When: June 10–13, 2002
Where: Two Rivers Convention Center, Grand Junction, Colorado
Who should attend: Community and State leaders, Federal and State land managers and scientists, and anyone actively managing Mancos landscapes or researching issues related to those landscapes
What is a Mancos Landscape: A landscape, such as seen in a vista of the Grand Valley, for example, is made up of many elements—cliffs, the Colorado River and its tributaries, plants, farms, towns, various animals, highways, soils, and the underlying rocks. Each of these elements can be considered a separate landscape, such as a geomorphologic landscape, a hydrologic landscape, a geologic landscape, a botanic landscape, and so on. Together, these landscapes make up the complex landscape on which we live. In this workshop, we are concerned with and will focus on the complex landscape that is underlain by the Mancos shale.
Why a Workshop: Responsible stewardship of lands is a primary goal of many Federal and State agencies, as well as nongovernment organizations and citizen groups. Much of that land is underlain by marine shale, such as the Cretaceous age Mancos shale of western Colorado, northern New Mexico, and eastern Utah. During the last few decades, land use and water-quality issues related to Mancos landscapes have risen in prominence in the West Slope area of Colorado and parts of eastern Utah. Many immediate issues are related to specific, naturally occurring toxicants, such as selenium, and to the general loading of water and soils by a large group of elements and compounds (the salinity issue).
In this workshop, we plan to assess where we stand scientifically, to further develop lines of communication, to work with involved organizations to understand their immediate needs and concerns, to define what new research must be accomplished in order to address those needs, and to predict what effects may result from probable changes in land use and climate. We will produce a workshop summary that we anticipate will serve as a foundation for planning future, multiagency research related to the responsible stewardship of Mancos landscapes.
This workshop will NOT address political or water rights issues.
RSVP
Please contact Dick Grauch or Randy Olsen to let them know if:
1. You plan to attend
2. You want to present a poster session (If you want to present your research and/or issues in a poster format, respond to Dick Grauch)
3. You plan to attend the field trip
4. You are interested in helping to prepare the workshop summary on Thursday, June 13.
Randy Olsen
email: rwolsen@usgs.gov
phone: (303) 202-4743
FAX (303) 202-4742
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25046, Federal Center, MS 150
Denver, CO 80225Dick Grauch
e-mail: rgrauch@usgs.gov
phone: (303) 236-5551
FAX: (303) 236-3200
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25046, Federal Center, MS 973
Denver, CO 80225
We look forward to working with you!
.Preliminary Schedule
.Monday, June 10
- Afternoon field trip - A half-day overview of Mancos landscapes (geology, hydrology, geomorphology, trace element issues, and anthropogenic impacts)
.Tuesday, June 11
- Keynote speaker - to be announced
- Panel discussion by community and nongovernment organization leaders regarding their issues related to Mancos landscapes
- Panel discussion by Federal managers regarding:
- land use (recreation, urbanization, invasive species and grazing, irrigation)
- water quality (Clean Water Act, toxicity, trace elements, salinity)
- USGS programs involved with these issues
- Evening poster session presenting current research on Mancos landscapes and other regions with similar issues
.Wednesday, June 12
- Panel presentation by scientists addressing various aspects of Mancos landscapes with emphasis on summarizing what we know and what we don’t know
- Break-out sessions utilizing small groups with representatives of all panels charged with developing prioritized lists of needs and research required to help resolve those issues
.Thursday, June 13
- Small group meets to prepare a workshop summary and white paper that we anticipate will be used as a foundation for planning future, multiagency research activities that are based on prioritized community and land management issues related to Mancos landscapes.
