Winter 2002-2003 Bulletin

Rio Grande Delegation Attends Florida Everglade’s 18th Annual Conference

In recent years, Michael Chenoweth of the Isaak Walton League of America and Everglades Program Director Shannon Estenoz have invited other groups focused on projects similar to the Florida Everglades Program to their annual conference. Their purpose is to establish a dialogue, exchange information, compare and contrast strategies and to ally in world-wide ecosystem restoration. Thus a Rio Grande Delegation was invited as the special guest of The Everglades Coalition’s 18th Annual Conference January 9-12, 2003 at Delray Beach, Florida. The five-member Rio Grande Delegation was made up of Jennifer Atchley Montoya and Beth Bardwell of the World Wildlife Fund, UNM Law School Professor Denise Fort, Amigos Bravos’ Cynthia Gomez, and Steve Harris of Rio Grande Restoration. The Rio Grande Delegation presentation and question period entitled “Rio Grande & The Everglades: Rescuing American Icons” was attended by over 100 participants. Denise Fort gave an overview of legal and technical aspects of the Rio Grande; Beth Bardwell offered an overview of the restoration vision and diversity of region; Steve Harris offered an insightful historical overview of use, management, and mis-management of the river basin, and Cynthia Gomez identified cultural and political comparisons of the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the Florida Everglades. “Michael and Shannon rolled out the red carpet for the Rio Grande Delegation. They made it a point to schedule meetings with influential leaders of the Coalition including Bill Leary, Director for Natural Resources with the Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President. Not only did they share lessons learned, they shared valuable networks and resources that will assist in advancing a vision for restoring the Rio Grande. Overall, the benefits of the conference were beyond our expectations,” said Cynthia Gomez, Albuquerque Projects Director of Amigos Bravos. During the past 18 years, the Florida Everglades Coalition has overcome many barriers, including coordinating agencies and organizations working independently to protect and restore the Florida Everglades ecosystems. Their success has been founded on excellent leadership and strong bi-partisan support from local and national representatives. Opening the 18th Annual Conference was Interior Secretary Gail Norton, who was supportive of restoration efforts in the Everglades. Participants at this year’s conference included Florida Senators Constatine (R) and Bob Graham (D), NH Senator Bob Smith, OH Senator George V. Voinovich (R), County Commissioners, Real Estate and business leaders, Universities, as well as numerous grassroots organizations and local, state and federal agencies actively involved with the restoration efforts. The Conference offered the Rio Grande Delegation a new opportunity to envision how restoration efforts on the Rio Grande can be organized at every level. Non-profit, local and grassroots efforts, our elected officials, private business groups, and national, state and local agencies must all participate in the vision and the action of restoring the Rio Grande to its greatness. It was also realized that unfortunate limitations exist for effective restoration in the Florida Everglades. There are some places where natural environments cannot be restored because once the natural process has been interrupted, it is often impossible to replicate what took thousands of years for nature to create. This knowledge supports the argument for establishing a critical defense and protection of our mountain and river ecosystems. Can you imagine life without a living river? Collective strategy is essential to river protection and conservation.

 

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