‘Friends of the Verde River’ hailed
ASU group awards Resilience Prize for work ensuring river’s health
A group working to protect and preserve Arizona’s Verde River was recognized Thursday by Arizona State University’s Knowledge Exchange for Resilience.
Friends of the Verde River received the 2022 Resilience Prize for its work finding and putting to work solutions to ensure the long-term health of the Verde, one of Arizona’s few rivers to flow year-round from its headwaters to its confluence with another waterway.
The Cottonwood-based group focuses on restoring habitat, sustaining river flows and bringing the community together for on-the-ground projects
aimed at improving the health of the Verde.
In honoring the organization, the ASU center cited efforts to help residents and businesses along the river reduce or offset water use, and to engage community members as “citizen scientists” to widen the information available about water quality and the condition of the habitat.
The work “fosters participants’ connection to the Verde, activating more and more advocates for the river,” the ASU center said in its announcement.
The winner of the Resiliency Prize is selected by the Council of Resilience Leaders, which includes representatives of community and government groups, businesses and educational institutions.
The prize is meant to honor “a group or organization in Arizona that has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to building community resilience through data, partnerships and systems change.”
Greg Burton, executive editor of The Arizona Republic and a member of the council, presented the prize Thursday.
“Friends of the Verde River is helping to ensure the resilience and long term viability of homes and businesses throughout the watershed, including metro Phoenix,” Burton said. “As megadrought and climate change point toward further reductions to Arizona’s share of Colorado River water, the Verde will become even more critical.”
The river group began its work in 2007, as a group of volunteers assembled to look for ways to improve conditions along the river.
The Friends of the Verde River was formally established in 2011 and has partnered with a number of other organizations to expand its reach along the river.
In just its first three years, the exchange helped keep nearly 10 million gallons of water in the Verde and the number has continued to grow steadily.
The group has helped restore over 12,000 acres of riverside habitat.