There were six or seven monkeys in the troop and they were working their way across the Reserve jumping from tree top to tree top, from limb to limb. The alpha male of the group kept an eye on Mike and me while we kept an eye on the troop. The monkeys were as big as a large domestic cat and barked like a small dog. It was one of the most amazing animal sightings on the Reserve. We talked to Jose Sanchez, the Reserve caretaker, and he said that the monkeys had been in and around the Reserve for about one month. Jose has lived near the Reserve for decades and this was the first time he had ever seen white-faced monkeys in the area.

The white-headed capuchin is important to rainforest ecology for its role in dispersing seeds and pollen. We are assuming they are attracted to the RIESTER Reserve because of the reforestation efforts of the Foundation.

The white-headed capuchin is intelligent. It is mostly black, but with a pink face and white on much of the front part of the body. As a new world monkey it has a prehensile tail that is often carried coiled up and used to help support the monkey when it is feeding beneath a branch.

In the wild, the white-faced capuchin is versatile, living in many different types of forest, and eating many different types of food, including fruit and other plant material. It lives in troops that can exceed 20 animals and include both males and females.

Of all the animals seen on the Reserve, including Howler Monkeys, armadillos, coatis, blue morphos butterflies, parrots and mott motts, the sighting of the white-faced troop is one of the most memorable.

Learn more about the RIESTER Foundation.

The spring training venue for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies is leading the way to the future with features such as:

• Designing for maximum shade

• Replanting vegetation with more than 85 mature trees and cacti – located throughout the site – were uprooted and replanted at the new site to provide shade for venue patrons

• Buying Local/Regional Materials

• Incorporating as much native planting as possible into the overall site design, water is absorbed back into the ground instead of contributing to stormwater runoff

• Energy Efficiency–Instead of ventilating the locker rooms from the top down, displacement ventilation – located at the base of the lockers – saves energy by supplying conditioned air in the occupied space range.

• Indoor Environmental Quality–When selecting the venue’s building supplies, the design team was mindful of the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) – or the off-gassing of materials ranging from paints and sealants to flooring and furniture

• More Green = Less Asphalt–Only 1/3 of the venue’s parking lots are constructed using asphalt.  The remaining 2/3 overflow parking lots are grass-covered, allowing them to double as playing fields for the community when not in use.

Sources: Salt River Fields, Talking Stick Resort and HKS Sports and Entertainment. Read more here.

Huge kudos to all involved!

One of the award winning ads.

The UCI Better Communicators Competition was held last night and PacifiCorp was the big winner with 13 awards! Below is a list of the awards and categories:

First place, Complete Campaign (marketing): wattsmart
First Place, Direct Mail: Centennial brochure
First place, Series of Newspaper ads (marketing): wattsmart series (fantasy, inefficient, demanding)
First place, Employee Communications: Centennial video
First place, Single TV ad (marketing): Front Door
First place, It Didn’t Fly: Toilet paper – online bill pay poster

Second place, Outdoor: Fan
Second place, Single Newspaper ad, Image/PR: Flower
Second place: Safety communications: Call Before You Dig TV

Third place, Outdoor: Caulk
Third place, Bill Insert: Home Energy IQ Workshop (with flower)
Third place, Special Brochure: Utah PR brochure

Best in Show, Newspaper/Magazine: Flower

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who worked hard on these communications pieces!

In case you aren’t familiar with this awards competition, The Better Communications Competition is among the longest running awards programs for excellence in utility communications.

Congratulations PacifiCorp!

Hymas was interviewed on Park City’s NPR station this morning (KPCW). Over the noon hour he appeared on Salt Lake’s CBS affiliate (KUTV).

Jeff Hymas of Rocky Mountain Power at KUTV in Salt Lake City.

KUTV's Ron Bird interviewed Jeff live on the air.

June 16 update:

Today Jeff appeared on KTVX’s Good Morning Utah:

Don Hudson, Angie Larsen and Jeff Hymas.

June 22 update:

This morning Jeff Hymas appeared on KSL (NBC) and Fox 13.

As seen through the monitor on the TV camera: Jeff Hymas and Tonya Papanikolas.

The Act wattsmart Video Contest runs through June 30. Rocky Mountain Power’s Utah residential customers can enter by making a video showing ways that they are saving energy, or ways that they could save more energy. The contest utilizes YouTube to encourage Utahns to tell their stories about ways to be wattsmart.

Biking is about being outdoors and exercising. When we get on a bike, we are stepping out of the controlled and energy intensive environments where so many of us spend so much time.

It did not take long for the children to demonstrate their clear vision for protecting our world. They have a strong sense of stewardship for our planet and they recognize that we all must join together to make a change.

If every adult would speak to at least one child today about the importance of the health of the environment, a more conservationist lifestyle could be stimulated. As this artwork demonstrates, sometimes it’s a question of adults listening to what children already understand.

Below are the winning entries. All students in the school were invited to wear the t-shirts today.

Happy Earth Day from RIESTER and thank you Mrs. Mulligan and all of the children at Rancho Solano!

Baby turtles head to the ocean with full protection from the RIESTER Foundation. The biggest threat that would have prevented the birth of these turtles is poachers stealing the eggs.

Lindsay’s full account of what he witnessed in Costa Rica.

Through the Blue Sky renewable energy program, Rocky Mountain Power powered the entire Sundance Film Festival with clean, renewable energy.

Rocky Mountain Power helped Sundance operate on clean, renewable energy.

The program allowed Sundance to avoid 144 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to taking 25 cars off the road for a year or protecting one acre of trees from deforestation.

“We are proud to be an in-kind supporter of the largest independent cinema festival in the United States, helping to reduce its environmental impact because of our Blue Sky customers,” said Lori Hansen, Rocky Mountain Power customer and community manager.

Many of us at RIESTER enjoyed Sundance again this year. Knowing that Rocky Mountain Power is working to reduce the carbon footprint of this large event is an extra bonus. It gives meaning and purpose to the work we do every day, including all that we do to help Rocky Mountain Power communicate to its customers.

Learn more about Rocky Mountain Power’s innovative Blue Sky program, which provides a way for customers to support wind-powered electric generation and other renewable energy facilities.

The goals of the RIESTER Foundation are of great personal interest to me. Through the books I read and the places I go, I am always interested in learning more about our planet, the human impact on our planet and ways to preserve and restore healthy ecosystems.

Last month I had the privilege of traveling to Patagonia, a place I’ve long wanted to see. With geographic features including remote and stunning rivers, lakes, glaciers and mountains, the region is a magnet for eco-tourists hoping to see a part of the planet with a low population density and breathtaking beauty. The trip had no connection to the RIESTER Foundation, however, nearly everything I saw reminded me of the importance of the work of the foundation.

Patagonia is threatened by humans and our need for more and more and more. Non-native beavers and minks are wreaking havoc to native flora and fauna. Large Chilean salmon farms are being devastated by disease due to unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. At the same time the salmon farms are overtaking formerly untouched fjords. Proposed new dams, with associated hydro-electricity projects, threaten to flood vast areas of streams and lakes that are among the most pristine in the world.

The need to STAND FOR LESS is often most obvious along human frontiers. The lands of Patagonia have already been altered by man, but Patagonia retains much of the wildness of the pre-modern era. Preserving and protecting natural ecosystems is vital for the survival of our species. (Read more about the importance of biodiversity.)

The Patagonia Times is an English-language online publication covering issues affecting one of the final frontiers of the Americas. We recommend that you add this excellent online resource to your reading list. It’s important to be well-versed in issues affecting our planet beyond our own backyards.

Chile's Cuernos del Paine, an iconic landmark of Patagonia.

Another version of this post appeared at STAND FOR LESS.