Celebrate AZ Water: American Wetlands Month
This month, we are celebrating American Wetlands Month! When you think of wetlands you might think of marshlands like the Louisiana Delta or the Florida Everglades. What might surprise you is that we do have wetlands in the Arizona desert. Some are natural and some are manmade. What is a… Read More
Celebrate AZ Water: April is Water Awareness Month
There is no other natural resource as important to us in Arizona as water! That’s why this essential and precious resource was recognized by Arizona’s governor in 2008 with an Executive Order that designates April as Water Awareness Month. Now in its eleventh year, April is the time that Arizonans… Read More
Celebrate AZ Water: Wetlands – The Buffer Zone Between Life and Loss
Squeals of delight can always be heard from eager students attending any of the numerous riparian field trips Arizona Project WET holds every year. Whether empowered with simple collection devices they’ve created themselves or armed with sophisticated water sampling technology, these intrepid students poke, prod, and ponder the unique mysteries… Read More
Celebrate AZ Water: Tempe Town Lake – Making Waves in the Desert
Tempe Town Lake is Arizona’s second-most visited public attraction. More than 2.4 million people spend time at Town Lake each year. The more than 2-mile long lake was created by damming a portion of the dry Salt River and adding water. Today, the lake continues to act like a river… Read More
Celebrate AZ Water: Bringing Water Back to Tucson’s Birthplace – the Santa Cruz River Heritage Project
Some 4,000 years ago, ancestors of the Hohokam people settled at the base of (what is now known as) Tucson’s A Mountain on the banks of the Santa Cruz river. At that time, the river flowed year-round and supported lush woodlands of cottonwood, willow, and mesquite. These people created an extensive system of… Read More
Celebrate AZ Water – New Arizona Prize: Mesa (And You) Win the Water Public Art Challenge
A piece of sculpture at a public intersection was once considered public art. Things have changed. Public art has become more of an event, such as a community mural designed and painted through a partnership between an artist and neighbors. The City of Mesa has taken this idea to sophisticated levels…. Read More
Celebrate AZ Water: Turning the Bend at River Bend — Successful Restoration on the Agua Fria River
Welcome to a steamy July morning on the Agua Fria River near Cordes Junction, Arizona. Humid, heavy air hangs above young willows laid flat by recent heavy flows. We slop through thick, mocha colored mud to the mechanical whir of cicadas, and screams of nesting Zone-tailed Hawks. While searching for… Read More
CELEBRATE AZ WATER: 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN PROJECT ACT
On September 30, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed into law the Colorado River Basin Project Act. Fifty years is a long time, especially to those who have lived that long, but to understand the impact of the Colorado River Basin Project Act, I actually think you need to look… Read More
CELEBRATE AZ WATER WITH US ON THE VERDE RIVER!
The upper Verde River originates in Yavapai County, near the town of Paulden, Arizona from a series of springs. It runs for more than 190 miles supporting a lush gallery forest consisting of dense groupings of cottonwoods and willows. The first 137 miles of the Verde River flow freely before… Read More
CELEBRATE AZ WATER AT ROGERS LAKE: WHERE DID IT COME FROM, WHERE DOES IT GO?
Ten miles southwest of Flagstaff along Woody Mountain Road, out beyond the Arboretum, lies Rogers Lake. It’s a lake only ephemerally, during springs with heavy snow runoff. At these times, the lake also draws in waterfowl and eagles. More often, and especially this year, Rogers is grassy and wildflowery grazing… Read More
