Four Corners • Entered by Jennifer Singer on December 29, 2024
Nexus of Land and Water Southwest Initiative on Land Health and Water Resources
October 30, 2024
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 0 |
| Post Admin hours | 4 |
| Activity Hours | 8 |
| Participants | 1 |
| Total Hours | 12 |
Key Issue: Water-related Conservation
Activity Type: Trainings (WALTS, CAREs/GLOWs, research, conferences, workshops, etc.)
Key Partners: Wright-Ingraham Institute & Mountain Studies Institute
Short Description of Activity
We called it the dust-on-snow symposium. “Over the last six months, 21 researchers- scientists, artists, professionals, and community leaders from diverse fields have been working together on applied research projects to identify implementable management practices that align with community values and reduce dust mobilization. Though centered on the San Juan Mountains, the issue of dust-on-snow and the insights of our researchers have global implications.”- quote from pamphlet. And we got to see the results of their projects. When the researcher told us that they were just beginning to study the mineral composition of the dust particles, of course, I asked if they found radioactive dust particles on the snow that melts to make our water supply. I was directed to Janet Archuleta and afterwards we discussed Slickrock renewed uranium mining and how the radioactive particles emanate from tailings piles and could be carried by dust particles for many miles. She said she’d try for a letter from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe to oppose uranium mining at Slick Rock.
Reflection/Evaluation
There is a dust trough that brings dust from Southern CA, through AZ, and into the Four Corners, and then right up to the mountains. So there’s a pretty strong likelihood that there are radioactive dust particles making their way to the San Juan Mountains. The interdisciplinary nature of the project made the dust-on-snow issue comprehensible to a wide variety of people. I was impressed with the gamut of participants. A USGS team from Denver sat behind me. I had lunch with the entire Ute Mountain Ute Environmental Office team. I even talked to a mycologist, wearing a dress with a fungi print, about fungal inoculation of native mycellium on grain, grown on a farm, which can be planted for biocrust restoration to help reduce desertification. And it was a free symposium or you could donate. I am going to use all of this information for my comment letters and in person commenting at Montezuma County Commissioners meetings and San Miguel County Planning and Zoning comments, etc. It was well worth my time.