Mail ballots have been sent to eligible voters within the La Plata/ Archuleta Water District (LAPLAWD) to decide whether to allow a property tax up to 5 mills, and to free the district from state TABOR limits on revenue and spending. Ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. May 4 to Harris Water Engineering, 954 E.

Yet another winter has been dusted in Southwest Colorado. Durango is again weathering dust storms that are accelerating run-off and denuding the region’s snowpack. However, Southeast Utah could be riding to Southwest Colorado’s rescue. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is hoping that designating wilderness in canyon country could help keep future dust storms at bay.

After an eight-month break, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation again is pumping water from the Animas River to fill Lake Nighthorse. The reservoir is part of the Animas-La Plata Project to provide American Indian tribes and other entities with water.

For more information, contact Meghan Maloney at the San Juan Citizens Alliance or call (970) 259-3583.

City Manager Ron LeBlanc wants new laws in place before the summer tubing season that would ban alcohol and late nights and require life jackets on the Animas River. The proposed changes would affect all private and commercial users of the river, but their target is clear: tubers.

The foundation has been laid to provide drinking water to the dry western side of La Plata County, but the building blocks needed to complete the system are many, varied and expensive. A couple of dozen skeptical Dryside residents heard the assessment Tuesday evening from La Plata West Water Authority board members Roy Horvath, Tom Brossia, Mae Morley and Kirk Peine.

Good news could be flowing into the Animas River from Washington, D.C. Last week, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall introduced “Good Samaritan” legislation to aid in efforts to clean up abandoned mines. From its source tributaries in and around Silverton to its confluence with the San Juan River in New Mexico, the Animas River is tainted with heavy metal and acid load.

The battle of the invaders may be going on hold in the West. While tamarisk, the poster child for non-native plants, has squeezed out native species and exhausted scarce water resources throughout the West, there has been a new ally in the fight against the noxious weed’s spread – a small beetle from Central Asia.