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The Verde Ranger Program was funded $5,000. In April of 2020,the COVID-19 pandemic brought “stay at home” proclamations all over Arizona. Whenthe proclamations wereimplemented,Clarkdale’s two river parkssaw recreationalboating skyrocket,since outdoor recreation had almost no restrictions. Even today, kayaks and kayaking gear are extremelyhard to find. Because so many new boaters have adopted the pastime recently, we expect the heavy useto continue even after restrictions are lifted. Normal use of30-50boats/day between the two RAPs hasincreased to50-150on weekends. Since March, observers have confirmed that most of the newrecreational boaters are new to kayaking and especially are new to boating on rivers, and even more arenew to this stretch.The impacts of this new use have grown tremendously. Data shows that 64%of the boaters on this stretch are not equipped with or using a PFD, a violation of state law. Often childrenride in a boat oron a parent’spaddle board without a PFD. This issue has beenmitigated to an extentby our cooperation withAZ Game andFish Department and the Town of Clarkdale toinstallloaner PFDkiosks at both RAPs. But the new use is greater than the kiosks can accommodate.
Having made these observations, the Verde River Institute met with other outfitters and the Town ofClarkdale to decide what could be done to address these new challenges without discouraging thenew recreational use, which we all felt was important to building a river constituency. The Verde RiverInstitute suggested that we create a new program of river rangers that would boat the river betweenTapcoRAP and TuziRAP, mostly on the weekends, and engage boaters about PFD use, properly securingboat contents, how to negotiate the rapids, and general river etiquette, safety, and environmentalstewardship. At the same time, the rangers would pick up riverside and river bottom trash, offerassistance to boaters who need it, and attend to theoccasional need for first aid.
