2008 VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION

The CWA Board extends a heartfelt thanks to you, our volunteers - residents, local businesses, technical partners - who have endured the heat, pesky no-seeums, hours in the field, and numerous meetings to promote research and to put projects on the ground within the Benson Subwatershed!

Readers need only to scan the contents of this newsletter to know what has been accomplished through your efforts!!!!!!

Volunteers have contributed hundreds of hours as in-kind match for an ADEQ Title 319 Grant as they established an erosion control demonstration/ learning site featuring a 360' bank stabilization project, gabion-basket structures, and loose rock check dams that work in series.

Another demo site that was constructed and is available for visiting is a complete rain-harvesting collection and irrigation system that delivers pressurized rainwater to contoured beds of drought tolerant plants.

CWA Volunteers have organized and hosted over 10 "how-to" workshops related to both demonstration sites as well as additional training sessions for xeroscaping, pruning trees, and accurate data collection for CWA assisted monitoring projects with university, city, state, federal, and non-governmental organization partners.

It is the efforts of volunteers such as yourself that make it possible for CWA to bring our communities guest speakers and consultants who are leading resources in their fields - soils conservation, contaminant control and water quality management, ecosystem sustainability, water legislation, and other protections for the watershed.

Lastly, we must thank all those volunteers who support us financially either as members or through donations. All monies are used to promote research, educational opportunities and materials . . . . . and we are now only weeks away from becoming a 501 (c) 3 which will be retroactive back to our conception!!!!!

VOLUNTEERS, WE SALUTE YOU!

Peter Moran, Chair, Watershed Resident

Nancy Upp, Secretary, Watershed Resident

Kali H, Treasurer, Adams Ranch

Fred Kartchner, Member at Large, St. David Domestic Water

Ellis East, Member at Large, Pomerene Water District

Wayne Fields, Member at Large, Watershed Resident

Mary McCool, Executive Director, Watershed Resident

Click here for your $15 membership form to help support our outreach programs!

Click here to visit our CWA website.

Click here to contact us.

NEW RESEARCH LIBRARY ONLY A CLICK AWAY

NOW ONE STOP RESEARCH

Want to know:

1) What is causing the sink holes around Benson and possible fixes,
2) What questions residents are asking the scientists about their water supply,
3) What does USGS say about our aquifer?, and . . . . . .

Now, residents in the Middle San Pedro have a technical library linked to ADWR, USGS, state and local entity reports relevant to our area. CWA is partnering with Dr. Phil Heilman, Southwest Watershed Research Center, to launch a CWA TAC WEB PAGE with over 80 links to publications, reports, studies, and agencies with specific answers.

The CWA Technical Advisory Committee chaired by Pamela Beilke, Director of Compliance & Quality with Apache Nitrogen, continues to scour archives, current journals, conference presentations, etc., to add to descriptions and listings.

The TECH Library includes a direct link to ADWR’s Water Atlas – Volume Three a comprehensive review by the Department of Water Resources of water supply and demand conditions for our area. The Atlas consists primarily of maps, tables, figures and concise text. The Atlas is designed to assist local and regional planning efforts; identify water resource issues facing rural AZ communities; compile recent information and update prior statewide water assessments; identify areas requiring further study; and, develop and maintain an online rural AZ database.

The Water Atlas is only one valuable link provided by the CWA TAC WEBPAGE. Users can navigate easily through the Middle San Pedro Research Library, Research in Adjacent Watersheds, Current Research Projects in the Middle San Pedro, On-going Data Bases, and Organization/Program Links.

For more information regarding the CWA TAC LIBRARY: Contact Pamela Beilke, Chair, 520-720-2114 or Mary McCool, Executive Director, 520-609-2738.

Click here to go directly to TAC Webpage.

COUNTY SUPPORTS AREA ISOTOPE STUDY

With assistance from Cochise County Water Conservationist, Carl Robie, CWA submitted an Isotope Proposal to expand the work currently being done by the USGS within the Benson Subwatershed.

The Board of Supervisors approved the requested funding that will extend the USGS Study to include 12 additional carbon-14 measurements.

Within 9 months, Dr. Chris Eastoe from the U of A Geochem Lab will present at a CWA meeting the results of the carbon-14 data set with detailed locations, and a preliminary report identifying whether/where significant recent recharge to the regional aquifer is taking place.

Data will then be incorporated into USGS larger scale study.

Click here to review the Scope of Work and why such information is helpful.

2008 WET-DRY MAPS AND STATISTICS ARE POSTED

A new series of 6 maps of the of the San Pedro River,
surveyed in June 2008, has been posted to the CWA website.

"The San Pedro River wet/dry mapping dataset is a community effort to track the river’s health by monitoring the persistence of surface water during the driest time of each year".

From south of the border at the head of the San Pedro downstream for a total of nearly 120 miles, volunteers used GPS units to record where water was present.

CWA coordinated the efforts within the Benson Subwatershed, providing training and equipment support for seven teams.

Click here for CWA's press release with team photo.

Click here to go to Map Links.

CWA ASSISTS ASU WITH RIPARIAN MONITORING

During several weeks in June, Dr. Gabrielle Katz and a team of ASU and North Carolina students revisited riparian transects established by CWA volunteers to collect the third year of streamside vegetation data.

Dr. Katz's team expanded data collection this year to include floodplain vegetation at each of the three sites as well as recording the geomorphology, or the cross-section profile, of the stream channel.

Property owners participating in the study received a list of plant species found within the randomly placed plats (a 1-meter square frame) at their specific site.

The Benson sites are included in the scope of work funded by an Arizona Water Protection Fund Grant from ADWR.

Click here for a description/photos of the study.

PHOTOMONITORING FOR CITY OF BENSON'S RESTORATION PROJECT

With assistance from the Coronado RC&D and NRCS, the City of Benson was awarded funding for their San Pedro River Habitat Improvement Project by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The project area is 12 acres in size and is located within a 100 acre tract owned by the City of Benson along the San Pedro River. The parcel is abandoned cropland located within the City limits, just north of Interstate 10. The parcel is adjacent to the golf course and sewage treatment ponds and includes a one mile reach of the river.

The first step planned for the project was to increase the species diversity of plants on 10 acres of upland adjacent to the river by reseeding to native plants in the open areas.

The second step would be to remove the tamarisk from a 50' reach of the river under the El Paso Natural Gas overhead pipelines. The tamarisk poses a fire danger.

Matt Killeen, TNC Biologist on the CWA Technical Advisory Committee, developed the photomonitoring protocol and trained CWA Volunteers to do semi-annual data collection photography.

The Jan. Photo Log recorded the temporary delay in restoration efforts due to an increasing number of sink holes developing in the area, some ten to twelve feet deep.

CWA introduced Ray Harris, formerly with the Arizona Geological Society, to Kathy Suagee, project lead. Ray Harris walked the site with Kathy Suagee, City Council and Bob Nilson, Visitors Bureau. CWA shared baseline information on the sink holes and used GPS readings and records to distinguish between older sink holes and those more recently formed.

Harris met with City Staff multiple times to share his research on sink holes and desiccation cracks in the area - contributing to the City Staff's plan for successful management.

The August Photo Shoot recorded new efforts with an absence of sink holes! (Consider volunteering for this 2.5 mile hiking opportunity with the bonus of wildlife viewing - definitely a pleasant, early morning experience).

Visit the TAC Library for maps and reports on Benson Sink Holes.

Click here for a summary of Desiccation Cracks then study the maps of Benson and St. David found on the TAC webpage.

BUILDING LOW MAINTENACE DIRT ROADS

Building "dirt roads that lay easy on the land" is Bill Zeedyk's forte and is representative of his life work. Zeedyk is a retired U.S. Forest Service Biologist whose expertise includes "building and maintaining unpaved rural roads so that they drain effectively, harvest water in appropriate places and decrease soil erosion and water pollution".

CWA is hosting a workshop on October 11, 10 A.M. to 2:30 ish where Zeedyk will share his publications showing how roads can be managed to improve the health of a watershed.

The workshop will go between two sites: the Power Point discussion to be held in the St. David Water Improvement District's Office and then moving to the CWA Manzanita Erosion Control Site for discussions of appropriate strategies for real on-the-ground challenges.

This Road Blading Workshop is the fourth in a series of "how-to workshops" funded by a $ 47,000 ADEQ Title 319 Grant. CWA is administering and providing project support on 180 acres where property owners have joined together to develop a set of complimentary best management practices for reducing upland erosion.

Contact us to register for this workshop.

Click the following for previous workshop galleries:

• pdf overview of grant and erosion projects to April 2008
• constructing our gabion basket/ wire-sausage structures

LOCAL WATER - STATE DISCUSSIONS

PART ONE:

Residents of the Benson Subwatershed watched State Legislators carefully as budget cuts swept across the board - fearing the worst for ADWR Rural Watershed Initiative Funding.

Although ADWR received a $500K cut, Tom Whitmer, ADWR Statewide Planner, assured CWA members that the hydrological investigations contracted with USGS will continue as originally planned for the 2008 fiscal year.

During contract negotiations, ADWR and USGS continued discussions regarding the development of a meaningful product to represent the findings of the airborne geophysical study conducted last year. CWA TAC will keep the membership apprized of its development.

Click here for a quick overview of the study.

PART TWO:

Although Cochise County has adopted the Water Adequacy Standard, the Board of Supervisors continue to play an important role in dicussions as ADWR prepares revisions to the Adequacy Rules.

Cochise County was the first County to adopt the Adequacy Standard that requires developers to show they are able to provide a 100 year water supply for their project without drawing the groundwater table 1200 feet below ground level.

The County's interest is primarily two fold: 1) the County would like a policy to be deveoped that will provide assistance to the small developer (30 units or less) so that the developer does not chose to wildcat in order to avoid the expensive water analysis, and 2) to assure leniency so that drylot subdivisions are considered on an individual basis rather than the current policy which identifies a subdivision as having an inadequate source of water if the groundwater table is lowered below 400' from the ground's surface. This is of particular concern is areas such as Portal where groundwater levels are over 600' below ground surface.

The following are highlights from ADEQUACY RULES UPDATE provided by Tom Whitmer at CWA's August monthly meeting.

The most controversial issue is up on the Coconino Plateau where the groundwater level is greater than 3,000 feet below ground surface. ADWR is to present at an upcoming Coconino BOS meeting which is expected to produce another round of questions.

Due to the delays with Coconino Issues and the development of a new way to address physical availability in several northern aquifers, it will probably be 5-8 weeks before a draft is published in the Register with the Secretary of State.

The Department is working on a schedule of next steps – dates for completion of summary and submission to Secretary, closing the record, hearing Dates and GRRC meeting dates with eventual effective dates.