State environmental and wildlife officials have announced a new partnership that will restore some of Arizona’s most vulnerable waterways.
The San Pedro and Little Colorado Rivers are currently listed as “impaired” watersheds, which means they do not meet all the federal water quality standards. This has implications not just for aquatic species, but also for the grasslands that sustain livestock and animals like pronghorn.
To address that the Arizona Department of Water Quality and the Arizona Game and Fish Department have teamed up committing more than $500,000 in state and federal grant money.
Wade Zarlingo, with the Arizona Game and Fish, said these grassland ecosystems have been degraded by human development and the overgrowth of woody plants.
“You have more exposed soil, and when you get precipitation events, it basically runs off the landscape instead of infiltrating into the groundwater," Zarlingo said.
The runoff then carries fertilizers and other pollutants into the waterways.
Zarlingo said they plan to remedy this issue using a variety of strategies, including removing trees and partnering with local ranchers to alter livestock grazing patterns.
