2014 End of the Year Highlights - The Rio Grande International

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December 31st, 2014
2014: An historic 20th year for RGISC
As 2014 draws to a close tonight and we prepare to ring in an
exciting new year, we'd like to recap and share top highlights
from this special anniversary year with you. Thank you to all who helped make this an extraordinary year
for RGISC!
Happy New Year & Go Green in 2015!
Plastic Bag Victory!
On June 2, we celebrated a tremendous victory when the City Council ended a long,
hard­fought 10­year campaign to pass a plastic bag ordinance
for Laredo. The ordinance passed with a 6­1 vote and takes effect April
30, 2015. It is aimed at reducing the 120 million plastic
bags used in Laredo each year. This change will benefit the
river, environment, wildlife, and city taxpayers.
We are working to help get Laredoans ready for this major
transition. No Plastic is Fantastic!
Plastic bags line the riverbank by downtown
Laredo.
RGISC 20th Anniversary Gala!
To celebrate the 20th year of its
founding, RGISC held a Gala event at
the IBC Jacaman Annex in October. At the Gala, we recognized and
honored three groups: Founders, Key
Funders, and "RGISC­Takers." The latter was awarded to individuals
for their contributions towards RGISC
for the well­being of the Rio Grande­
Rio Bravo, the environment, and
Laredo community. They are: ­ Pliny Fisk III
­ Maria Eugenia "Meg" Guerra
­ Carlos Y. Benavides III
­ Lawrence A. Mann
­ Tomas Rodriguez Jr.
­ Christine Kolbe
L­R: Juan Livas, Tom Miller, Jeff Jones, Selinda Martinez, Danny Gunn, Birdie Torres,
Bobbie Zuniga, Bobbie Morales, Pamela Vaughan,
Israel Reyna, Tom Vaughan, Victor Oliveros, Tagi Sagafi­nejad, Armando Cisneros, Adolfo 'Popo' Gonzalez Sr
­ Alberto Luera
­ Renato Ramirez
­ the late­Dr. Adolfo Kahn.
"Disappearing Rio Grande" Expedition
At the end of December, we welcomed the "Disappearing
Rio Grande" expedition in Laredo, led by environmental
reporter Colin McDonald and several photojournalists.
When Colin pulled into Laredo underneath downtown
Bridge I, he had already spent five months on the Rio
Grande, studying our endangered river's uncertain fate.
With one more month to go on his journey downriver, the
Expedition visited with residents of El Cenizo and Rio Bravo, in southern Webb County,
who have been plagued by water problems. They also visited several outfalls on the
Nuevo Laredo side of the river, which is the source of nearly 5 million gallons of raw
sewage entering the river each day. News stories of this extraordinary journey will be featured in the Texas Tribune and New
York Times.
The Expedition started at the river's headwaters in the southern Rocky Mountains of
Colorado and will end where it ends ­­ at Boca Chica at the Gulf of Mexico. To read
Colin's fascinating blog entries and view spectacular photos, please click here.
High Level EPA Visit
In May, RGISC hosted Ron Curry, Administrator for Region 6 for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Curry oversees all EPA activity in the five states
of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. He visited the RGISC office
for two hours to discuss pressing environmental issues in the Laredo area.
Dia del Rio 2014!
October 2014 marked the 20th consecutive year that
RGISC celebrates Dia del Rio, an annual series of
events held to bring awareness to the only source of
drinking water for Laredoans and so many other
communities ­ the Rio Grande­Rio Bravo.
The month kicked off with "Reclaiming the Rio
Grande", an art contest where artists expressed how
they viewed our Rio Grande­Rio Bravo
ecosystem. Thank you to Laredo Center for the Arts,
all participating artists, and teachers for a great
contest!
In addition, RGISC also offered kayaking excursions
to the public, led by Board President Dr. Tom
Vaughan. BEST OF SHOW: "Still" by Connie Hinojosa, 2014. We also partnered with the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center, Keep
Laredo Beautiful and City of Laredo for the annual trail work day at the Paso del Indio
Nature Trail. More than 300 volunteers spent a Saturday mulching, beautifying and
restoring Laredo's oldest nature trail. Laredo Birding Festival!
For the 3rd year in a row, RGISC organized the Laredo
Birding Festival in partnership with the Monte Mucho
Audubon Society and Convention & Visitors Bureau! We
broke the record for number of birders ­ 114 ­ of which 86
percent came from other parts of the United States and
Canada.
Birders came to view Laredo's prized bird, the White­collared Seedeater, and bird local
hotspots along the river, creeks and trails ­­ as well as thousands of acres of scenic
ranchland. Happy Birding!
New Partnership: Environmental Defense Fund
"Neighbors of Oil and Gas" initiative
Oil and gas development is booming in the Eagle Ford
Shale region of Texas­­with the number of new,
permitted wells expanding from 26 in 2008 to more
than 6,500 by the end of 2014, bringing with it real
risks to surrounding communities' air, soil, water, and health. As part of its new partnership with EDF, RGISC held several "Neighbors of Oil and Gas"
workshops in Los Botines, Cotulla, Carrizo Springs, Karnes City, and Cuero. The
workshops, held in English and Spanish, covered different types of health and
environmental risks that can occur during oil and gas development, or hydraulic
fracturing (fracking), as well as which state agency to contact to report an concern.
Clear and accurate reporting of suspected contamination and risks can help agencies to
work with industry to ensure safe communities. Click here for more info: www.neighborsofoilandgas.org
Eco Festival
In April, RGISC organized the first ever Eco Festival for Laredo, in the hopes of getting
more people to embrace a greener and more sustainable lifestyle. Nearly 1,500 people attended the event and had a chance to
kayak, get on paddle boats, play miniature golf and other
environmentally fun games, purchase items from vendors,
and attend workshops. Bio Blitz!
Also in April, RGISC held the first ever BioBlitz ­­ in which
scientists and science hobbyists observe and count species of
flora and fauna. We held BioBlitz at the bend of the river known as Lost Lakes
­ located downstream of Laredo Community College before
hitting the downtown bridges. We hosted visitors from Central and South Texas who studied
the local fish population, as well as insects, birds, plants,
trees, mammals and other animal species.
Monthly Water Testing
For more than 20 years, RGISC scientists ­ led by Dr. Tom
Vaughan ­ have conducted monthly water testing of the Rio
Grande at eight different locations.
Data is collected on oxygen levels, total dissolved solids, total
suspended solids, turbidity, pH, and other water quality
parameters. The data is then sent to the Texas Clean Rivers Program, as well as state and
federal agencies. "Birdies on the Rio" Golf Tournament
In November, we held our 5th annual golf tournament, and it
was a TERRIFIC success! We held a 10­hole sundowner ­
"Birdies on the Rio" that went late into the night! ­ and threw
in fun skills contests "under the stars" and a lively raffle with
numerous prizes courtesy of our sponsors and golf committee
chairperson, Ruben Soto Jr.
We thank all of the golfers, the Max Mandel Golf Course
management, sponsors, board members, staff, and hard­working golf committee
volunteers: Marty Malin, Jessica Palacios, Bernice Esteghamatdarshad, Lalo Palacios,
Glenda Barrera, and Pope Gonzalez Jr.
And one more MONSTER thank you to our chairperson Ruben Soto Jr. TOURNAMENT WINNERS
1st Place Team
2nd Place Team
3rd Place Team
Mike Sosa
Luis Lopez
Randy Alarcon
Ram Herrera
Jerry Palacios
Rafa Vargas
Jose Luis Ornelas
Jerry Villarreal
Ramiro Alarcon
SKILLS CONTEST WINNERS
Putting
Chipping
Closest to Pin
$2,500 Putt Contest
Tony Ramos
Tony Ramos
Tony Jimenez
Sergio Velasquez
OTHER WINNERS
Hole Winners
Raffle Grand Prize
Tony Jimenez, Balt Ramos, Rafa Vargbas, Tony Ramiro Gomez
Ramos, Sergio Velasquez, Pablo Garza
"Beat the Heat" Solar Raffle
As part of RGISC's 20th anniversary, we raffled a state­of­
the­art solar panel system capable of powering a 1,200 sq.
foot home or business. The winning ticket was drawn on Nov. 8 and went to Jose A. Guerra Jr. The panels are
scheduled to be installed in January 2015. The solar panel system was a generous gift to RGISC, donated by South Texas Solar
Systems and its president James Hiebert. ColorVibe 5K Fun Run
In January, RGISC was selected as the nonprofit in Laredo to help host the ColorVibe 5K
Fun Run.
The atmosphere was exciting, as runners showed up decked out in colorful outfits and,
and yes, frilly tutus. Runners were blasted with eco­friendly colored powder as they made their way to the
finish line. Christmas Bird Count
On the last Saturday of December, six teams
counted birds at natural sites and green spaces
throughout Laredo as part of the Christmas Bird
Count.
Led by Glenda Barrera and members of the Monte
Mucho Audubon Society, the day ended with a
total count of 131 bird species that included
kingfishers, warblers, sparrows, hawks, caracaras,
egrets, ducks, osprey, flycatchers and many other
avian gems.
The annual Christmas Bird Count is a national event, in which birders count species of
birds, and number of birds, and then submit that data to Cornell University where
scientists track bird populations and trends. Laredo's location along the Rio Grande makes it a prime location to spot hundreds of
species of birds.
Farmers Market & Recycling Games
Each month, RGISC volunteers ­ led by Board members Juan Livas and Selinda
Martinez ­ man a RGISC booth at the downtown Farmer's Market at Jarvis Plaza, and
occasionally at the Northside Market at North Central Park. Recycling games are played with winners receiving a Loving Laredo reusable bag.
5th annual Rio Research Roundup
The 2014 Rio Research Roundup, our yearly basin­wide student water testing project,
had a fantastic turnout of nearly 80 student teams ­ in the U.S. and Mexico ­ confirming
their participation for the Rio Grande­Rio Bravo basin. One the same day in October,
students conducted water testing of the river or one of its tributaries.
They also completed a series of assignments that encompassed their day out on the field:
essays, 5­minutes of free writing, a piece of literary or visual art, and a 1.5 minute video.
Judges are currently in the process of submitting results and winners of the 2014 Rio
Research Roundup will be announced soon. Bosque High School from students submitted a 1.5 minute video as part of the 2014
Rio Research Roundup. For more videos click here.
We hope that you enjoy this series of photos from some of our participating schools.
Alamosa High School: Alamosa, Colorado
Christen Middle School: Laredo, Texas
Martin High School: Laredo, Texas Instituto Tecnologico de Piedras Negras: Piedras Negras, Coahuila
St. Augustine High School and Border Patrol: Laredo ‐ Nuevo Laredo
Centro de Bachillerato Tecnologico Industrial y de Servicios (CBTIS) No. 7: Reynosa,
Tamaulipas
Hot Springs High School: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
CBTIS 234 and Azteca Media: Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
CETIS 87: Delicias, Chihuahua
CETIS 71: Reynosa, Tamaulipas Harmony Science Academy: Laredo, Texas
CBTIS 128: Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
St. Augustine High School: Laredo, Texas
RGISC Board of Directors: 2014-2015
President - Dr. Tom Vaughan Member - Armando Cisneros
V. President - Victor Oliveros Member - Selinda Martinez
Sec./Treas. - Juan Livas Member - Israel Reyna
Sgt. at Arms - Danny Gunn Sr. Member - Adolfo Popo Gonzalez Jr. Member - Dr. Tagi Sagafi-nejad
RGISC Staff
Executive Director - Tricia Cortez
Project Coordinator - Diana Garcia
Project Coordinator - Alberto Sandoval
University Intern - Erika Saenz
Office Administrator - Gail Hauserman
RGISC | West End Washington St., Bldg. P­11 | Laredo, TX 78040 | 956­718­1063 |
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Rio Grande International Study Center | West End Washington Street | Bldg. P­11 | Laredo | TX | 78040