles, movie nights and pizza parties this summer, and more!

Learn about all our upcoming workshops and events at www.colofarmfood.org/events

Late-Season Snowstorms Bolster #Colorado’s Streamflow Forecasts for Spring 2024 — NRCS

Photo credit: NRCS

Click the link to read the release on the NRCS website:

Current snowpack stands at 114 percent of median. As Colorado welcomes the spring season, a review of March storms reveals that late-season snowstorms and consistent precipitation have led to a significant boost in snowpack and precipitation numbers across most major river basins.

Denver, CO – April 8th, 2024 – Current snowpack stands at 114 percent of median. As Colorado welcomes the spring season, a review of March storms reveals that late-season snowstorms and consistent precipitation have led to a significant boost in snowpack and precipitation numbers across most major river basins. The state experienced a marked increase in snow water equivalent (SWE) in March, ending the month at 112 percent of median snowpack. Statewide, precipitation for March was 155 percent of median and water year-to-date precipitation stands at 103 percent of median. These conditions have improved streamflow volume forecasts statewide, currently standing at 103 percent of median.

Credit: NRCS

From March 13-15, an impactful upslope storm shrouded the Front Range with SNOTELS reporting one to nearly four feet of new snow in the South Platte basin. Snowpack in the South Platte improved from 93 percent at the start of March to 115 percent by mid-March and ended the month at 121 percent. “This mid-March storm propelled many sites within this basin into the upper decile. Not only did Niwot SNOTEL receive five inches of SWE and a 41-inch increase in snow depth, ranking it third highest in its 44-year record, but this storm also mirrored these exceptional increases at numerous SNOTEL sites,” comments Nagam Gill, NRCS hydrologist. The Upper Rio Grande basin shows similar improvements and boosted snowpack at the start of the month from 84 to 96 percent mid-month. 

As Colorado surpasses the historical peak SWE date, typically in early April, our focus shifts from accumulating snowpack to the streamflow forecasts. The April 1 forecasts show improvement with most basins above median. Notably, 43 out of 87 streamflow monitoring stations have forecasted streamflow volumes above median. In the combined Yampa-White-Little Snake River basin streamflow volumes are forecasted at 120 percent and have all nine streamflow monitoring stations anticipating above median flows. Despite these positive developments, certain basins have not fully rebounded from the earlier deficits in the water year. “Statewide precipitation from October to December 2023 was at 80 percent, ranging from 59 to 87 percent across basins,” says Gill. “This below-median precipitation early in the water year could mean drier soils which would need to absorb more snowmelt, potentially affecting streamflow efficiency.” The combined San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan River basin, while receiving above median March precipitation at 145 percent, stands at 82 percent of median streamflow forecasts, reflecting a water year-to-date precipitation of 92 percent of median. The South Platte River basin benefitted from upslope storms, enhancing precipitation medians, and echoing this uptick in the streamflow volumes, with all 12 stations reporting near or above median 50% exceedance forecasts. Streamflow forecasts in the Upper Rio Grande and the Arkansas River basins are anticipating 96 and 107 percent, respectively. The Colorado Headwaters and Gunnison River basins are both forecasted above median streamflow at 105 and 104 percent, respectively. 

Although we await more detailed reservoir data, preliminary figures at the end of March indicate that storage levels have generally kept pace with historical medians ranging from 86 to 116 percent of median. The Yampa-White-Little Snake and South Platte River basins are maintaining near normal reservoir storage at 103 and 99 percent of median, respectively. The combined San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan River basin is at 86 percent with Navajo Reservoir at 82 percent of historical capacity. 

Credit: NRCS

* San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan River basin

* *For more detailed information about February mountain snowpack refer to the April 1st, 2024 Colorado Water Supply Outlook Report. For the most up to date information about Colorado snowpack and water supply related information, refer to the Colorado Snow Survey website. 

The April 1, 2024 #Colorado Water Supply Outlook Report is hot off the presses from the NRCS

Click the link to access the report on the NRCS website. Here’s an excerpt:

Wilderness Land Trust transfers Northern Lode inholding to the U.S. Forest Service

View of West Tennessee Creek from Northern Lode inholding. Photo credit: USFS

From email from the USFS:

LEADVILLE, Colo., April 9, 2024 – The Leadville Ranger District of the Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands in partnership with the Wilderness Land Trust, announce the acquisition of the 10.2 acre Northern Lode inholding located in Lake County near Leadville, Colorado. The entire property is within the boundary of the Holy Cross Wilderness. Acquisition of the inholding is under the authority of the Organic Act of August 3, 1956. Under the Wilderness Act of September 2, 1964, this parcel will be automatically designated as wilderness and will be precluded from development.

Wilderness areas provide a natural environment for plant and animal species, protect watersheds that provide clean drinking water to surrounding communities, filter and clean the air, sequester carbon and offer opportunities for solitude and recreation in a place mostly undisturbed by modern human development. The acquired parcel is only accessible by foot or horse travel and does not have any roads or trails. It has scenic views of the West Tennessee Creek drainage and the Continental Divide. Part of it straddles the ridgeline that runs between Galena Mountain and Homestake Peak, about a half mile from the West Tennessee Creek Lakes Trail #1499 and 3.25 miles from National Forest System Road 131. Historically, this parcel was utilized for mining and mineral exploration consisting of prospecting pits and horizontal passages for the purposes of access or drainage.

“The Wilderness Land Trust worked with the landowner for over a year before we were able to acquire the property in February 2022. This property was important for us to pick up firstly because it was a true wilderness inholding,” said Kelly Conde, lands specialist with Wilderness Land Trust. “It is located on a very steep slope, just below 13,000-foot Homestake Peak. Any mineral development would have had a big impact on the landscape. Secondly, this was the second to last private inholding on the Pike-San Isabel side of the Holy Cross Wilderness. As an organization that is dedicated to filling in the holes in our wilderness areas, it was exciting to be able to pick up and transfer the inholding to the U.S. Forest Service.”

“This is a great acquisition because wilderness inholdings can change the character and solitude of an area if developed,” said Leadville District Ranger Patrick Mercer. “Just by consolidating the land ownership, current and future preservation of the Holy Cross Wilderness takes a big step forward.  I’m really pleased that the team was able to get this across the finish line.”

The acquisition of the parcel falls within one of the categories that may be excluded from documentation in an Environmental Impact Statement or Environmental Analysis. A project or case file and decision memo are not required under 36 CFR 220.6(d)(6). Through the process of scoping and interdisciplinary review, no extraordinary circumstances significantly affecting the environment were found to exist.

One soldier with team of six dogs and sled at foot of Homestake Peak. Wikane, J. Harry (John Harry), 1915-1999. Date: 1943 via Denver Public Library Digital Collections



Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard to Protect 100M People from #PFAS Pollution

PFAS contamination in the U.S. October 18, 2021 via ewg.org.

Click the link to read the article on the Environmental Protection Agency website:

As part of the Administration’s commitment to combating PFAS pollution, EPA announces $1B investment through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to address PFAS in drinking water

April 10, 2024

WASHINGTON – Today, April 10, the Biden-Harris Administration issued the first-ever national, legally enforceable drinking water standard to protect communities from exposure to harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as ‘forever chemicals.’ Exposure to PFAS has been linked to deadly cancers, impacts to the liver and heart, and immune and developmental damage to infants and children. This final rule represents the most significant step to protect public health under EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. The final rule will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses. Today’s announcement complements President Biden’s government-wide action plan to combat PFAS pollution.                                                                          

Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, EPA is also making unprecedented funding available to help ensure that all people have clean and safe water. In addition to today’s final rule, EPA is announcing nearly $1 billion in newly available funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states and territories implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells address PFAS contamination. This is part of a $9 billion investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help communities with drinking water impacted by PFAS and other emerging contaminants – the largest-ever investment in tackling PFAS pollution. An additional $12 billion is available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for general drinking water improvements, including addressing emerging contaminants like PFAS. 

EPA Administrator Michael Regan will join White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory to announce the final standard today at an event in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 2017, area residents learned that the Cape Fear River, the drinking water source for 1 million people in the region, had been heavily contaminated with PFAS pollution from a nearby manufacturing facility. Today’s announcements will help protect communities like Fayetteville from further devastating impacts of PFAS.

“Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That is why President Biden has made tackling PFAS a top priority, investing historic resources to address these harmful chemicals and protect communities nationwide. Our PFAS Strategic Roadmap marshals the full breadth of EPA’s authority and resources to protect people from these harmful forever chemicals. Today, I am proud to finalize this critical piece of our Roadmap, and in doing so, save thousands of lives and help ensure our children grow up healthier.”   

“President Biden believes that everyone deserves access to clean, safe drinking water, and he is delivering on that promise,” said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “The first national drinking water standards for PFAS marks a significant step towards delivering on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice, protecting communities, and securing clean water for people across the country.”

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we are taking a whole-of-government approach to tackle PFAS pollution and ensure that all Americans have access to clean, safe drinking water. Today’s announcement by EPA complements these efforts and will help keep our communities safe from these toxic ‘forever chemicals,’” said Deputy Assistant to the President for the Cancer Moonshot, Dr. Danielle Carnival. “Coupled with the additional $1 billion investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help communities address PFAS pollution, the reductions in exposure to toxic substances delivered by EPA’s standards will further the Biden Cancer Moonshot goal of reducing the cancer death rate by at least half by 2047 and preventing more than four million cancer deaths — and stopping cancer before it starts by protecting communities from known risks associated with exposure to PFAS and other contaminants, including kidney and testicular cancers, and more.”

EPA is taking a signature step to protect public health by establishing legally enforceable levels for several PFAS known to occur individually and as mixtures in drinking water. This rule sets limits for five individual PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (also known as “GenX Chemicals”). The rule also sets a limit for mixtures of any two or more of four PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and “GenX chemicals.” By reducing exposure to PFAS, this final rule will prevent thousands of premature deaths, tens of thousands of serious illnesses, including certain cancers and liver and heart impacts in adults, and immune and developmental impacts to infants and children. 

This final rule advances President Biden’s commitment to ending cancer as we know it as part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot, to ensuring that all Americans have access to clean, safe, drinking water, and to furthering the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to environmental justice by protecting communities that are most exposed to toxic chemicals. 

EPA estimates that between about 6% and 10% of the 66,000 public drinking water systems subject to this rule may have to take action to reduce PFAS to meet these new standards. All public water systems have three years to complete their initial monitoring for these chemicals. They must inform the public of the level of PFAS measured in their drinking water. Where PFAS is found at levels that exceed these standards, systems must implement solutions to reduce PFAS in their drinking water within five years. 

The new limits in this rule are achievable using a range of available technologies and approaches including granular activated carbon, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange systems. For example, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, serving Wilmington, NC – one of the communities most heavily impacted by PFAS contamination – has effectively deployed a granular activated carbon system to remove PFAS regulated by this rule. Drinking water systems will have flexibility to determine the best solution for their community.

EPA will be working closely with state co-regulators in supporting water systems and local officials to implement this rule. In the coming weeks, EPA will host a series of webinars to provide information to the public, communities, and water utilities about the final PFAS drinking water regulation. To learn more about the webinars, please visit EPA’s PFAS drinking water regulation webpage. EPA has also published a toolkit of communications resources to help drinking water systems and community leaders educate the public about PFAS, where they come from, their health risks, how to reduce exposure, and about this rule. 

“We are thankful that Administrator Regan and the Biden Administration are taking this action to protect drinking water in North Carolina and across the country,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. “We asked for this because we know science-based standards for PFAS and other compounds are desperately needed.”

“For decades, the American people have been exposed to the family of incredibly toxic ‘forever chemicals’ known as PFAS with no protection from their government. Those chemicals now contaminate virtually all Americans from birth. That’s because for generations, PFAS chemicals slid off of every federal environmental law like a fried egg off a Teflon pan — until Joe Biden came along,” said Environmental Working Group President and Co-Founder Ken Cook. “We commend EPA Administrator Michael Regan for his tireless leadership to make this decision a reality, and CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory for making sure PFAS is tackled with the ‘whole of government’ approach President Biden promised. There is much work yet to be done to end PFAS pollution. The fact that the EPA has adopted the very strong policy announced today should give everyone confidence that the Biden administration will stay the course and keep the president’s promises, until the American people are protected, at long last, from the scourge of PFAS pollution.”

“We learned about GenX and other PFAS in our tap water six years ago. I raised my children on this water and watched loved ones suffer from rare or recurrent cancers. No one should ever worry if their tap water will make them sick or give them cancer. I’m grateful the Biden EPA heard our pleas and kept its promise to the American people. We will keep fighting until all exposures to PFAS end and the chemical companies responsible for business-related human rights abuses are held fully accountable,” said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear.

More details about funding to address PFAS in Drinking Water

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is making an unprecedented $21 billion available to strengthen our nation’s drinking water systems, including by addressing PFAS contamination. Of that, $9 billion is specifically for tackling PFAS and emerging contaminants. The financing programs delivering this funding are part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. 

Additionally, EPA has a nationwide Water Technical Assistance program to help small, rural, and disadvantaged communities access federal resources by working directly with water systems to identify challenges like PFAS; develop plans; build technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and apply for water infrastructure funding. Learn more about EPA’s Water Technical Assistance programs.

More details about the final PFAS drinking water standards:

  • For PFOA and PFOS, EPA is setting a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal, a non-enforceable health-based goal, at zero. This reflects the latest science showing that there is no level of exposure to these contaminants without risk of health impacts, including certain cancers. 
  • EPA is setting enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels at 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, individually. This standard will reduce exposure from these PFAS in our drinking water to the lowest levels that are feasible for effective implementation. 
  • For PFNA, PFHxS, and “GenX Chemicals,” EPA is setting the MCLGs and MCLs at 10 parts per trillion.
  • Because PFAS can often be found together in mixtures, and research shows these mixtures may have combined health impacts, EPA is also setting a limit for any mixture of two or more of the following PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and “GenX Chemicals.” 

EPA is issuing this rule after reviewing extensive research and science on how PFAS affects public health, while engaging with the water sector and with state regulators to ensure effective implementation. EPA also considered 120,000 comments on the proposed rule from a wide variety of stakeholders.

Background:

PFAS, also known as ‘forever chemicals,’ are prevalent in the environment. PFAS are a category of chemicals used since the 1940s to repel oil and water and resist heat, which makes them useful in everyday products such as nonstick cookware, stain resistant clothing, and firefighting foam. The science is clear that exposure to certain PFAS over a long period of time can cause cancer and other illnesses.  In addition, PFAS exposure during critical life stages such as pregnancy or early childhood can also result in adverse health impacts.

Across the country, PFAS contamination is impacting millions of people’s health and wellbeing. People can be exposed to PFAS through drinking water or food contaminated with PFAS, by coming into contact with products that contain PFAS, or through workplace exposures in certain industries. 

Since EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the PFAS Strategic Roadmap in October 2021, EPA has taken action – within the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach – by advancing science and following the law to safeguard public health, protect the environment, and hold polluters accountable. The actions described in the PFAS Strategic Roadmap each represent important and meaningful steps to protect communities from PFAS contamination. Cumulatively, these actions will build upon one another and lead to more enduring and protective solutions. In December 2023, the EPA released its second annual report on PFAS progress. The report highlights significant accomplishments achieved under the EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap.

Products that contain PFAS. Graphic credit: Riverside (CA) Public Utilities