Raise the River Virtual Festival
Join us for our online event featuring talks, presentations, and exchanges among our coalition members and allies, including our partners from the United States and Mexican federal governments.
During the course of four virtual sessions, we'll explore the governmental policies that support our restoration efforts in the Colorado River Delta, the impacts they have on communities in the region, and how the Colorado River unites and inspires us.
Thursday, October 26, 9 am to 1 pm, PT. Attendee link will be provided upon registration.
Our partners and allies
Event schedule
Session 1: Community
9:00 - 9:15 - Welcome and opening remarks
Moderator: Aída Navarro, Coordinator, Raise the River
9:15 - 9:45 - Agricultural innovation and teamwork
Challenges of the agricultural sector of the Mexicali Valley and San Luis Río Colorado
Speakers:
Edgar Carrera, The Nature Conservancy
Carolina Sánchez, Restauremos el Colorado
Mario Alberto Meza, Productor Agropecuario
Carlos de la Parra, Restauremos el Colorado
9:50 - 10:20 - The Colorado River gives meaning to our lives
Meet those who make our restored forests possible and the connection to the Colorado River Delta community.
Speakers:
Yuliana Dimas, Pronatura Noroeste
Génesis Alarcón, Restauremos el Colorado
Diego Miranda, Sonoran Institute México
Session 2: Documenting the Colorado River
10:25 - 10:30 - Video: Flying over the Colorado River Delta!
10:25 - 10:55 -Documenting the changing Colorado River Delta
Stories of the Colorado River through the lens of photographers who have witnessed its changes over time.
Key Speaker:
Pete McBride -- Photographer, filmmaker, and writer
Session 3: Binational cooperation
10:55 - 12:10 - Cooperation across borders: the key to resilience.
Video: "The River unites us: celebrating and reconnecting with the Colorado River"
A conversation with the Commissioners of the International Boundary and Water Commission of the United States and Mexico, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
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Camille Calimlim Touton, Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
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Adriana Reséndez Maldonado, Commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, Mexico Division
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María Elena Giner, Commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. Division
Comments from Ken Salazar, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, on his relationship to, and work on behalf of, the Colorado River Delta and Colorado River.
Session 4: The Colorado River inspires us
12:10 - 12:20 - Through the lens of Jesus Salazar, Raise the River photographer
12:20 - 12:55 - Watershed: the power of story
Watershed: How a film convened the Raise the River coalition: The Colorado River as an example of the power of ‘story’. Key speaker: Jill Tidman, Executive Director, The Redford Center
Speakers
Ken Salazar, Ambassador of the United States of America to Mexico
Ken Salazar was sworn in as United States Ambassador to Mexico on September 2, 2021. In 2009, President Obama nominated Mr. Salazar to serve as Secretary of Interior where he had a lead role on the Obama-Biden agenda on energy and climate, the nation’s conservation agenda including America’s Great Outdoors, and Indian Country. Ambassador Salazar has been a lifelong fighter for civil rights and the inclusion of Latinos in the American dream. Ambassador Salazar and his family have farmed along the banks of the Rio Grande River in New Mexico and Colorado for more than four centuries.
Adriana Resendez
Commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, Mexico Division (CILA)
Engineer Adriana Reséndez has served as the Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, Mexican Section (CILA) since September 15, 2021. Commissioner Reséndez is a civil engineer with a master’s degree in hydraulic resources in arid zones, with a specialty in water use and water quality. She has 23 years of experience in the Mexican section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), in the Department of Engineering as deputy director of the Colorado River, and in operations as principal engineer.
María Elena Giner, P.E.
Commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, United States Division
Dr. Maria-Elena Giner is the Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. Division. Commissioner Giner, the second woman and first Latina to hold the position, previously served as General Manager of the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), an institution that developed environmental infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border in partnership with the North American Development Bank. During her tenure at BECC, the Commissioner focused on policies addressing cooperation between the United States and Mexico on water, energy, and climate change.
Camille Calimlim Touton
Commissioner, United States Bureau of Reclamation
Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Touton served as a member of the professional staff for the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The Commissioner was the staff lead on resiliency provisions enacted as part of the U.S. Water Resources Development Act of 2020. The Commissioner's Congressional experience also includes serving as Professional Staff for the Department of Interior's authorizing committees, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the House Natural Resources Committee.
Francisco Bernal Gutierrez
Head of the CONAGUA Basin Organization, Baja California Peninsula
Master of Science in Use and Management of Irrigation Water in Arid Zones from the Autonomous University of Baja California, and agronomist specialist in agricultural irrigation and drainage from the same university. He has been a professor at different academic institutions, representative of the Mexican section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, Secretary for Water Management, Sanitation and Protection and General Director of the State Water Commission of the Government of Baja California. He participated in the negotiations of IBWC Minutes 319 and 323, as part of the Cooperation Actions for the Colorado River to address the shortage in the basin.
Pete McBride
Award-winning photographer, filmmaker and writer
Pete McBride has been studying the world with his camera for more than two decades in more than 75 countries for National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler magazines, Outside, among others. Pete decided to focus his focus on a topic close to his heart: the mighty Colorado. Four years and 1,500 river miles later, Pete told the story of a river that no longer makes its way from its source high in the Rockies to the Gulf of California in Mexico due to climate change and too many municipal obstacles. and agricultural projects that have crossed his path. Pete channeled this work into an acclaimed book, three award-winning documentaries, and a PBS television show.
Aida Navarro Barnetche
Coordinator of the Revive the Colorado River Alliance
Aída Navarro coordinates the Raise the River Alliance, a unique alliance of six non-governmental organizations from Mexico and the United States, committed to reviving the Colorado River Delta through activities that support environmental restoration for the benefit of the people and wildlife of the Delta. Originally from Mexico City, Aída has more than 19 years of experience coordinating marine and coastal conservation programs and environmental conservation campaigns in the Baja California Peninsula and Southern California.
Carlos de la Parra
President, Let's Restore the Colorado
President of Restauremos el Colorado, a Civil Association that operates in Mexicali in water management for the restoration of ecosystems. Founding partner of the Luken Center for Water and Environment Strategies, a non-profit civil society organization that promotes comprehensive water solutions linking science, practice and policy.
Member of the Board of Directors of the North American Development Bank (NADBank) as Representative of Mexican Civil Society. He has been Federal Delegate in Baja California and Representative at the Mexican Embassy in Washington for the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), and for 30 years he was a research professor at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte.
Yuliana Dimas
Pronatura Northwest
Originally from Hermosillo Sonora, Professional Social Worker graduated from the University of Sonora, with a Master's Degree in Education Field Environmental Education from the National Pedagogical University and has a Diploma in Social Management and Community Development, from the National Institute and Social Development. She has been part of the Pronatura Noroeste team since 2011 and develops the Community Involvement Program in the Colorado River Delta region, mainly at the Miguel Alemán Restoration Site, Cucapá Wetland, in the urban and rural areas of San Luis Río Colorado and Mexicali, through the project aimed at the public: Reforest San Luis, with the purpose of integrating the social sectors of the Delta region to be part of the Colorado River Restoration Initiative.
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Carolina Sánchez Gastelum
Restauremos el Colorado
Manager of the Agroecology Department. Carolina has a PhD in Agricultural Sciences from the Chapingo Autonomous University, she has coordinated various projects on sustainable agriculture with farmers from different parts of the country. At Restauremos El Colorado is the link between the organization and the agricultural community of the Mexicali Valley. She currently coordinates, together with the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), the series of workshops Proposals to Improve Water Management and Management in Irrigation District 014, Colorado River and is responsible for the development of four silvopastoral pilot projects in the valley of Mexicali.
Gabriela Caloca Michel
Pronatura Northwest
Chemical Oceanologist from the Autonomous University of Baja California in Mexico, with a Specialty in Environmental Management in Geographic Information Systems. Since 2012 he has provided support within the Pronatura Noroeste Water and Wetlands Program in the coordination of efforts for the restoration of the Colorado River Delta, in Minutes 319 and 323. He is a member of civil society in the Basin Council of Baja California and Municipality of San Luis Río Colorado and co-president of the Mexican delegation of the Environmental Working Group of Act 323.
Osvel Hinojosa Huerta
Pronatura Northwest
He has worked on conservation and research projects in northwest Mexico since 1997, primarily in coastal and riparian areas of the Sonoran Desert. Over the course of 18 years, he has collaborated with Pronatura Noroeste in the restoration of the Colorado River delta, the recovery of the river's flows, and the facilitation of binational negotiations between Mexico and the United States for the sustainability of this basin.
He currently directs the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program at the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology
Diego Miranda
Sonoran Institute
Héctor Diego García Miranda is a biologist graduated from the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM. Throughout his career, he has dedicated his passion to the conservation of natural resources in different NPAs and restoration sites. In the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve, he has experience in biological monitoring of species at risk, such as the magueyero bat, Sonoran pronghorn, desert pupfish, snapping-breasted tortoise, etc.
Keyla Gardenia Ramos Nuñez
Reforesta San Luis, Volunteer
Keyla Gardenia Ramos Nuñez, Graduate in Law, and master's degree. In 2014 she joined Pronatura Noreeste's reforestation campaigns in the Colorado River Delta as a volunteer. In 2022, she was selected as a Youth Senator by the H. Senate of the Republic with the presentation of a Bill on the environment. Just as she became a Semifinalist for the 2022 State Youth Award, in the Environmental Protection Category, by the Sonoran Youth Institute.
Jill Tidman
Executive Director, The Redford Center
Executive Director of The Redford Center, an independent nonprofit organization founded in 2005 by Robert Redford and his son James Redford. Jill has worked with the organization since its founding and took the helm in 2012 to lead the vision, strategy, and operations in service of advancing environmental solutions through the power of stories that move people to act.
Genesis Alarcon
Originally from Mexicali, Baja California, she graduated from the UABC with a degree in Civil Engineering and from the Engineering Institute with a master's degree in engineering, with a specialty in geohydrology and the environment.
Génesis has collaborated with Restauremos el Colorado since 2016 and currently serves as Manager of the Restoration department.
Jesus Garcia Salazar
Photographer of the Raise the River Coalition
Mexican conservation photographer, with emphasis on arid and coastal areas. He has documented Mexican surfing since 2012 with a historical, cultural, territory and identity focus. Throughout his career, he has explored the theme of the ocean, ways of life and trades of seafarers. For four years he has been a photographer for the Revive the River Alliance and has documented the historic deliveries of water by the United States of America to Mexico in the Colorado River Delta area in its natural cause for the restoration of the site. His work has been published and exhibited in national and international media and platforms.
Edgar Carrera
The Nature Conservancy
Edgar Carrera is project coordinator in the Colorado River Delta for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Civil Engineer, master in environmental engineering and native of the area, Edgar has extensive experience in the evolution of ecological flow, hydrological monitoring, wetlands and conservation planning. As part of his work at TNC, Edgar is manager of the Las Arenitas project and the Rancho los Fresnos reserve.
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Mario Alberto Meza Solorzano
Agricultural Producer
Mario Alberto Meza Solórzano has been an agricultural producer in Colonia Mariana in the Mexicali Valley for more than 40 years. Don Beto, as his friends know him, is originally from Colonia Mariana where he currently lives with his family. Mario Alberto provides agricultural work services (land preparation, planting, harvesting) in the valley, produces forage crops for sale and consumption, and is also dedicated to raising cattle and sheep. He is one of the organizers of the Cordero fest, a regional event that has been held in Mexicali since 2019 to promote the consumption of lamb. This producer is part of the pilot crop and silvopastoral reconversion projects coordinated by The Nature Conservancy and Restauremos El Colorado, organizations of the Revive the Colorado River Alliance.