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<br />j t.LLU1<JUt. TJMt..:j-)UGltJ'JAL <br /> <br />)ULI .:J.;, J..7;/L. <br /> <br />A .'liiht' experience in Carbondale; a ~ dense' festival in Telluride <br /> <br />.. WATER... What a <br />marvelous event the Telluride <br />Institute pulled off this past <br />weekend, bringing together the <br />likes of Dr. De Vraj Shanna, <br />Attorney John Musick, Jr., Dr. <br />David Cooper and our own Dr. <br />David Groeneveld for a fascinat- <br />ing examination of our region's <br />most precious resource. <br />Shanna outlined exactly the <br />questions that needed asking <br />and the data that needed <br />collecting to fashion a reliable <br />model for calculating water <br />issues in this basin. <br />Musick pointed out the <br />rudimentary -a's" that rule <br />Colorado's water alphabet, from <br />appropriation to abandonment (I <br />only wish we could have heard <br />more from him). . <br />Cooper explained that cutting <br />wetland willows is tantamount <br />to CUlling old-growth forests <br />(which reminds me of how <br /> <br />heartsick I was when the <br />highway department cleared <br />acres of willows from Society <br />Turn to Gold King a few years <br />back without so much as a <br />public hearing) and how The <br /> <br />Up <br />Bear <br />Creek <br /> <br /> <br />art <br />goodUm... <br /> <br />Telluride Co. 's allemptto claim <br />water for snowmaking could <br />possibly dewater the San Miguel <br />in the winter. <br />And Groeneveld gave us <br />aerial photos to show how the <br />San Miguel River once flowed <br />and how we've damaged <br />alluvial fans and riparian areas <br />with our roads, trails and <br />development. <br />The afternoon's hot seat for <br />the major water players was <br />instructive, since even Idarado <br />and Telco showed up to explain <br />their positions and everyone <br />heard hydro-ezar Eric Jacobson <br />plead for negotiated settlement <br />of competing water needs <br />(modeled after the recent <br />Idarado settlement of <br />remediation issues and the <br />area's precedent-setting <br />TREPAC agreements on <br />development mailers) rather <br /> <br />than for this community to <br />succumb to the endless, costly <br />cycle of litigation that most <br />basins experience. <br />Hats offlo Pamela and John <br />Lifton-Zoline for once again <br />focusing impeccable light on a <br />local issue of intense interest <br />now and into the future and to <br />San Miguel Valley Corp.'s <br />Charlie Haas for being there to <br />listen and learn as well as speak. <br />