2013 update: New website; Hi-Res Stormwater model; Celebrando; ARID journal; Watershed Based Planning;
•  ALI’s new website, a collaboration with UrbanInsight and SwettShop, will launch in Fall 2013.  The new website will host a rich library of drylands studies resources—video library; gallery of case studies and best practices; datasets; and ALI’s recent research outputs, as well as information on our education and outreach offerings.

Stormwater Analysis Map iPad

•   Eight months of research sponsored by a grant from the World Water Forum has resulted in a high-resolution stormwater infiltration model for the San Fernando Valley.  The project, led by Peter Arnold with undergraduate research interns Ethan Dingwell and Karim Snoussi, guides planners on strategic locations for capture, infiltration, and conveyance of storm water, block-by-block, sub-watershed-by-subwatershed.  Results will be published in fall 2013.  The model will be made available to design teams throughout Southern California to visualize future urban and architectural development.

•  ARID: A journal of Desert Art, Design, and Ecology devotes its fall 2013 issue to the Centenary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.  ARID is accepting submissions through June 15.  Edited by Kim Stringfellow of San Diego State, ARID is a collaboration between UNM’s Land Arts of the American West; ASU’s Desert Initiative; Nevada Museum of Art’s Center for Art + Environment; KCET Artbound; and ALI.

•  In New Mexico: Alongside the Embudo Valley Acequias, led by community coordinator Estevan Arellano and restoration ecologist Jan-Willem Jansens of Ecotone, ALI is leading an EPA Watershed Based Planning process in the Lower Embudo Valley.  ALI will launch the tw0-year effort on Saturday, July 13 with a community planning workshop to be held at the Mission Embudo.  The project is funded by a major grant from the US EPA Clean Water Act administered through the New Mexico Environment Department.

•  Celebrando 2013: The annual celebration of acequia culture in northern New Mexico has a distinctly practical flavor this year.  Always a feast, Celebrando will be served over several summer weekends.  Part I, a combination of tours and dialog among acequia leaders hosted by Ecotone, was held Saturday June 7.  Part II, a planning workshop hosted by ALI, will be held July 13th.  All interested individuals, groups, commissioners and parciantes are invited to join the process.

•  The 100th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct—November 2103—offers the people of the Owens Valley, Los Angeles, and drylands everywhere an opportunity to critically reflect on the impacts, intended and unintended, of large-scale water systems.  Great work examining the Centenary is going on throughout the region—much of it sponsored, prodded, inspired, and/or initiated by the Metabolic Studio, a program of the Annenberg Foundation led by artist and trustee Lauren Bon.  ALI is contributing a piece on localization strategies to BOOM: A Journal of California; collaborating on a centenary issue of ARID: A Journal of Desert Art, Design, and Ecology; and planning to launch a basin-wide design challenge in the coming months.  Look for more Centenary-related programs in Fall 2013.