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Verde River Stories
“Fountain Grass!” Ben yells the name of the plant species we are hunting, and swiftly darts to the side of the river in his blue ducky. The rest of the crew, not far behind, scrambles to find a spot along the tiny bank, grasping onto willows overhanging the river. After some reorganizing, the cluster of […]
If you spend any time on the Verde River you quickly here the stories about the 1993 and 2004 floods. In 2004 at its high, the flow gauge in Camp Verde hit 50,000 cfs, cubic feet per second. The average flow for the gauge is about 150 cfs. But 1993 is the one year that […]
Our restoration crews come from Vets4Hire and AZ Conservation Corp. They are the boots on the ground people doing the habitat restoration projects focusing on the removal of invasive plant species. We just celebrated the end of our 2018-2019 season with a party for the crew at Dead Horse Ranch State Park. During this season […]
by Ben Kowalewski, Habitat Restoration Coordinator TheVerde Watershed Restoration Coalition(commonly referred to as VWRC – pronounced “vee-work”) is a collaborative effort uniting private landowners, organizations, and agencies with a common interest in the health of the Verde River Watershed. Together, VWRC Partners are working to control one of the biggest current threats to the Verde […]
Our Habitat Restoration Manager, Matt Wilson and Field Supervisor, Elaine Nichols attended the Riparian Restoration and Tamarisk Beetle Workshop presented by RiversEdge West in Yuma in late November. The workshop covered the Tamarisk leaf beetle and various aspects of a successful river restoration program. The tamarisk leaf beetle is a biological control that was introduced […]
by Ben Kowalewski, Habitat Restoration Coordinator Part One The morning started off like most others; wanting to stay in bed for five more minutes but knowing it was time to get up, coffee, getting dressed and leaving for work. Except today was not a typical day going to the office, I had a lot of […]
by Maxwell Wilson, PhD Western water law is one of the most complicated topics in academia. However, the law, both as it is today and how it could be tomorrow, constrains what we can do and provides opportunities for action. As such, a working knowledge of water law is a critical component in the Friends […]
Friends of the Verde River has been using Geographic Information System (GIS) software to map important resources as well as invasive plant locations along the Verde since 2011. Currently, our field crews use Samsung Galaxy Tablets along with an app called Collector for ArcGIS to map and monitor invasive plant infestations and treatment areas. The […]
