First Harlan's Hawk this season in Canon City

I found this dark (intermediate) morph Harlan's Hawk in Canon City day before yesterday. When I first spotted it the hawk was hiding (for real) in the trees as shown in pic just below.

Once the hawk left the shelter of those trees it was immediately escorted away from that area by the apparent resident pair of Western Red-tails. Fortunately (shown in top pic) it found refuge in the riparian forest along the Arkansas River not far away.

As these pics show this hawk has a lot of white on it's head, mottled black and white breast, barred and mottled remiges, black outer primaries, and pale gray-rufous type tail (one of the many types found on Harlan's). I looked yesterday for it but did not refind it though it could still be in the area. SeEtta

Admin notice

More pics of Canon City Vermilion Flycatcher

Though with the 400mm lens I use, a 1.4 extender and the multiplier for my dslr camera because it is not 'full frame', which gives the equivalent of about 900 mm (about 18 X the normal view) zoom, the Vermilion Flycatcher was too distant for very good pics (and it was 6:30 pm so the lighting wasn't good either). The pics were taken from about 90 feet but when I tried to get 20 feet closer the bird fly further away. I tried unsuccessfully to refind her. However, the darkish mask and streaked underparts are visible. And the bird dipped it's tail, phoebe-like, which is the first thing I saw that with it's light coloration made me think this was a Vermilion. The light yellowish wash on it's lower belly and vent area instead of a salmon/pinkish coloration is indicative of first year birds. SeEtta

Female Vermilion Flycatcher visiting Canon City,CO area

Late today I spotted this first year female Vermilion Flycatcher in the Canon City,CO area. A rarity here and much of Colorado, there have been only 1 or 2 other records since I found the first Vermilion which was also a first year female. Two more pics to come. SeEtta

Does the Roundtable have any real value

Although we accomplished our first objective of setting Bylaws by their approval at our last Basin Roundtable meeting (we accomplished our second objective by electing our IBCC representatives earlier), the issue was raised about what we are doing in the Roundtable.

Having just read the "Agreements Between Roundtables" Issue Paper that comes from the second meeting of the IBCC, I thought there were several items salient to the discussion of the potential value of the Roundtable process. Following is the last section of that Issue Paper on "Value Added" that may be helpful in discussing what we are doing here. SeEtta:

"Value Added
Entities already have the power to enter into negotiated agreements and the Interbasin Compact Process does not provide regulatory or binding powers to the roundtables or the IBCC. So what value does this process add? The Interbasin Compact Process achieves a number of objectives adding value to authorities that already exist:

· Organizational structure
Although entities have always had the power to enter into negotiated agreements, there has never been an organizational structure through which to approach negotiations. The roundtables and the IBCC offer this forum and an organizational structure which entities can choose to use.

· Political support
Even though roundtables do not have regulatory or binding authority, they do represent a strong political base. Because of the diversity of interests represented on the roundtables, agreements reached through this process will have the value of early input from many parties, and should have broad support.

·Alternative venue
Roundtables and the IBCC provide an alternative venue to address issues of concern surrounding a water deal/project. Historically, issues of concern have been raised either in water court or through a permitting process. As a deal or project reached the point where a permit or action in water court was needed, entities with concerns would raise those issues as objectors. This process has proved costly and time consuming. The Interbasin Compact Process does not replace the jurisdiction of the courts or change permitting authority; but if concerns of would be objectors are dealt with through the Interbasin Compact Process, the time and cost of permitting and court proceedings may be reduced.
· Trust
In order to enter negotiations entities need to conclude that they will be better off negotiating than not negotiating. They also need to conclude that their needs will not be subordinated. The openness and broad-based participation of the Interbasin Compact Process fosters this.

· Resources
Negotiating entities often have a disparity of resources and information. The Interbasin Compact Process can offer the resources and common information basis to allow productive negotiations."

Bylaws draft-hopefully final-

You can read the most recent,and hopefully final, draft of Bylaws for the Arkansas Basin Roundtable here then clicking on the Bylaws. This includes a section on Disclosure located in Article VI, Section 3 that our Subcommittee worked out.

The full Roundtable will vote on these at our next meeting on March 9 (see post below for details)

I believe that our Roundtable has taken our job very seriously and thus has taken longer than the other Roundtables to work on Bylaws which the bylaws subcommittee effected in a truly collaborative process. I am especially proud that we were able to include a section on Disclosure, which is unique to our Roundtable.
SeEtta

Ark Roundtable 3-8-06 meeting notice

Please note new location

Meeting Notice


The seventh meeting of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable formed under the Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act will be held in Pueblo, Colorado.



Date: Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Time: 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Colorado State University
Cooperative Extension, Southern Region
Pueblo Occhiato University Center
2200 Bonforte Boulevard, LW-331
Pueblo, Colorado

Directions: Coming from the North or South

At Interstate 25 Exit Ramp 101 (Intersection of I-25 and US Highway 50), take Colorado 47 East.

On Colorado 47, travel East for approximately 3 miles to the Troy Avenue Exit. You will see the University on the left as you approach the exit. (Go past the Bonforte Blvd. Exit and through the underpass, Troy is the next exit you will come to.)

Exit, get in the Left Lane. You will come to a left hand turn (the road will veer to the left, follow this). Get in the right lane and make a right at the intersection. You will see a large building with a metal roof and a red awning, this is the gymnasium. Go past the gym to North 2 or 3 parking lots, located west of the gym. Park in any of the white striped parking spaces, campus parking will not be ticketing in these lots the day of the meeting.

Enter the University Center on the South side of the building, or the East doors directly into the East Ballroom.


All roundtable meetings are open and the public is encouraged to attend.

What is "our" interest

I always appreciate the efforts Gary puts into the Roundtable but I have a very different perception of what constitutes "our" interests. That which is in the best interest of one family may well be not in the interest of another family--I think that is why we are in the bad shape we are in. And that is also why I think it is essential that persons be made responsible to declare their interests. Again, as I said in above examples, we might have someone who ostensibly is representing the interests of the group they were elected/appointed to represent, but they promote a project that is opposite those known interests because they have some personal financial interest that is not known--this may well be in the interest of their family as they may make hundreds of thousands of dollars from the project, but it is not something that is in the interest of their group or this basin.

So I must disagree with Gary's propositions. Although he makes a case for assuming everyone has pure motives to promote what is best for the basin, that is clearly unrealistic. I cannot understand why anyone who is concerned for the interests of the basin as a whole would have any objections to a rule that says people are responsible to disclose other interests. If no one ends up with these other interests, then there would be no need for disclosure and no issue. I think that finding out later that people hid their personal interests would be what sabotages this process.
SeEtta

Disclosure-my recommended modification

Following is my recommended modification (changed text in italics) to the disclosure clause recommended by Gary Barber:

Section 3. Disclosure of Interests. The validity of consensus is derived from the collective understanding of each Member concerning both the issue and the perspective of fellow Members on that issue. It is realized that Members may have interests other than those for which they have been appointed or elected to the Roundtable, and that these may influence how the Member stands and presents positions on issues. In the interest of transparency required for effective decision making, it is the responsibility of each Member to disclose any substantive interest outside of the identified interest for which the Member is serving on the Roundtable that the Member, or the immediate members of the Member's family, has/have in matters that are the subject in Policy Decisions


SeEtta