Verde River: Beautiful & Beleaguered

The Verde River in Arizona is in trouble. As you read this, illegal ATV riders are destroying a rare riparian habitat. Water pollution and industrialization threaten water quality. Rapidly growing cities plan to tap the Big Chino aquifer, which supplies more than 80 percent of the upper Verde spring flow. Growing urban water use could double within the next 20 years. If the Big Chino Aquifer is pumped with no mitigation plan, with no habitat conservation plan, the entire Upper Verde River will become a dry wash. A half dozen threatened fish and birds plus hundreds of other species that depend on the Upper Verde, will be affected.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Verde
• River
• pollution
• groundwater
• aquifer
• endangered
• species
• threatened
• riparian
• arizona

[calamagrostis88]

Great work, but is too bad you had to make the trip in only 3 days. It would be better if ecologists could spend much more time on the river documenting the ecology and the abuses. Thankfully we have volunteers but we also need paid professionals. And of course we need a society that can recognize the value of a healthy environment. Also there has been much criticism about Arizona's anti-illegal immigration law, but unsustainable population growth drains rivers.

[rogerL1961]

this guy is so full of it. Most of the roads were made by ranchers. This guy shouldn't be hiking in there...he probably made a mess of it. A few tracks in the river bed won't hurt anything. The next flood will take it all out. I personally like atv tracks. I like trails.....Cattle make tons of trails. Nobody likes rivers.....

Cattle ranching does more to harm your lands than anything. I am not saying get rid of cattle...I am saying don't make stupid videos like this.

[gpsland]

andreas volthimer!!! havent heard him in years!!!