by Alice Wood and Blair Hurst
Well, it finally rained at my house in Boulder last week, the first real rain of a very hot and very dry summer. And after that rain, everything shifted just a little. Now there is a cool breeze in the air at night, students are back at school, and everyone is chatting about what ski passes they might buy this year — all the early signs of autumn returning to Colorado. For people involved in the water world in Colorado (and aren’t we all in the water world in some form?), this is the time of year that thoughts also start turning to conferences and the opportunity to share the lessons learned over the previous year.
The articles featured in this issue of The Greenline provide a sampling of these lessons learned, and contribute to riparian improvements and protection from a variety of angles: weed management by the North Fork Weed Coop, using native willow species for revegetation, and restoration and land use management in the Rio Grande corridor. Some of the articles, such as the update on Colorado’s new in-stream temperature criteria and the application of beetles for Tamarisk management represent new regulations and innovative ideas that continually evolve as the result of sharing past lessons learned. As always, we in the water community continue to learn together and share ideas.
As editors, we would like to thank our contributing writers who facilitate this learning and sharing of knowledge, which furthers our understanding and awareness of important riparian issues. If you have a topic that you would like to share as an article in upcoming Greenline issues, please contact our editorial staff. With over 100 copies of the Greenline being mailed out with each issue, and online availability of both past and present issues, contributions are bound to reach a wide and diverse readership. We’re looking forward to the exciting ideas that will be discovered and shared over the coming year!