Novelist John Updike is taking a dim view of leadership when he asks in his novel, Rabbit is Rich, “How can you respect the world when you see it’s being run by a bunch of kids turned old?” The Water Resources Research Center conference was organized with a far loftier idea of leadership, at least in the water and environmental field. Titled “Creating New Leadership for Arizona’s Water and Environment in a Time of Change,” the conference was premised on the belief that present and up-and-coming leaders share a commitment to ensure future wise management of the state’s water and environment. With due respect to Updike, the conference recognized that many graduating students, the bunch of kids who will be turning older, will be the emerging leaders in the water and the environmental field. This, however, is seen as a cause of optimism; the conference recognized their talents and offered an opportunity to advance their interests. A program lineup of seasoned professionals in the water and environmental field and promising rookies was part of the game plan for addressing conference issues. The conference raised some critical questions: What kinds of leaders are needed to navigate a future marked by change and uncertainty? What is the best way to foster these leaders? The meeting served as a forum for participants, both established professionals and emerging leaders, those who have long labored in the field and those getting started, to work together to answer the very challenging questions. This special edition of the Arizona Water Resource newsletter provides conference coverage, identifying major issues and noting some of the recommendations and findings from the different sessions. What is included is necessarily selective. Hopefully, however, the featured highlights will show that the conference was a vigorous and engaging event. Additional conference information is available at the WRRC web site: cals.arizona.edu/azwater.

The water resource field is among those areas expected to benefit from nanotechnology, its application holding special promise for treatment and remediation; sensing and detection; and pollution prevention. That cuts a rather wide swath in the water resources field. The nanorevolution or movement is being met with both optimism and caution as scientists ponder how best to take advantage of its benefits and at the same time understand and reckon with its possible risks.

Arizona has another Wild and Scenic River; Fossil Creek with it’s the travertine geological formations and crystal clear waters now shares the same protected designation as a segment of the middle Verde River, the state’s only other Wild and Scenic River. Approving Fossil Creek’s special designation was a detail in a massive piece of legislation, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, a package of over 160 bills, that set aside more than 2 million acres of newly protected wilderness in nine states. More than 3.3 million acres of public lands in Arizona gained permanent protection. President Obama signed the law on March 30. Fossil Creek is an Arizona success story, an environmental rags-to-riches tale. Dammed early last century for power generation, Fossil Creek’s once quick-running water was a mere a trickle until the turn of this century. In 1999, Arizona Public Service shut down the power plants, and restoration efforts commenced. The dam was lowered and diversions ceased in June 2005, restoring full flows to the creek. This is the first Arizona watercourse to have a major water retention structure retired. In its heyday Fossil Creek was considered the fourth largest travertine system in the world. Fed by underground streams, it ran year-round almost 17 miles to the Verde River, its waters rich with calcium carbonate from the limestone aquifer below. Fossil Creek was one of 86 newly established Wild and Scenic Rivers with others located in California, Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming. Efforts are underway to gain support for a Wild and Scenic listing of another Arizona River, the Blue River, a tributary to the San Francisco River. Rivers or segment of rivers are designated Wild and Scenic to protect special qualities including scenic, recreational, geologic, and fish and wildlife; they are not to be dammed or otherwise impeded to protect their free-flowing condition. The recently passed law also provides other water-related provisions benefitting the state. Funding was authorized to support the federal government’s role in a comprehensive effort to preserve wildlife habitat along the lower Colorado River. The bill also authorized the Secretary of the Interior to consider ways to supplement water supplies in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed to benefit Fort Huachuca and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.

Fungicide in orange juice, Arsenic in apple juice, Listeria in cantaloupe--these are the latest “food safety issues you care about” listed at foodandwaterwatch.org. But how important are these issues? The public can see Food and Drug Administration reports on all three by going to the FDA website. An outbreak of Listeria associated with contaminated cantaloupe caused 30 deaths in 2011, and concern continued in 2012 with an additional death and recalls of potentially contaminated fruit. Washing the fruit before cutting it might have lowered the death toll. Responsibility for food safety lies with the consumer, who should be informed about the real risks of foodborne illness. But it also extends to a wide range of parties including farmers, producers, processors, and establishments that serve food. All of these people need reliable, science-based information to ensure the safety of our food supply.

When the captain announced the plane’s descent, I put my book down and peered out the window as I always do. I saw sand dunes first, leading my eye to a small mountain range flanked by dirt roads and farm fields. The mountains framed successive basins, each with the same dry ground spotted with desert shrubs. After the next range, a city emerged. Densely packed buildings appeared beside finished roads. And the canals ran from the farm fields into the city, running full next to dry riverbeds. It looked a lot like Tucson. But I was in Torreon, Mexico.

The poet Frank O'Hara was obviously on the side of the urbanist when he wrote, "I can't even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there's a subway handy." The urban ecologist looks beyond this view, with its division of the world into the natural environment and areas inhabited by humans, a dichotomy variously expressed as city vs. country, urban vs. rural, or the great outdoors vs. crowded city spaces.

Tecumseh, Shawnee Chief, expressed bewilderment that intruding whites expected Indians to sell land. "Sell a country!" he exclaimed, "Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?"

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