TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Santa Cruz River once flowed freely from Mexico into Arizona, but today, large stretches of the river are dry, with much of its water underground due to increased demand for groundwater.
A coalition of over 40 nonprofit partners is striving to establish federal protections to protect and restore the Santa Cruz River for future generations.
The group is seeking a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Urban Refuge designation, which would protect the river from further development and allow land acquisitions to expand the refuge.
The effort comes after the Santa Cruz was recently named one of the most endangered rivers in the United States by American Rivers.
Despite the Heritage Project revitalizing the river in 2019 by adding 2.8 million gallons of treated recycled water daily, the Santa Cruz still faces challenges. Americans Rivers writes, “Climate change and water scarcity threaten progress to ensure clean, flowing water in the river. Further, rollbacks to clean water protections at the federal level could add new challenges to the health of the watershed longer term.”
Angel Antonio Breault, Education Director for Tucson Clean & Beautiful, says the effort to establish an urban wildlife refuge serves to make the investments of the Heritage Project pay off in the long term.
“We are trying to get a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Urban Wildlife Refuge designation to continue supporting the conservation and restoration efforts that have really blossomed and thrived over the past several decades here in Southern Arizona,” Breault said. “This is a really important place to learn from as we enter this era of climate instability.”
Growing up in Tucson, Breault initially viewed the Santa Cruz River as “just a wash.” However, his perspective shifted dramatically after the Heritage Project introduced reclaimed water to the river in 2019.
“All these wetlands plants that had been absent for, you know, really for the past century, started recuperating and regenerating here,” Breault said. “Right in this place that I’d been told was a barren wasteland.”
Rebecca Perez from The Wilderness Society, another partner in this initiative, emphasized the importance of the community’s backing in gaining urban wildlife refuge status.
“We really need that broad public support,” Perez said. “We need people to urge their representatives, their elected officials, to support this designation and be champions of this designation.”
According to The Wilderness Society, both the Biden Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are supportive of the refuge designation.
Pima County and Santa Cruz County have also declared their support, along with Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva.
However, due to uncertainty over how future administrations might handle the issue, the coalition aims to secure the designation within six months.
The coalition encourages the public to show their support by signing letters at SantaCruzRiver.org.
Additionally, on Monday, June 24th, members of Tucson Clean & Beautiful and others from the coalition will be present at the Día de San Juan festival at Mission Garden, which celebrates the arrival of monsoon season.
At the event, the group will discuss their efforts to protect the Santa Cruz River and provide more information about the initiative.
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Joel Foster is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9 who previously worked as an English teacher in both Boston and the Tucson area. Joel has experience working with web, print and video in the tech, finance, nonprofit and the public sectors. In his off-time, you might catch Joel taking part in Tucson's local comedy scene. Share your story ideas with Joel at joel.foster@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
