The WRRC’s FY 2023 call for 104(b) research grant proposals has been delayed by national level changes to the 104(b) program schedule. Interested researchers at any of Arizona’s three universities should look for the Request for Proposals (RFP) in December 2022. As usual
December 09, 2022
Rep. Jim Kolbe Remembered for His Service to Southeastern Arizona
On Saturday, December 3, former congressional representative for Southern Arizona, Jim Kolbe, died at age 80. He had served in Congress for 22 years, from 1984 to 2006, for 20 years as a member of the influential House Appropriations Committee. Kolbe grew up in Patagonia, Arizona. After high school, he attended the US Capitol Page School in Washington, DC, and spent three years as a page for US Senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater. Following college at Northwestern, graduate school at Stanford, and service in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, he ran for the Arizona State Senate and was elected in 1977.
Both in state and federal legislatures, he was a strong advocate for his district, which included parts of Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz Counties. Although he embraced the old-school conservative economic values of free market capitalism, he also had a passion for the natural world and worked to protect important places. Among other environmental resources, the Upper San Pedro River benefitted from his consistent support. Over his tenure, the Upper San Pedro River Partnership, a citizens’ organization, was able to invest federal funding he championed in research, planning, and actions to preserve river flow through the San Pedro River Conservation Area.
Kolbe’s district also contained an area of Southeastern Arizona bordering Mexico, including the transboundary San Pedro River aquifer. About his commitment to water in the border region, WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal remembered, “Jim had a significant role in congressional authorization of the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program [TAAP],” a unique binational partnership in which the WRRC has been involved since its inception. In 2006, his last year in Congress, Kolbe invited Megdal to provide congressional subcommittee testimony on the needs and goals for the program. In the lame duck session of that same year, TAAP was established by Public Law 109-448 and signed by President Bush. That the TAAP has since significantly improved scientific cooperation between Mexico and the US on important shared groundwater resources is part of Jim Kolbe’s legacy. His vision and voice will be missed by many.
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Recent News
November 04, 2022
APW AmeriCorps Spotlight: Juliana Perez
My name is Juliana, and I am one of four AmeriCorps Water Educators in Tucson working with Arizona Project WET (APW). So much happened in our first few weeks on the job. We all jumped right into the action. As water educators, we are tasked with teaching students from 4th grade all the way through high school through APW’s different programs. During the first month, in addition to learning about water and how to lead the lessons through training and seminars, we also had firsthand teaching experiences.
November 04, 2022
Reclamation Announces New Federal Action on the Colorado River
On Friday, October 28, the US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) announced the initiation of an expedited process for developing a “Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS)” on proposed revisions to the December 2007 Record of Decision relating to the Colorado River Interim Guidelines. The SEIS will lay out options to address the troubling operating conditions facing the river system now and in the future. Public comments submitted by December 20 will be reflected in the draft SEIS to be released next spring, with the final expected in late summer.
November 04, 2022
WRRC Offers Three Events in November
The WRRC has three great events lined up for this month. Next week, on Thursday, November 10, we will be hosting a Brown Bag webinar featuring two University of Arizona (UArizona) graduate students who will each present on their 104(b) research projects. The presentation from Chandler Noyes will address the paleoclimate and past recharge rates in the Tucson Basin across the Holocene.
October 28, 2022
Divine Kickingbird Receives First Rodney Blaine Lewis Scholars Award
The inaugural recipient of the Rodney Blaine Lewis Scholars Award is Divine Kickingbird, who is enrolled at the University of Arizona as a first-year law student and aims to join the graduate program in Tribal Governance.
October 07, 2022
Desalination – A Solution to Dwindling Water Supply?
Desalination is often considered as an important option for augmenting Arizona’s water supply. WRRC Director Sharon Megdal has recently been consulted for news stories from NPR and ABC regarding desalination projects.