A panel discussion at the Grand County Public Library is set for 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8. Talks will focus on steps that are being taken to maintain a healthy water supply and the effects of a changing climate as well as the role of agencies and local government in those issues.
“It will be primarily for agency folks – the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and State Lands – whose decisions affect our watersheds,” said Andy Nettell, owner of Back of Beyond Books and an event organizer along with Grand Canyon Trust.
The afternoon session is open to interested citizens as well, he said, adding that it will be “science based.” The discussion will be moderated by Bill Hedden of Grand Canyon Trust.
A reading and book signing by Jack Loeffler and William deBuys will take place at 7 p.m. the same day at the library.
Loeffler is an historian, radio producer and writer who focuses on restoration and preservation of the habitat and the relationships of indigenous cultures to their homelands. He is the author of “Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey.”
His new book, co-written with his daughter, Celestia, is titled “Thinking Like a Watershed/Watersheds as Commons.” It is an anthology of essays and interviews with people of diverse cultural backgrounds within the watersheds of the Colorado River and the Rio Grande.
Loeffler said their perspectives “provide great insight into the past, present and hopefully future systems of cultural attitudes necessary to sustain culture in place in the North American Southwest, a landscape of growing aridity.”
Leoffler has received a New Mexico Governor’s Award for excellence in the arts, and the Edgar Lee Hewett Award for writing from the New Mexico Historical Society.
DeBuys has written seven books, including “A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American West.” As a conservationist, he has helped protect more than 150,000 acres in New Mexico, Arizona and North Carolina. He was a 2008-09 Guggenheim fellow.
DeBuys also has a new book about climate change in the Southwest. Both speakers’ books will be available for purchase at the events.