Protecting New Mexico's Last Wild River: Charting the Path Ahead

The Gila Conservation Coalition invites you to join us for this year's Gila River Festival - Protecting New Mexico's Last Wild River: Charting the Path Ahead - scheduled for September 26 – 29, 2024. As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Gila Wilderness, the Gila River Festival will not only celebrate this important milestone in protecting America's first Wilderness River, but will also look to the Gila's future. By exploring themes of long-term protection, climate resilience, cultural exchange, and stewardship, we will envision together the Gila River's next hundred years and beyond. Visit www.gilariverfestival.org  for the full schedule and registration.

Kicking off the festivities on Thursday night September 26 at 6 pm at WNMU's Light Hall will be a keynote presentation given by Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr., the San Carlos Apache leader who has worked tirelessly to prevent the desecration of Oak Flat, an Apache sacred site in what is now southeastern Arizona, from a mine operated by international mining giant Rio Tinto. What does defending your homeland look like, and how can we protect the places that we call home, whether in Oak Flat, the Gila, or elsewhere on this beautiful planet?

The keynote talk will be followed by an energetic concert of Afro-flamenco music by Sidy Samb, presented in collaboration with Western New Mexico University Cultural Affairs at Light Hall Gardens.

Friday night, a diverse panel of community leaders, including Guadalupe Cano, Ray Trejo, Michael Darrow, Martha Cooper, Joe Saenz, Corina Castillo and Luke Koenig, will discuss their perspectives on the future of the Gila River and its watershed. The Community Voices: Blueprints for the Future of the Gila River panel discussion will take place at WMNU's Global Resource Center Auditorium on Friday, September 27 at 6:30 pm.

Other presentations will take place on Saturday afternoon September 28 at the Silco Theater. Michael Robinson starts the afternoon off at 1pm with a talk on jaguar reintroduction. At 2:15 pm, the Mogollon Concerned Citizens will present efforts to protect the watersheds that flow from the western slope of the Gila Bioregion. Diné filmmaker Tony Estrada will follow at 3:30 with the world premiere of his documentary "Untrammeled: MCC's Pursuit of the Wilderness Ideal."

The L&J Ranch's Airstream Mobile Lab will be on hand throughout the Festival at the Seedboat Gallery with its Gila River Project that will challenge participants to explore the relationship between place and the life it enables.

In keeping with tradition, the Festival will host a series of field trips and tours. Alex Mares, of Diné and Mexican heritage, is an ever-popular interpreter of rock art. Luke Koenig, New Mexico Wild's Gila Grassroots Organizer, will lead a free, family-friendly Wild and Scenic hike to the Gila River, which richly deserves this protective designation. Geologist Dylan Duvergé will discuss how climate change is expected to impact the magnitude, frequency, and nature of flow along the Gila. As always, the Festival will host birding, wildlife tracking, a native plant hike, tours of local composting and restoration projects, horseback riding and more! Visit www.gilariverfestival.org  for the full schedule and to register for field trips.

In the closing event of the festival "How to Love the River," on Sunday, September 29 at 9 am at the Silver City Museum, we gather devotees of the Gila River for an informal conversation about what loving a river means, and how to think about the future of the Gila watershed in a time of global crisis. Writers Sharman Apt Russell and Philip Connors will join moderator Mónica Ortiz Uribe in sharing stories, visions, hopes, fears, and dreams of the wild Gila River in the 100th anniversary year of the wilderness that gives birth to it.

Thank you to our sponsors who continue to make the Gila River Festival possible, including Major Sponsors: Center for Biological Diversity, Cissy McAndrew/Mimbres Realty, Gila Resources Information Project, New Mexico Wild, Silver City Daily Press, Silver City Museum, The Semilla Project, The Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, Western Institute for Lifelong Learning, Western New Mexico University; Sponsors: Defenders of Wildlife, Gila Haven, Gila Native Plant Society, Lindee Lenox & Shelby Hallmark, Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club; Friend of the Festival: Aldo's Silver City Broadbank of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness Anonymous, Bird Alliance of Southwest New Mexico, First New Mexico Bank, , Lee and Linda Hannan, Morning Star Sports, Robert Pittman & Kathleen Wigley, Ron Henry, Ronald Parry, Southern Group of Rio Grande Chapter Sierra Club.