Tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow and their use in water management

Durango, CO - May 31, 2007

This half-day workshop was an "informational workshop" to provide water managers, stakeholders, and other interested parties in southwest Colorado with much the same information as was presented at previous workshops, with an emphasis on reconstruction data already available for the region. The Mountain Studies Institute (MSI), based in Silverton, served as co-sponsor of the workshop, with MSI director Koren Nydick coordinating the outreach and local logistics.

There were 15 participants from Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio, and Pagosa Springs, representing local water utilities, irrigation districts, water consultancies, and tribes (see participant list). After opening remarks by Koren about MSI's climate initiatives, I presented a "Durango-centric" version of our main instructional presentation, and took many good questions throughout the presentation. The consensus of the participants was that a reconstruction of the Animas River at Durango would be of broad interest. In an e-mail to the group after the workshop, I committed to developing that reconstruction by spring 2008, and returning to Durango to present it to the group. (Update: I did develop the streamflow reconstruction for the Animas, and presented it to a follow-up workshop in Durango in June 2008. The workshop report has a link to the reconstruction data.)

Jeff Lukas, University of Colorado & WWA