Caring for our Arroyos Workshop Registration
2012 New Mexico Watershed Forum
The Santa Fe Watershed Association Presents…
“Caring for Arroyos in Your Neighborhood”
When: Friday & Saturday, September 21-22, 2012, 8:30 am–4:30 pm, both days
Where: Genoveva Chavez Community Center – Class Room 1, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Workshop Overview
For several years, the City of Santa Fe and several non-profit organizations and local businesses have worked on the restoration of degraded arroyos in Santa Fe. The goal of these efforts has been to improve arroyo functionality, safety, and ecological health with a view to improving surface water quality, stormwater drainage, recreational functions, and wildlife habitat connectivity of arroyos throughout the City. In recent years, more erratic and violent storms and flow events have degraded arroyo channels, eroded arroyo banks, undermined infrastructure, and deposited sediment in undesirable locations. Lately, the City of Santa Fe and local organizations have been working together to address current and anticipated problems with arroyo management and have begun planning for needed improvements.
What are the steps forward to establish a solid management system for arroyos in Santa Fe? This workshop will help participants find ways to collaborate on arroyo restoration and stewardship efforts. The workshop will highlight important arroyo functions, their values for residents and resource managers, City management priorities, and local collaboration opportunities. The workshop includes two field trips. The first field trip will take participants along several arroyos that need improvement and that have been improved. During the second day field trip, participants will take a guided tour of the Arroyo de los Chamisos which includes a brief hands-on outdoor workshop session to improve existing infiltration gardens. The workshop will teach participants a series of techniques for stormwater infiltration and erosion control.
For more information and to register, please click here. Registration closes by September 14th. The workshop is free of charge! Participation is limited to 30 people, and we need all participants to commit to participating for the two full days.
Other Workshop Details
Workshop Goals & Audience: The goal of the workshop is bring together residents, neighborhood leaders and volunteers, along with local arroyo experts, City and County staff, and decision makers, to explore ways to collaborate on arroyo restoration and stewardship efforts. The workshop offers residents an opportunity to learn more about arroyos, take leadership initiative as arroyo stewards, and support planned arroyo restoration work by the City of Santa Fe funded by the City’s newly adopted CIP “Geo-bond.” The workshop also aims to help City and County staff and other professionals to include public concerns and needs in the planning of prioritized arroyo improvements.
Speakers:
- Amy Lewis (Amy Lewis Hydrology & Water Planning – invited)
- Beverley Spears (Spears Architects)
- Brian Drypolcher (City of Santa Fe River Coordinator – invited)
- Colleen Baker (Santa Fe County Open Space & Trails Division – invited)
- Dave Catanach (City of Santa Fe, Streets & Drainage Division)
- Dave Pike (City of Santa Fe, Stormwater Division)
- Felicity Broennan (Santa Fe Watershed Association)
- Jan-Willem Jansens (Ecotone)
- Jim Hays (Hays Associates, Inc. – invited)
- Richard Powell (NMED – invited)
- Rosemary Romero (Facilitator)
- Wendy Blackwell (State of New Mexico DHSEM Preparedness Bureau – invited)
Key Cooperators: City of Santa Fe
Field Trips & Transportation: Each day of the workshop includes a field trip. The first day, we will take a tour through Santa Fe to look at several arroyos and the Santa Fe River to compare conditions before and after restoration work. We will have vans available for this tour. We welcome it if some people prefer to carpool. On Saturday September 22, we will take a guided walk from the Genoveva Chavez Center in the Arroyo de los Chamisos to look at several stormwater management structures and infiltration gardens. This workshop component also includes hands-on instruction on how to build and maintain such structures by assisting with the repair and removal of invasive plants in some of the infiltration gardens. We will return to the Genoveva Chavez Center by 4:30 pm.
Meals: Each workshop day we will offer a lunch in the workshop meeting space. We also offer coffee/tea and refreshments during the workshop.
Optional After-Workshop Events: On Friday September 21, we will offer an optional Happy Hour and tour of the Santa Fe Botanical Garden site at Museum Hill along the Arroyo de los Pinos.
Final Details & Directions: Upon your registration, we will send you more detailed registration information, directions to the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, and field trip details. If you have any questions, please contact Jan-Willem Jansens at jwjansens@gmail.com or by phone at 505-470-2531.
Acknowledgement: This workshop is made possible through a generous grant from the New Mexico Environment Department – Surface Water Quality Bureau in connection to the 2012 New Mexico Watershed Forum. For more 2012 NM Watershed Forum events, please visit www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swqb/wps/2012WatershedForum. We also are very grateful for the generous support offered by the City of Santa Fe, especially the use of the Genoveva Chavez Community Center and many hours of staff support for this event.