Ruling will hurt river, suits say

Approval of development near San Pedro challenged

SIERRA VISTA — Like millions of migrating birds every year, yellow-billed cuckoos fill the cottonwood trees along the San Pedro River with their sharp clucks and low whistles, giving voice to a rare desert stopover that environmentalists fear is fading.

The cuckoo is dwindling in the West, partly because other rivers are overdrawn. But here, its call has been dependable. Now, some San Pedro lovers and the river’s federal caretakers are worried that a plan to pump groundwater from this basin to fuel growth in nearby Sierra Vista will drain perhaps the most important bird pit stop between the Rio Grande and the Colorado River.

As the river flows now, a strong jumper could stay dry when leaping across it in summer.

“It’s easy to sit here and go, ‘This is beautiful. Why are we worried?’ ” Audubon Arizona bird-conservation director Tice Supplee said recently as warm gusts ruffled the cottonwoods and hawks patrolled overhead. “I’m worried because California had beautiful rivers 20 years ago, and now they’re gone — and the birds with them.”

The Arizona Department of Water Resources this spring ruled that developer Castle & Cooke has a sufficient 100-year groundwater supply to build a roughly 7,000-unit residential and commercial project called Tribute on Sierra Vista’s east side. Upon completion, it would