Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership

Way back in February Emily Guerin wrote an article titled “How to Clean Up Abandoned Mines – Without Landing In Court”, which was accompanied by this great flow chart.  We just had to share it with our friends in the Uncompaghre Watershed!

To read the full article you can follow the link below the chart.

http://www.hcn.org/issues/45.2/how-to-clean-up-abandoned-mines-without-landing-in-court

The UWP celebrated Earth Day 2013 again with the Ridgway 4th Graders, Top of the Pines Board Member Chris Haaland, and the Ouray County Weed Manager, Ron Mabry!

Together, we completed a service project at Top of the Pines. We cleaned up organic brush and twigs, planted over 20 trees and seeded some of the area with native grass seeds. Every student got the opportunity to plant their own tree. In several years they can come visit TOP again and see how it grew!

Of course, an Earth Day celebration would not be complete without sweets — we enjoyed cupcakes to celebrate Ron Mabry’s birthday!

Thank you to all the 4th graders and volunteers who helped make this Earth Day fun and exciting!

Here are some photos from the day:

Last week, the UWP, along with the Mountain Studies Institute, Lake Fork Valley Conservancy and Hinsdale County, successfully celebrated our 3rd Annual San Juan Mining Conference in Lake City, CO.

Thanks to our generous and supportive sponsors (listed below), we welcomed speakers from all over the San Juan Mountains to talk about specific mine case studies, relevant research in the mining field, and the future outlook.

We also attended a tour of the Ute-Ulay Mine: The Mine that Made Lake City. This site was recently reclaimed while leaving its historic legacy in tact.

For more information on the conference or to view videos of the talks, please visit the Lake Fork Valley Conservancy Website or the Mountain Studies Institute site.

Thank you to our sponsors and to all that attended! We look forward to the 4th annual conference next year!

Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Caldera Mineral Resources
Newmont Mining
Star Mine Operations
Trout Unlimited
MOSAIC Community Project
Miners and Merchants Bank
Alpine Bank (Ridgway)

Thanks to Camille Price from the Colorado Division of Mining Reclamation and Safety, speakers from a variety of involved parties came to the Ouray Community Center to give a public update on the Idarado Mine Remediation Project.

Larry Fiske of Newmont Mining Company, Sherm Worthington of Worthington-Miller Environmental LLC, and Doug Jamison of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, along with Mrs. Price, were available for a panel discussion after the presentation.

The event went great with nearly 50 Ouray community members in attendance and a lively set of questions during the panel Q&A.

You can view Idarado’s recent Red Mountain Creek Investigation Report here. You can also view the Plaindealer article written on the event for more information here or the guest commentary in The Watch here.

Watch the video of the event on our YouTube channel here: http://youtu.be/MzzeiTrTwmM

Thanks to Joe from the Trail Town Still, we had a successful trivia night once again.

On Wednesday, February 27, community members gathered to show off their knowledge and enjoy some delicious special cocktails prepared by Joe and Danielle. Congrats to our winners: Brendan Allison, Dan Murphy and Aaron Silverman!

A special thanks to Joe for donating a generous portion of the sales from the event to the UWP! We’re very grateful for his contribution.

Stay tuned for more information about upcoming trivia nights!

Joe and one of our winners, Brendan Allison, showing off some Trail Town swag!

The UWP is proud to announce that or organization was chosen to be highlighted by the Colorado Watershed Assembly this week! Thank you to Erika Shioya and the rest of the folks at CWA for selecting us!

To read our highlight, please visit: http://www.coloradowater.org/How%20Groups%20Are%20Helping

Due to uncooperative weather, the UWP and Don Paulson decided to postpone the Mine Tour one week — and good thing we did! The weather was fantastic on our warm Saturday morning on February 2.

Over a dozen folks came out to the Visitor’s Center to enjoy breakfast provided by Artisan Bakery and Exotic Earth Coffee Roasters. Then we carpooled over the pass to ski and snowshoe along County Road 31. The road was covered in deep, yet manageable snow!

Dr. Don Paulson from the Ouray Historical Society lead us up the hill to view the most famous mines in Ouray including the Guston and the Yankee Girl. At the end of the tour, we enjoyed hot toddys, hot chocolate and snacks, then skiied down.

Thank you to all who attended, donated, and evaluated. We hope you all learned something. Additionally, thank you Don Paulson for your amazing oration and for sharing your knowledge with us.

We can’t wait for our next snowshoe/XC ski adventure!

Get ready for this Saturday! Don Paulson will be leading the UWP and other folks from the community on a ski/snowshoe tour of the local mines in Ouray.

We are ecstatic to have Dr. Paulson, a local recognized mining expert, share his knowledge of the history of Ouray with us! All are welcome, even kids, beginners and dogs!

We will meet at the Ouray Visitor’s Center on January 26th at 9am, and carpool from there. We will also enjoy some refreshments from Exotic Earth Coffee Roasters and the Artisan Bakery.

We are suggesting a donation of $25, but any amount will be appreciated.

You can sign up online here, or e-mail uwpvista@gmail.com, or call (860)930-6369 to sign up! Space is limited so sign up today!

Here are local press releases from The Plaindealer and The Watch!