A MAP OF THE TOUR
La Serena
INDÓMITA VINEYARD: After flying into Santiago, Chile, the tour participants visited a vineyard in the nearby Casablanca Valley to learn about viticultural management and to taste the fruit of the land.
Salamanca
SANTIAGO:
Indómita Vineyard
The tour group attended a presentation by the staff of Rubicon Chile in downtown Santiago. Santiago, a city of over 6 million, is the capital of Chile.
Santiago
SALAMANCA: Next, the tour group traveled by bus to Salamanca, a city on the banks of the Choapa River, around 200 miles north of Santiago. There, participants visited the Choapa River Joint Board of Control. LA SERENA: The group traveled north to the seaside city of La Serena, founded in 1544, where participants met with the Elqui River Joint Board of Control and toured the Bellavista Canal Association. SANTIAGO: Back in Santiago, a meeting with the local Nature Conservancy group was followed by a presentation from the National Irrigation Commission, the government agency that is the Chilean equivalent of the Bureau of Reclamation.
REFLECTIONS ON THE TOUR EXPERIENCE 1. The tour was fantastic! The way Chileans manage their available water was fascinating to see. It seems that we all have problems with how to effectively manage this golden resource. Gastón and Javier, who led us through the irrigation districts, were informative and took time to explain how the Rubicon gate systems we saw worked. The delivery systems we saw, which
8 | IRRIGATION LEADER
used lined canals, were different from the systems the North Platte Natural Resources District (NRD) uses to manage water. Our systems are not lined, and we depend on canal seepage and slop to recharge the aquifer. The practice of farming avocados on the slopes of mountains was fascinating. We really enjoyed the perfect climate during our stay and appreciated the
warmhearted welcome we received from the people we encountered during the tour. We would like to thank Water Strategies, Kris, and Annick (bless her interpreting skills) for a well-planned and informative excursion! —Barb Cross, Assistant Manager, North Platte NRD; Leo Hoehn, Farmer and Irrigator, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
