Colorado Water 2012

Since Mandy Tanner, the whitewater river ranger heroine of my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series, lives in Salida, Colorado, and patrols the upper Arkansas River, I'm always on the lookout for news items and issues related to water and river conservation in my native Rocky Mountains. Turns out, this past January, Colorado's Governor John W. Hickenlooper declared 2012 to be The Year of Water. All this year, special events are raising awareness of how precious fresh water is to our state, with the aim of increasing support for management and protection of Colorado’s water and waterways.

As the website for Colorado Water 2012 states, "What started as a small celebration to commemorate the major anniversaries of some of Colorado’s most important water organizations and legislation quickly grew into a statewide water awareness campaign called Colorado Water 2012.  Throughout the year 2012, Colorado Water 2012 will be connecting Coloradans to their water through resources, events, and activities created by seven Colorado Water 2012 Committees and by a coalition of over 200 volunteers statewide."

Part of the campaign is four traveling displays that libraries and museums in the state can reserve to educate their patrons about water issues. I've suggested to my local library, the Summit County Library, that they bring one of the displays to one of their branches. If you live in Colorado, check out the traveling display schedule at the Colorado Water 2012 website to see if one will appear near you soon. Also, check out the upcoming events in the events calendar. There are conferences, festivals, workshops, and speaker presentations scheduled all over the state!

I encourage all of my readers to go to the website and see what you can learn and how you can help this vital program.