Latest News

West Grand Watershed Week 

West Grand Watershed Week occurred the week of April 30, and in contrast with 2011 we enjoyed warm and sunny weather. Activities students engaged in included:  Tours of the Climax Molybdenum Mill, fish shocking and benthic macroinvertebrate collection and analysis, irrigation system manipulation, stream flow measurement and sinuosity assessment, and water chemistry analysis.  Over twenty-five local and state water and wildlife professionals helped us provide these three field trips with 12 activities.  About 100 students from West Grand Middle School participated.  Thanks to Jake Davis, Middle School Science Teacher for helping us with details and for helping us bring watershed science into the curriculum.

New VISTA

We have a new VISTA!  Celine Graas, BSc in Science, Economics and Business from Colorado School of Mines, will start July 23.  Celine is originally from Vermont and now lives in Colorado.  She has a minor in Science, Technology , Engineering and Policy (STEP) and spent her Junior year at the University of Newcastle, in Australia.  While in Newcastle, Celine was a GreenSteps intern at the university and conducted a water usage assessment with more sustainable recommendations.  In high school she participated in 4-H and public speaking.  Celine will be continuing our education programs, getting the NADP program up and running and helping us transition to managing without a VISTA once the grant ends in 2013.  Welcome Celine!

1% for the Planet Partnership

GCWIN recently received the news that our application to be a Non-Profit Partner with the 1% for the Planet has been approved!

Since 2002, 1% for the Planet has inspired members of the business community to contribute 1% of sales to environmental groups around the world. As a Non-Profit Partner, GCWIN will be able to receive funds from Business Partners from around the globe. Member companies donate directly to their desired nonprofits—not through 1% FTP. This is done to encourage independent, personal relationships between member companies and the groups they support. Learn more about 1% FTP here.

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Fall Education Programs

The last two weeks of September found GCWIN staff spending time in the halls of Middle Park High School as part of Bug Week. With a team of volunteers, we worked with 10th grade biology students enhancing their knowledge of watershed ecology. Students spent a day collecting data and conducting experiments at 7 sites throughout the Fraser River watershed.

The following week was Watershed Week and GCWIN worked closely with East Grand Middle School science teachers to create separate field trips for the three grades. Sixth graders spent the day around Grand Lake learning about human interactions in the watershed. Seventh graders took a hike on Berthoud Pass and collected bugs on the Fraser River. 8th graders conducted water chemistry tests and riparian habitat assessments as well as touring Granby Sanitation Plant.

GCWIN launches WILbUR: Grand County's New Water Quality Database

GCWIN is excited to announce that the Grand County's Water Information Library and Unified Reference (or WILbUR for short) has been launched.

Designed by Blue Otter Software, the database currently hosts GCWIN's temperature, air sampling and lake clarity data.

With a simple interface, full public access, features like google mapping, and the capacity to store millions of lines of data, we believe the database will be serve as a great asset for our community. Use the Database

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