Are you ready to celebrate the 4th of July with a purpose? Gather your friends and head outside to participate in a watershed wide effort to preserve our recreation areas. After the holiday, these areas experience high usage and tend to accumulate excess litter. Our goal is to clean-up this litter before it floats downstream, […]
What is GIS? GIS stands for Geographic Information System. GIS is a mapping tool that allows us to link data with specific locations to help with research, monitoring, and analysis. GIS is an important tool that we use at Friends of the Verde River to understand trends, or how things are changing, in the habitat […]
If you wait until the end of the year to “figure out” your charitable giving, you are not alone. An astonishing 30.8% of all charitable gifts are made in December! And 12% happen in the last three days of the calendar year! If you are just beginning the process of thinking about your year-end gift […]
by Nancy Steele September 13, 2021 If you don’t already celebrate rivers enough, this month we celebrate World Rivers Day on Sunday, September 26th. Why should you celebrate the Verde? Let me count the ways. Racing downhill, waters from rivers carve the lands, down cutting through soft sediments and hard bedrock, creating pathways. The Verde […]
“All kinds of labels help people make decisions these days: organic, water-smart, earth friendly, fair trade. What about a label for homes and businesses that are friendly to the local river? That’s the idea behind the “River Friendly Living” Certification, a new program launched this year by the nonprofit group Friends of the Verde River. […]
by Nancy Steele July 13, 2021 Trees are on my mind. This year, I’ve seen landscape trees and shrubs stressed and brown. Junipers in central and northern Arizona are dying in large numbers. The die off has been called unprecedented. Scientists believe it is caused by the combination of drought and extreme heat. These trees […]
September brings a buzz of back-to-school energy, and with it new projects for river lovers! #PurdyVerde Trash Pickups: River lovers in the Verde Valley have noticed that many popular River Access Points and other frequented outdoor recreation spots have once again become overrun by trash. Plastic bottles, disposable masks, cigarette butts, discarded food containers, and […]
by Bob and Kristin Rothrock “We decided to shift to monthly giving because that becomes income that the organization can count on. This reduces stress and we hope makes budgeting more accurate. To me the Verde and its tributaries means we get to live in the most beautiful part of the most diverse state in […]
by Nancy Steele August 9, 2021 About 15 years ago when I was working for another river conservation group, I visited a creek to learn about a river improvement project. It had been raining, and while walking to the creek I saw lots of small toads. In the creek, we rock-hopped to get a closer […]
by Nancy Steele June 7, 2021 Last Saturday it was midmorning, and I was nearing the end of my hike at Dead Horse Ranch State Park. I like to walk a circuit that takes in the bird feeders, the river trail, and all three ponds. But now I was looking forward to getting into my […]
