Schedule and event details below.


High Country Citizens’ Alliance is pleased to bring you the 4th annual River Awareness Week, May 25th through the 30th. We are excited about this year’s events because there are many important issues that are unfolding as we speak that could affect our watershed. It is a great time to get informed and learn about how our water quality may be affected as the summer goes on. It is also a time to relax and enjoy some of our entertaining events throughout the week. There is something for everyone this year.


We Also Need volunteers!

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival, sponsored by Patagonia, will be held at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts on Friday the 25th. Volunteers will receive free admission to this great evening of film. Sign up to find out more about this event.

HCCA will be at the Gunnison River Festival on Saturday the 26th with New Belgium Brewing. We will need volunteers to help out at the New Belgium Brewing tent in the afternoon as well as at the HCCA table. Help us out and taste your favorite New Belgium beverages.

On Sunday the 27th, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer. Join HCCA and the Gunnison Paddle Club for a river clean-up. In the evening, savor the delights at the Dutch Oven Cook-Off followed by Black Canyon Bluegrass at the Eldo where Sunday night volunteers will receive free admission.


Great Workshops from our Local Sponsors

Throughout the week workshops will be sponsored by local businesses. Please be on the lookout for workshop details. Also ongoing throughout the week raffle tickets will be available for purchase for a chance to win great prizes. The raffle drawing will be held at the Eldo on Sunday!

Proceeds from all River Awareness Week events benefit HCCA’s work of protecting and restoring the waters of the Upper Gunnison River Basin. For more info or to volunteer contact Stephen at stephen@hccaonline.org or 970-349-7104

River Awareness Week Schedule of Events
May 25-30 2007
(Note times and events subject to change, more info soon)


Friday, May 25th
o Patagonia Presents: Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival on Tour. To be held at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts for a one time showing. Film Festival begins at 7pm. Doors open at 6:30 Tickets $10 in advance $12 at door. Tickets are available in Gunnison at Mocha’s Coffee house, and in Crested Butte at the HCCA office and Dragonfly Anglers


Saturday, May 26th
o Visit High Country Citizens’ Alliance and New Belgium Brewing Company at the Beer Garden during the Western Slope River Festival all day at the Gunnison White Water Park.


Sunday, May 27th
o Join HCCA and the Gunnison Valley Paddle Club for a river clean up. Meeting time is 10am at the Almont Campground.
o Sunday Evening we will be hosting the 2nd annual Dutch Oven Cook-off. Join us at the CB Town Park Pavilion from 4:30-8pm. Sign up for events later in the week and meet the local boating community and talk water issues, or just hang out and enjoy the good food. Registration and food prep begins at 4:30. Food will be served around 5:45
o “Black Canyon Bluegrass” presents the Spring Creek bluegrass band @ The Eldo. Tickets are $6 show begins around 9:30.


Monday, May 28th
o Set your alarm clock to in the Audubon Society for a bird watching tour at Neversink west of Gunnison on Hwy 50. Meet at Mocha’s Coffee house in Gunnison at 7:45am. Bring your Binoculars!
o HCCA donor rafting trip with Scenic River Tours. Garlic Mikes put in 1:30 Monday


Tuesday, May 29th
o Fly Fishing The High Country. Basic introduction to small stream fly-fishing. Tackle, tips and tactics for catching trout. Aquatic insects, their life-cycles and how to imitate them. Bring a light fly rod, river sandals and rain jacket. Meet at the Troutfitter @ 10 am. Tuesday, May 29th. Location to be determined. Rods available for rent. Practice your fly casting please. For more info email dom@troutfitter.com.
o Join Friends of Coal Creek’s Anthony Poponi to see how water testing is conducted in the Coal Creek Drainage. Potential to become a water quality monitoring volunteer with Friends of Coal Creek. Meet at the Crested Butte Visitor Center at the 4 way stop.
o Visit the Keystone Mine Water Treatment Plant just above Crested Butte town. See how this plant runs and how it keeps our water clean. Sign up in advance. Meet at facility 2pm.
o EPA Standard Mine Advisory Group meeting. Junior Room of the Crested Butte Town Hall, public welcome.


Wednesday, May 30th
o Join the EPA for a morning hike to the Standard Mine cleanup site. We’ll learn from the experts themselves what the clean up of the Super Fund Site will include and how it will affect both Elk and Coal Creeks. Sign up by Sunday Evening to attend. Public welcome. Meet at the Crested Butte Visitor Center at 9am.
o Join the Upper Gunnison Monitoring Stakeholder Group to discuss upward trend of phosphorous loading throughout the basin. UGRWCD office in Gunnison at 234 N. Main St. 3rd floor at 9am. Public welcome.
o In the afternoon visit the Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery for a tour of the hatchery and the
Mitigated wetlands on the property. Meet at 1pm at Hatchery. To car pool from CB meet at Visitor Center at 12:30.


River Awareness Week Sponsors Are
Patagonia, Gunnison County, Scenic River Tours, Mochas Coffee House, Dragonfly Anglers, Scott Fly Rods, Crested Butte Mountain Guides, Stone Cold Tattoo, New Belgium Brewing, Gunnison Valley Paddle Club, Tom’s of Maine, The Troutfitter, flyfishingguides.com, Anglingbookstore.com, Almont Anglers, 3 Rivers Fly Shop

Friday evening on May 25th, HCCA & Patagonia present the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival on Tour for a one-time showing at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts at 7pm. A variety of films have been carefully selected to highlight water issues and the environment. Look below for the film line up and details! Tickets can be purchased in advance at the HCCA office for $10 or at the door for $12.
Films:

Nomads: Wandering Women of the Whitewater Tribe
Polly Green, Chris Emerick
Follow the travels of three whitewater kayaking women as they paddle the Zambezi and White Nile Rivers of Africa. Along the way they are unexpectedly touched by a small village in Uganda struggling with the realities of malaria. The river has empowered these women to make a difference. Best Social Action Adventure Film, Tahoe/Reno International Film Festival; Finalist, Best Film on Mountain Culture and Environment, Wanaka Mountain Film Festival (US, 2004, Adventure Documentary, 21min)
www.pollyhgreen.com
www.softpowerhealth.org

The Mouth Revolution (animation)
Free Range Studios
Tired of blindly following the brains, mouths revolt worldwide, refusing to eat any more garbage. Viva la Mouthalucion! Starring upside down chins.(US, 2006, Animation, 5min)
www.freerangestudios.com

Life of the River: the Futaleufu
Channel G
Known for its amazing rapids, mountain scenery and endangered species the Futaleufú has been recognized as one the world’s most outstanding river environments. But power companies controlled by foreign corporations and the Chilean government are proposing a huge hydro development. People from many countries, including Chileans, are calling for the permanent protection of the river. (US, 2006 Documentary, 5:50min)
www.channelg.tv
www.futafriends.org

Exploring the Mother of Waters
Mick O’Shea, Brian Eustis
Known throughout much of it’s basin as ‘Mae Nam Khong’ which, in English means ‘Kong, Mother of Waters’, the Mekong Basin, is one of the worlds most diverse environments and until the making of this film significant portions of the river remained neither navigated, explored or filmed at ground level. This film uses the historic first full exploration of the river by boater Mick O’Shea from the source in Tibet to South China as a medium through which to expose the natural and cultural wonders of the region and the more pressing issues that threaten its future. (Australia, 2006, Adventure/Environmental Documentary, 43:30min)
www.mekongdescentfoundation.org


Intermission:


The Fallz
Larry Huntington, Terry Huntington
Journey into South America with local filmmaker Larry Huntington as he shares the great power of nature at the Iguazu Waterfall on the border of Argentina and Brazil. (US, 2005, Short, 6min)
www.tlhproductions.com

Buffalo Field Campaign
Channel G
Each winter and spring, the country’s most important herd of wild bison migrate out of Yellowstone National Park and into a conflict zone. These bison face harrassment, capture and ruthless slaughter when they attempt to access public lands to forage and birth their young. Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers are in the field putting themselves at risk to document every action taken against this herd. (US, 2006, Documentary, 7:12min)
www.channelg.tv
www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

Down the Copper River
Thomas Dunklin
Take a journey down the Copper River, with featured musician and raft captain, David Lynn Grimes. Also featured in the clip are aerial and raft based views of the Copper River and sea otters, salmon, eagles, and grizzly bears. The music video is one chapter from a 4-chapter DVD, entitled “Copper River Perspectives.” (US, 2004, Music Video, 3:12min) www.thomasdunklin.com
www.redzone.org

The True Cost of Food (animation)
2006 festival
Tate Hausman, Free Range Studios
Learn the truth behind your weekly grocery bills. The hidden environmental, health, and social costs of agribusiness food is scary, to say the least. This great animated piece shows that anything but local organic food is unaffordable. (US, 2004, 15 min.) www.freerangestudios.com

Global Focus – The New Environmentalists
Will Parinello, John Antonelli, Tom Dusenberry
Grassroots environmental heroes too often go unrecognized. Yet their efforts to protect the world’s natural resources are increasingly critical to the well-being of the planet we all share. Thus, in 1990 San Francisco civic leaders and philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman created the Goldman Environmental Prize. The Goldman Prize continues today with its original mission to annually honor grassroots environmental heroes from around the world. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world. Mion Environmental Award 2006; Sol D’Or and Ciutat di Tortossa Award, Barcelona International Environmental Film Festival.
www.goldmanprize.org

Visit HCCA at the Gunnison River Festival at the Gunnison White Water Park on Saturday, May 26. There will be an informational booth to help folks learn more about the state of the Gunnison River and issues concerning our watershed. New Belgium Brewing Company will sponsor a Beer Garden and donate proceeds to HCCA. Visit http://www.gunnisonriverfestival.com/index.html for more details on theGunnison River Festival.

Returning for a second time we are offering delicious campfire gormet food at our Dutch Oven cook-off in Crested Butte’s Town Park on Sunday, May 27th from 5-8pm. Participants will begin assembling their entres from 4:30 to 5 and will be served after 5:30. Now is the time to perfect your favorite Dutch Oven recipe to share with others and get recognition for creating the best dessert, appetizer, or Dutch Oven meal. This river celebration at Crested Butte Town Park is a great opportunity to register for any of the week’s activities, meet other river enthusiasts, talk water issues, taste great food, and drink a cold one while playing your favorite river games. Contact HCCA today if you’d like to participate in the Dutch Oven cook-off, for your chance to become King or Queen of Dutch Ovens.

“Black Canyon Bluegrass” presents the Spring Creek bluegrass band @ The Eldo. Tickets are $6 show begins around 9:30. Spring Creek will be debueting their new album Rural and Cosmic Bluegrass!

Join the Coal Creek Watershed Coalition's Anthony Poponi to see how water testing is conducted in the Coal Creek Drainage. Potential to become a water quality monitoring volunteer with Friends of Coal Creek. Meet at the Crested Butte Visitor Center at the 4 way stop

Measurement Activities Include:

Bio Indicators – Macroinvertebrate sampling and discussion

Fish Shocking – Colorado Department of Wildlife will demonstrate the technique and its use

Water Sampling – What the Coal Creek Watershed Coalition samples and why those parameters are important.

Measuring Stream Flow – this will likely occur with the water sampling demonstration.

It’s going to be interactive, with people helping with the sampling and measurements so be ready for a morning in the outdoors.