Is this what most Colorado landscapes will look like in 2030? A water forum will try to sketch the state’s future. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
Two weeks out from the Biennial of the Americas in Denver, wide-ranging conversations about Colorado’s future are still taking place.
“Landscape 2030,” a forum slated for Wednesday, July 31, at the Denver Botanic Gardens will tackle what kind of yards, gardens and public spaces we’ll be able to water in the next two decades.
The free forum is open to the public; the gardens’ staff merely asks that you RSVP in an e-mail.
The panelists should give you an idea of how serious, and how important, the discussion will be:
- Denver Water CEO Jim Lochhead;
- Hydrologist and environmental scientist Dan Luecke;
- Colorado State Climatologist Nolan Doesken;
- and Sterling Ranch Managing Director Harold Smethills
Sterling Ranch is the housing development in Douglas County that incorporated water conservation into its planning process, with the botanic gardens’ help. It was also selected as the state’s first rainwater harvesting project.
But the forum won’t be one of those canned presentations with four Powerpoints and the audience “fading out” by the last 15 minutes, said the gardens CEO Brian Vogt. “We want a casual conversation with the panelists free to engage one another. It’ll be much more of a dialogue.” Vogt will throw the panelists some questions, and they’ll take it from there, with, it’s hoped, some time for questions from attendees.
“We want to get and more predictable handle on the availability of water for the next 20 years,” he said. “Clearly we’ll have less, but how much less? How it will affect each ecosystem is different. I’m excited about getting real-life climate scientists to talk about that.”
While the public appetite for new water projects is very small, Vogt said, demand for water keeps growing, he added. If more people understand the big picture about water needs and the future, “we’d make better choices.”
The forum is 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, at the Botanic Gardens’ Mitchell Hall, 1007 York St. in Denver. RSVP to pr@botanicgardens.org
