Program areas at The Sonoran Institute
Delta program The overall goal of The program is to restore a functional corridor in The Colorado river delta by creating a network of riparian and estuarine habitat sites that will sustain biodiversity and facilitate connectivity of river flows to The estuary. Through 2025, we will collectively restore an additional 1,300 acres of riparian habitat, with Sonoran Institute contributing 433 acres of new habitat. 1. Delivered 9,952 acre-feet of treated water to The hardy river and upper estuary for environmental restoration 2. Maintained and enhanced 567 acres of restored habitat, including The deliver of approximately 10,000 acre-feet of water for irrigation 3. As part of The binational agreement minute 323, delivered 34,977 acre- feet of water to The Colorado river resulting in a flowing river for 30 miles for 5 months 4. Established 81 acres of new riparian habitat, including planting of 20,878 native trees 5. Developed a new online course on management of solid waste called "less trash: an introduction to a sustainable life." This will be added to The online platform of environmental education. 6. Increase in The abundance and diversity of fauna in The estuary with respect to The baseline 7. Proposed The establishment of a natural protected area in The state of baja California that comprises about 74,000 acres, in collaboration with The raise The river coalition. 8. More than 260 people engaged on restoration activities and 168,000 people informed about The importance of dedicating water for The environment through social media 9. Removed 45 tons of trash along The new river in mexicali
Santa cruz river program 1. Published two living river reports in 2022, one for upper and one for lower santa cruz river. The tucson/pima county living river report launched in late september with a distribution of over 11,000 households. The report is available in english and spanish. The nogales living river report was released in december in a first-ever, single bilingual document. 2. Major outreach successes: santa cruz river research days 2022 featured real-time english/spanish translation and drew over 100 attendees with 55 new attendees. The theme was "The culture and archaeology of The santa cruz- and we had two keynote speakers who spoke to ethnobotany and artistic recreations of pre-modern times.
Growing water smart program: The growing water smart program addresses The challenges of an over appropriated Colorado river, as well as The impacts of climate change that do not leave water for both healthy landscapes (environment) and thriving communities (people). The growing water smart program, offered in partnership with The babbitt center for land and water policy, provides training and assistance to establish plans, policies and programs that conserve municipal water and use it sustainably in communities across Arizona, Colorado, and soon California. In our growing water smart workshops and follow-up assistance, an interdisciplinary team of land-use planners, water providers, and government officials assess their community's water challenges, and identify and implement strategies to reduce water demand in new and existing development and manage water sustainably and holistically into The future. 1. Published substantially updated growing water smart: The water-land use guidebook for Arizona. 2. Held growing water smart Arizona workshop virtually march 1, 3, 8, and 10 2022 with participation from The following communities: avondale, prescott, kingman, pima county, yavapai county. 3. Held growing water smart Colorado workshop may 8-10, 2022, with participation from The following communities: city of alamosa, alamosa county, conejos county, costilla county, mineral county, town of creede, town of del norte, rio grande county, saguache county. 4. Held growing water smart Colorado workshop september 12-14, 2022, with participation from The following communities: city of cheyenne, town of windsor, town of lyons, city and county of broomfield, city of longmont.
One basin program The one basin program brings people with competing interests, who speak different languages, and have diverse backgrounds together to find equitable, workable, effective solutions to address water challenges in The Colorado river basin. The goal of The program is that The Colorado river is managed in a more holistic, inclusive, and adaptive fashion to benefit communities and wildlife. 1.submitted pre-scoping comments on Colorado river operational strategies to bureau of reclamation 2.submitted comments on updated Colorado water plan 3.finalized tribal capacity assessment