Informing the Public on Local Topics

    As a conservation association, it's part of the mission of the organization to bring people together and to strengthen the community around your local environment. Not only should the organization work on specific issues, but should be a place to learn more information about the environment and the places they protect as well. My job this past week has been to put together some informational paragraphs that HCCA can use in their newsletters, emails, and outreach materials. The topics I've been researching include land use designations, the tracking of environmental legislation and the navigation of NEPA and the ESI, the current state of our snow pack, drought in the Colorado River Basin, and trends in earlier runoff (tied to climate and other influences). These topics are extremely important this year, as we experience high winter temperatures and a very low snowfall year.
    Although I strive to keep a continuous flow of knowledge about local issues or topics connected to them, I had to research quite a bit of information. A couple of these topics stood out for different reasons. One of the biggest pieces of information I have learned since moving to Colorado has been about land designations and their uses. I had never visited a wilderness area before and although I knew about them, I had never experienced their (mostly) untouched beauty. Since I like to get out there as much as I can, I was quick to learn about all of these different areas and what they're used for. This one was easy to describe and write about because it's something that I've looked into a lot. Tracking environmental legislation and navigating NEPA and the ESI was something I didn't know much about. I knew a couple of databases and sites that were good for tracking environmental legislation, but I was a foreigner when it came to NEPA and ESI. Drought in the Colorado River Basin was tricky because I knew of the effect of drought in Wisconsin on its flat, agricultural lands. With this topic, however, I had to learn how it affects mountainous regions. This topic is especially relevant because of our low snow year and the worries for the dryer seasons to come.
    Overall, informing the public about different topics can really help to grow a community. In HCCA's case, it helps keep our community get involved in local issues or gets them thinking about topics they may not have thought of before.