Field Notes: Spring 2016

SPRING 2016

CELEBRATING OUR 50TH YEARINSIDEThe Secrets of Kartchner Caverns&Keeping the Trickle in the San Pedro River

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F O R M E M B E R S O F T H E N A T U R E C O N S E R V A N C Y I N A R I Z O N A

NOTES

Nature Inspires

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Dear Friends,

I have always been fascinated with how things work together. Nature has always been a great teacher, both to inspire learning and humble one with how much more there is to learn.

Nature is always changing, evolving and adapting. As do organizations like the Conservancy. In our 50th year, we reflect on the great accomplishments we have achieved together and how far we have come.

The visionaries who started our Nature Conservancy chapter 50 years ago took risks to accomplish their first goal: to purchase and protect an important piece of land along Sonoita Creek. With that singular act, they set us on a course even they could not imagine. Today we stand with our feet firmly planted on the ground they helped protect and the legacy they built.

We are preparing for even greater challenges as the population grows and the human influence on our environment is felt in so many ways. We are no longer simply trying to

protect nature from people. Our success depends on conserving nature for people — the air we breathe, the water we drink and the wonders of nature that inspire us every day.

This issue features stories about how we got here and where we are going, from protecting Kartchner Caverns to the San Pedro River. We are also creating a water fund as a way for communities to invest in river friendly ways to improve the quality and flow of the Verde and Salt rivers.

What kinds of stories will be written about us 50 years from now? Our hope is to be recognized for galvanizing efforts to secure our rivers, restore our forest and protect our most important lands and the life that depends on them.

Help us write the chapter of our next 50 years, because now more than ever, nature matters.

Sincerely,

Patrick Graham, State Director

Published by The Nature Conservancy in Arizona, for our members and friends.

Field Notes welcomes comments and questions. Please send to editor, Tana Kappel, at [email protected] or 520-547-3432.

Visit nature.org/arizona

Visit Arizona Nature Conservancy

Copyright 2016 The Nature Conservancy

Cover Image "Beneath Her Rainbow," 50th anniversary poster painting © Shonto Begay

THIS PAGE Pat Graham © Mark Skalny OPPOSITE PAGE top to bottom Patagonia preserve 50th party© Rick Triana; A family at the Patagonia event © Rick Triana

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READERS: We produce this magazine for YOU. What do you like or not like about it? What topics would you like us to cover? Send your comments to the editor at [email protected] or call 520-547-3432.[ ]

Field Notes: Spring 2016 | 3

PATAGONIA PARTY: Celebrating Our 50thHummingbirds buzz and vermillion flycatchers swoop, while gray hawks screech high overhead the giant cottonwoods. A gurgling creek blends with the refrains of Greg Morton's guitar.

The setting: Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, where around 500 people gathered on March 19th to celebrate where The Nature Conservancy in Arizona began its work 50 years ago.

“It was a picture perfect day in a gorgeous setting,” said Bob Billups, a long-time Conservancy volunteer who was on hand to take photos of the event.

Many southern Arizona conservation partners had booths, including the Arizona Sonoran-Desert Museum, the Huachuca Area Herpetological Association, Carl Olson with his bug

collection, Wild Journeys, Arizona Forestry Firewise, Arizona Project WET and Friends of Sonoita Creek.

“We wanted this to be a community event that recognizes the importance of this place to the birding and recreation economy of Patagonia,” said Luke Reese, the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve manager. “We also wanted to celebrate the Conservancy’s 50 years of conservation in Arizona, and most of all, we wanted to have fun.”

The Sonoita Fire Department and Sparky’s Cantina provided food. And, accomplished bluegrass flat

4 | Field Notes: Spring 2016 PHOTOS Members & friends at the 50th celebration © Photos by Rick Triana and Bob Billups

Some of those early volunteer leaders attended the event, including Tucsonans Bill and Alice Roe (photo above right) and Beth Woodin. Also attending was Sally Greenleef, whose husband, the late John Cameron Greenleef, was also instrumental in helping set up the preserve.

Les Corey, who served as the Arizona Nature Conservancy state director from 1996 to 2001, also attended the event with his wife Bonnie. Representing the Arizona

picker Greg Morton entertained most of the day.

It was fitting that 45 volunteers, plus Conservancy and AmeriCorps staff, helped make the event run smoothly.

Volunteers launched The Nature Conservancy in Arizona back in 1966 when they raised funds to purchase the Patagonia preserve at the urging of the Audubon chapter, which recognized the area’s importance for birds.

chapter board of trustees were: Steve Betts, the current chair, and Dick Hayslip.

“There are many people whose leadership and commitment put this organization on a path of five decades of conservation in Arizona,” said Pat Graham, the Conservancy’s state director in Arizona. “They laid the foundation for great conservation and helped make the Arizona chapter one of the leading chapters in The Nature Conservancy.”


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ARIZONAYEARSHIGHLIGHTS OF

OF THE NATURE CONSERVANCY IN

It begins, by one account, with a pile of bat bones below a crack in a rock, remnants of animals devoured by hungry ringtails. By another account, it starts when a calf stumbled into a crevice, signaling to its rescuers that the earth below was not stable.

We know this for certain: One spring day in 1974, two young men from Tucson, Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts, began exploring a sinkhole that water had worn into ancient limestone hills. At the bottom of that hole, Tufts and Tenen felt moist air coming from within the earth, a sure sign that a cave was exchanging air—literally breathing. They smelled the ammonia tang of bat guano, further evidence that a cave lay below them.

Tenen and Tufts had found the entrance to one of Arizona’s most treasured natural wonders. A masterwork of geological forces, undisturbed by human visitors, the extensive limestone cave was home to a small population of Myotis velifer, or cave myotis bats. In time, their explorations would reveal that the cavern had several chambers. The biggest, dubbed the Big Room, was the length of a football field and

SECRET LIFE OF XANADU& the Emergence of Kartchner Caverns

THIS PAGE top to bottom Kartchner Caverns formation; Visitor to the caves © Photos courtesy of AZ State Parks


Kartchner Caverns photos © Courtesy of Arizona State Parks; Myotis bat © Tom Vezo/Minden Pictures, Bat Conservation International inset: Dan Campbell © Courtesy of Dan Campbell

dotted with small pools of water among a maze of stalactites and stalagmites.

On making their way into the cave, Tufts and Tenen knew at once they had made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. They called it Xanadu.

The trick now was to keep it secret. Since unscrupulous spelunkers had horned in on others’ discoveries to ransack caves of fossils, bones and such things in the past, and since some caves—the Peppersauce complex, for instance, in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson—had been ruined by thrill-seeking visitors that followed them, Tufts and Tenen knew they had to keep Xanadu to themselves.

Enter The Nature Conservancy. In 1984, the Conservancy’s Arizona director Dan Campbell received a call from Bruce Babbitt, the state’s governor. After keeping their secret close to their chests for several years, Tufts and Tenen had approached Babbitt with the thought that the state might somehow protect the cavern, ideally as a park. Even then, Tufts and Tenen did not use the name Xanadu when talking with Babbitt, Campbell and other outsiders. Instead, they called it “Cave X.”

“In those days,” Campbell remembers, “Arizona was behind some of the small Pacific islands in the number of state parks it had. We weren’t sure whether we could pull everything together, and especially the funding.”

Over the next four years, Campbell, working with a handful of staff members and advisors, did a delicate tightrope walk. Not only did they have to keep the

KARTCHNER CAVERNS HIGHLIGHTS:• One of the world’s longest soda straw stalactites: 21 feet 3 inches (Throne Room)

• The tallest and most massive column in Arizona, Kubla Khan: 58 feet tall (Throne Room)

• The world’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk (Big Room)

• The first reported occurrence of “turnip” shields (Big Room)

• The first cave occurrence of “birdsnest” needle quartz formations

• Many other unusual formations such as shields, totems, helictites and rimstone dams



existence of the cave secret, but they also had to walk the proposal for a state park through the Arizona Legislature — and in turn swear legislators and their staffers to secrecy. Meanwhile, Governor Babbitt had promised that if Cave X did not become a state park, he would personally raise the money to buy it.

In the end, that funding quest resulted in not just a park, which would be called Kartchner Caverns after the Mormon ranching family that owned the land on which it stood, but also an innovative financial program funded by contributions from the state lottery. Through that stake, popular parks such as Kartchner in turn help fund smaller, less-visited parks, as well as raise money for the acquisition of new properties. “Kartchner Caverns,” says Campbell matter-of-factly, ”never would have been developed had it not been for the Arizona Heritage Fund.”

But developed it was, and Kartchner Caverns celebrated its grand opening in 1999, a quarter-century after Tufts and Tenen stumbled into Xanadu. “We started with one governor,” Campbell recalls. “By the time it was over, we’d gone through another governor and were on a third. By the time we got to her, we had spoken with everyone in both houses of the Legislature—and not only that, but we went through three directors of state parks!”

Until that opening, the Conservancy’s involvement was known only to those directly involved in the discussions about the park. Those negotiations were unusual in the level of secrecy they required. But they weren’t the first of their kind—and they won’t be the last.

“The Conservancy has often had to work very quietly behind the scenes,” Campbell says. Sometimes the reason is that government agencies cannot act with speed but want to hold prices down—and, Campbell notes, when the Conservancy acquires property for them, it does so without profit.

Sometimes, Campbell adds, “we found ourselves negotiating when it wasn’t crystal-clear who all the players were, but when it was clear that the property would eventually become part of the public domain.” In the case of Kartchner Caverns, there was a large family to deal with, and questions about whether, in the eyes of the law, a cave and its residents were part of the mineral rights or pure real estate. Four years of quiet, steady work helped answer those questions and resolve issues while developing a campaign to assure neighbors that the state of Arizona was the best possible caretaker for the place.

That case was made, Kartchner Caverns joined the state parks system, and today the Big Room is home to a healthy population of cave myotis bats, which divide their year between their home along the San Pedro River and wintering grounds in Mexico. Dozens of species of insects and reptiles share the cave with them. No other park in any state has given such extensive protection to a single species—in this case, that shy, small bat—that is not formally listed as endangered. That the bats are able to live and nest there undisturbed is a testament to the quiet work of The Nature Conservancy.

— Gregory McNamee

8 | Field Notes: Spring 2016 THIS PAGE San Pedro River © Alan W. Eckert

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OF THE NATURE CONSERVANCY IN

OUTSIZE IMPORTANCE, INDEED. But by the early 1980s, when the massive copper mines that stood at both the headwaters and the confluence furloughed their operations, the San Pedro River had been terribly abused. Those mines drank up huge amounts of water. Farms and ranches took more. Growing cities and a military post siphoned off their share and more. A beacon for migratory birds for untold millennia, the river seldom saw surface water except after big storms.

Dan Campbell, director of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona from 1984 to 1996, came to the state at about the time the San Pedro was at its worst.

From its origins in the mountains of northern Mexico to its confluence with the Gila River, the San Pedro River is barely 140 miles long, half the length of the Potomac and Hudson Rivers. Like its eastern kin, it has had an outsize influence on both the human and natural history of its region. One of the last free-flowing rivers in Arizona, the San Pedro hosts the largest remaining area of what many ecologists consider the rarest type of forest ecosystem in the entire United States: the cottonwood-willow riparian forest. Along the river, dotted by ancient human settlements and mastodon kill sites, more than 400 bird species, 80 mammal species, 16 fish species, and 40 reptile and amphibian species can be found.

A TRICKLE AT A TIMESaving the San Pedro River

Field Notes: Spring 2016 | 9THIS PAGE Caption © Credit; OPPOSITE PAGE Caption © Credit

among some local growers” — namely, to retire acreage from production and, with it, to reduce water use substantially. The farm, Rogers says, now conserves about 3,600 acre-feet of water — an acre-foot being about 326,000 gallons of water a year — that it otherwise would have used. The result: the six miles of river that the farm embraces now flows year-round.

In partnership and singly, the Conservancy now owns or manages 18 large properties and helps oversee other lands, all amounting to about 150,000 acres in the San Pedro watershed. Says Rogers, “We have a huge investment on the river, amounting to tens of millions of dollars over the years.”

That investment takes many forms, including an innovative water recharge program* along the upper river in what the Conservancy’s Holly Richter calls a “unique partnership” with county and municipal government and the U.S. Army. Another program is the river’s wet/dry mapping project, which enlists citizen scientists to report on water flows and track progress in conservation.

The results have been encouraging. Each year since the mapping project has begun, the river shows a little more health, with nearly half of the river “wet.” Threats persist, to be sure, from proposed massive housing developments to a drought of historic scale brought on by a changing climate. And there is much more to be done.

“One thing we learned from our years of study,” says Campbell, “is that the birds that use the river aren’t just using the water, but the grasslands on either side—which, of course, means that more land than just the river bottom needs to be protected.”

“Our strategies are evolving,” says Bob Rogers. “But what we’ve seen is that 30 years ago, Dan Campbell and other Nature Conservancy staffers were right on the mark.” Those strategies involve mapping, planning, retiring, recharging, redirecting, inventorying—endless hard work, that is to say, in the service of keeping the San Pedro River alive and well.

— Gregory McNamee

* See more about this project on page 13.

“The river was being used for ATV races, trash dumps and trafficking contraband from Mexico,” he recalls. “On one or two occasions the check dams at Cananea [Sonora] broke, spilling orange goo all the way down into the United States. Cattle tromped everywhere.” Added to all that was the threat of growing development, bringing with it roads, thirsty golf courses and other harbingers of doom for wild water.

In 1985, the Conservancy set about changing that. It already managed properties along several of the river’s tributaries, including Ramsey Creek through the prized Ramsey Canyon Preserve and, farther downriver, Aravaipa Creek, where

waters from the Galiuro Mountains joined the flow.

The Conservancy had just finished developing its Borderlands Program, identifying places along the U.S.–Mexico border that merited special conservation status, and in this, the upper San Pedro figured promi-nently. The next step was to declare the river a bio-reserve, which, Campbell explains, is “a term of art concerning a landscape-scale project” — things on the landscape scale usually too large for any one entity to take on singlehandedly. So it was with the Conservancy, which reached out for partners in the effort. It found a willing one in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which had substantial holdings along the middle river.

In 1988, Congress designated a stretch of the upper San Pedro River as the nation’s first federal riparian conservation area. The year before, the Bureau of Land Management fenced off portions of the river to keep cattle out, which, BLM biologist Dave Krueper said at the time, “caused a lot of consternation in ranching circles.” Almost immediately native vegetation rebounded, evidence that the controversial decision was a sound one.

At 3 Links Farm, about an hour’s drive north of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, another experiment paid off as well. In 2002, the Conservancy purchased a 2,200-acre farm where the river was usually bone-dry. Bringing the place back to health involved a strategy that, says lower San Pedro River program director Bob Rogers, “was a little unpopular

9 | Field Notes: Spring 2016THIS PAGE left to right Wet-dry mapping © TNC (Tana Kappel); White-crowned sparrow along the upper San Pedro © Robert Granzow

used for irrigation. After he protected strategic tracts of land and retired the wells, increased stream flows showed the model predictions to be accurate.

After he became director of land and water protection in 2002, he continued this science-driven approach to land protection with further hydrological models in the Cascabel portion of the San Pedro. Models predicted that shutting down some irrigation wells would restore flow to a dry stretch of the river. After the Conservancy acquired the 3 Links Farm and turned off the pumps, Dave again showed the models to be right when several miles of new perennial flow developed. Within a few years, the new flow had created willow stands where endangered southwestern willow flycatchers now nest.

Along the San Pedro, Dave was responsible for protecting nearly 30,000 acres of land, all

Arizona has lost a passionate voice for conservation. Dave Harris passed away Dec. 21, 2015. Dave worked for The Nature Conservancy in Arizona for 24 years, from 1990 until 2014 during which he was responsible for many innovative advances in the protection of Arizona’s rivers.

Trained as an aquatic biologist, Dave came to the Conservancy as a field representative, putting together land transactions to protect special places. He liked nothing better than buying a tract of wild land and knowing that it would be protected forever. His work took him all over the state, but his first love was the rivers, especially the San Pedro and the Verde.

Beginning in 1996 as program manager for the lower San Pedro River, he had hydrological modeling done to identify the best locations for land protection and to predict the outcomes of retiring key high-volume wells

of it strategically located to provide the greatest lasting value to the river.

Dave brought the same strategic approach to protecting land along the Verde River, focusing on protecting historic water rights and irrigation ditch rights. His leadership resulted in acquisitions such as the Verde headwater springs and downstream ditch rights that have positioned the Conservancy to play an innovative leadership role in water conservation.

Dave had a talent for getting people to focus on the real issues. He had a deep desire to protect beautiful places in the world, especially the San Pedro River. We will miss the passion he brought to our conservation mission.

— Peter Warren

Dave Harris: A Passion for Arizona’s Rivers

THIS PAGE At top and right, Dave Harris along the San Pedro River © TNC (Barbara Clark); From left are Holly Richter/TNC, Anya Schoolman, who worked with the Walton Family Foundation, and Dave Harris/TNC © TNC (Barbara Clark)

Toroweap, north side of Grand Canyon at sunset © Craig Bill

For years, the “bathtub” rings in our giant water tanks in the Southwest — Lakes Mead and Powell — have been more prominent than the water.

They are symptoms of an overworked Colorado River, which provides water for 36 million people and 4 million acres of crops.

Long-term drought is reducing snowpack in the Rocky Mountains. That coupled with historic decisions that overestimated the amount of water the Colorado River could provide to each state and Mexico, is leading to discussions about how to reduce water use. In the near term it will make Arizona more dependent on water sources in the state.

“We’re using more water than the Colorado River can provide. At current use rates, the capacity of our reservoirs is not sustainable,” says Pat Graham, The Nature Conservancy’s state director in Arizona.

“It’s not a crisis yet,” says Graham, “but it’s urgent. We need to take action now in order to avoid a crisis. “

Our Water: Helping NatureHelp Us



THIS PAGE Lake Mead in 2007 © Andrew Pernick/U.S. Department of the Interior - Bureau of Reclamation; Water © istockphoto

The combination of over-allocating water and the on-going drought are causing water levels in lakes Mead and Powell to get low enough to trigger reductions in water allocations. If nothing is done the Federal government will step in and make decisions on who gets how much water.

Arizona, California and Nevada are currently in negotiations about voluntarily reducing their allocations to prevent a crisis. “It’s in everybody’s best interest to reduce their use of water,” said Graham

As Colorado River water in reservoirs declines, other sources — such as groundwater, rivers and lakes, and reclaimed water — become more important, and more important to conserve.

Watershed Health and Agricultural EfficiencyThe Verde River, which along with the Salt River, provides about 30 percent of the water used in the Phoenix Metro area. Since 2010, the Conservancy has helped Verde Valley farmers be more efficient in their water use to improve water quality and river flows.

An important source of water in the Verde and Salt rivers is meltwater from mountain snowpack. Nature Conservancy research found that thinning the overgrown forest could yield an increase in meltwater to the streams and groundwater that feed the river. With the current overgrown canopy, much of the snow evaporates before it can melt into the ground.

Healthy forests and grasslands are important sponges that filter water. Reducing invasive species while maintaining native plants and natural barriers that slow water runoff help keep rivers healthy.

To that end, the Conservancy is launching a new program that will benefit the Salt and Verde rivers

Our Water ChoicesArizona has important choices to make about the future of its water resources.

The state uses about 7 million acre-feet of water annually, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources. One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough water to serve a family of four or five for one year.

The Colorado River is a major water source for 80 percent of Arizona’s population. The Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal conveys 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties.

The Colorado River Compact and other water agreements allocated Arizona up to 2.8 million acre-feet of Colorado River water annually. When fully utilized, about one-half of this supply goes to CAP users, and the other half is allocated to main-stem Colorado River water users, mostly for agriculture in Mohave, La Paz and Yuma counties.

WHOLE Support for the Colorado RiverOn April 27, Whole Foods stores throughout Arizona donated 5 percent of their sales to support The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Project. 12 | Field Notes: Spring 2016


years. Annual mapping of river flows has shown improvements in certain stretches, especially where groundwater pumping has been reduced.

Water ReplenishmentNow another approach is showing promise: adding water to the aquifer.

An innovative project involving Cochise County, Fort Huachuca and the Conservancy is showing great potential to capture stormwater runoff and replenish the aquifer that supports river flows. The Cochise Conservation and Recharge Network has developed one recharge facility and plans to develop such facilities at three other sites.

Modeling suggests that replenishing groundwater could sustain the river’s base flow levels in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area for the next 100 years even with limited residential growth. Replenishment facilities placed in a river-friendly location provide a cost-effective way to take advantage of water runoff.

These water replenishment facilities provide a balance between community water needs and ensuring this iconic river continues to flow.

With warming temperatures and population growth, Arizona needs to seriously evaluate its water options. We recommend conserving our water use while helping nature do its job of providing clean, healthy water.

—Tana Kappel

and provide a way for communities, businesses and others to invest in river friendly projects. The Salt and Verde Valley Water Fund* will benefit 14 communities, home to millions of people in a watershed that stretches from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.

Groundwater Law a ModelGroundwater provides about 43 percent of the state’s water use. In 1980, Arizona legislators, concerned that groundwater was being pumped out more rapidly than it was being replenished, enacted important groundwater protection laws that were considered a U.S. model for conserving groundwater. The laws required new housing developments to prove that there is enough water to serve them for 100 years.

Recently Arizona Governor Doug Ducey vetoed a legislative bill that, if enacted, would have allowed certain cities to opt out of that requirement, including Sierra Vista, which is considering a large-scale housing development. Opponents say this development would negatively impact the fragile San Pedro River, whose importance as a migratory bird corridor is unmatched on the continent. The legislation was written in response to litigation brought by the Bureau of Land Management to protect its water right, which would have had the effect of limiting development.

The Conservancy and its partners have been working to improve the flows of the San Pedro for the past 30

Conservancy staff and volunteers answered questions and passed out Colorado River literature at each of the participating stores: three in Tucson, five in the Phoenix metro area, and one each in Flagstaff, Sedona and Prescott. The amount raised: $28,364 Field Notes: Spring 2016 | 13

* For more information about the Salt and Verde Valley Water Fund, go to nature.org/azwaterfund

1ST— UNDER THE STARS

2ND — PREYING MANTIS

3RD — AFTERNOON GLOW


Itsy Bitsy

Double Rainbow

The Great Expanse


Adventures in NatureStudents from around Arizona entered 1,207 photos in the 2016 Adventures in Nature student photo contest, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy in Arizona, Arizona Highways magazine and Cox Communications.

1ST PLACE WINNER: Randy Davidson, Prescott, for “Under the Stars”Randy, 18, a senior at Prescott High School, says this photo is his favorite because it captures “the true magic of Arizona’s night sky."

2ND PLACE WINNER: Wyatt Mendez, Tucson, for “Preying Mantis”Wyatt, 18, a senior at Tucson High Magnet School, said of his photo: “Getting this none-too-happy mantis to stand still in a good position for more than half a second was no easy task. Praise to a bright sun and fast shutter speeds."

3RD PLACE WINNER: Tanner Charnstrom, Phoenix, for “Afternoon Glow” Tanner, 17, attends Pinnacle High School in Phoenix. His photo was taken at Antelope Canyon, where a diagonal blast of light was set against the undulating gold curves of the slot canyon.

HONORABLE MENTION: Mary Siml, Tucson, for “Sky Island”Madilyn Olson, San Tan Valley, for “Double Rainbow”

FINALISTS: Mary Siml, Tucson, for “The Great Expanse” • Lily Cate Smith, Tucson, for “Green Bug on a Flower” • Michael Bray, Sahuarita, for “Web of Life” • Lydia Yates, San Tan Valley, for “Itsy Bitsy” • Tyra Hughes, Mesa, for “Salt River”

Contest judges were Jeff Kida (Arizona Highways photo editor), Rick Wiley (Arizona Daily Star photo editor), Mark Skalny (corporate and nature photographer) and Bob Billups (retired professor of music, amateur photographer and Nature Conservancy volunteer. )

Check out the winning photos on-line at nature.org/arizona and at Cox7.com.

Green Bug on a Flower

Web of Life

Salt River

Sky Island



A Town in Love With its

Few Arizona communities are lucky enough to have a river flowing through them.

The town of Camp Verde has 17 miles of healthy river flowing through it, offering floating and swimming opportunities, as well as shady places for picnicking, wildlife viewing, bird watching and solitude.

Now Camp Verde plans to expand access and opportunities to enjoy the river within its town boundary — beginning at The Nature Conservancy’s Otter Water property in the middle Verde and ending at the Conservancy’s Shield Ranch, just downstream of the West Clear Creek confluence.

Residents seem to support the idea. A significant majority of residents surveyed as part of a river recreation planning process agreed or strongly agreed that enhanced river access should be a priority.

THIS PAGE The Verde River © TNC (Heather Reading)16 | Field Notes: Spring 2016


A Town in Love With its

increase the opportunities for in-river recreation activities.

The Conservancy’s work with irrigation companies to install solar powered ditch gates has allowed operators to better track and manage water for irrigation. The Conservancy also introduced financial incentives for irrigators to take less water from the Verde, and is working with farmers to use more efficient irrigation systems such as drip irrigation.

These efforts have resulted in more water in 20 miles of the river, at no loss to crop productivity.

It's amazing how this community has come together over the past five years. We're working with forward-thinking partners to make the Verde River healthy and flowing, and to meet the needs of people and wildlife," says Kim Schonek, the Conservancy’s Verde River project manager, who led the work with area ditch operators.

In coming years, additional efforts funded by a $2.8 million U.S. Department of Agriculture

“The people we reached out to here have been hugely receptive,” says Steve Ayers, the town’s economic development director.

Camp Verde residents reported the most interest in expanding trails for walking, hiking, running, biking and horseback riding. A large majority of survey respondents felt that development of a network of trails along public lands should be a priority. Trails connecting the town to parks, and trails connecting the town to the Verde River were most broadly supported.

Many of the property owners along the 17-mile river corridor supported having better, more secure access sites, which they felt would help limit trespassing, ATV traffic, trash dumping and fire threats.

The effort also involved evaluating the potential for in-river recreation. A consulting firm hired to assess the flows of the Verde within the town limits found that low flows through much of the irrigation season make water-based recreation through most of the town difficult.

The report, however, noted that current restoration and irrigation efficiency efforts are increasing flows, and have some potential to

partnership grant will help in efforts to reduce water use and improve the watershed.

And, the Conservancy and its farming partners are looking into low-water use crops with growing cycles that are timed to when river flows are highest.

“All the ditch companies are now working with the Conservancy and a lot of progress is being made to make the river healthier,” says Ayers.

“Three years ago, I couldn’t have sold local residents on this recreation plan. But now, clearly they support these efforts.”

—Tana Kappel

THIS PAGE clockwise Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF) girls work to eradicate invasive plants along the Verde in 2013 © Amy Zimmermann; Kade Schonek playing in the water © Rick Triana; Steve Ayers, Camp Verde economic development director, speaking with the Conservancy's Kim Schonek © Stephen TrimbleTHIS PAGE The Verde River © TNC (Heather Reading)


San Pedro River Land Stays in RanchingOnce slated for housing development, the 1,914-acre Flying H Ranch near Bisbee recently was permanently protected to enhance water supplies for the San Pedro River, protect wildlife habitat and allow continued ranching. The Trust for Public Lands purchased the ranch, worked with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to place a conservation easement on it, and sold the ranch to the Ladd family, who own an adjacent 14,000-acre grassland ranch – the San Jose Ranch. The Nature Conservancy brought the project to the attention of the Trust for Public Land.

The Ladds are committed to sustainable ranching – the westernmost 2,300 acres of their ranchland, located next to the Bureau of Land Management’s San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, already has a conservation easement in place.

Conservation Briefs

Kids Help Gilbert Save WaterGuess how much water a sixth-grade class helped the Gilbert Courts and Fire Administration save? 44,203 gallons of water annually! That equals the amount of water it takes to make 17 pairs of jeans, 294 loaves of bread, or 1,194 cups of coffee.

On February 9, students from Finley Farms Elementary School, assisted by Arizona Project WET, measured the flow rates of aerators on the sinks in the buildings, and replaced the old aerators with brand new ones. After the audit was complete, the students visited a courtroom and met a judge. Said the teacher. “My students really felt very accomplished.” A win-win all around for the city, for the students, for Arizona Project WET and for water conservation.

THIS PAGE top to bottom Finley Farms students with the judge © Sara Krznarich; Ladd Ranch © TNC (Peter Warren)18 | Field Notes: Spring 2016

Rare Birds Return to Ramsey Two rare birds, the flame-colored tanager and the tufted flycatcher, have reappeared at Ramsey Canyon Preserve, causing significant interest in the birding community. Arlene Ripley, a Nature Conservancy Legacy Club member*, photographed the flame-colored tanager (left) at the Ramsey preserve on March 31, 2016.

Last summer, Sandy Komito, famous birder in birding circles, visited Ramsey to see the flame-colored tanager. The movie “The Big Year” is based on his exploits to record 748 different bird sitings in one year – 1998 — in the 48 States. His record stood until 2013 when Neil Hayward recorded 749.

THIS PAGE Flame-colored tanager © Arlene Ripley inset Tufted-flycatcher © FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Field Notes: Spring 2016 | 19 * Legacy Club members have The Nature Conservancy in their estate plans.

The Nature ConservancyArizona Chapter 7600 N. 15th Street, #100 Phoenix, AZ 85020

nature.org/arizona

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDTUCSON, AZ

PERMIT NO. 2216

SAVE THE

FOR A CELEBRATION Marking 50 years of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona. Who is Invited: Supporters like You! Where: Tucson Conservation Center, 1510 E. Fort Lowell, Tucson

October 15, 2016Go to nature.org/arizona for more details!

DATE

Ragged-Top Peak in Ironwood National Monument © TNC (Tana Kappel)

Documents

Field Notes: Spring 2016