2006 Activities & Accomplishments Letter

1 December 2006

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I took the day and went fishing on the Verde River with two friends. Well, they fished and I photographed them, the trees, water, cattails and anything else that caught my eye. Spending time on this wonderful river helped me reflect about Prescott Creeks’ changes, challenges and successes during 2006. Every day I realize how lucky we are to live in a place with these nine amazing creeks and to have a community who values them. This letter is a celebration of your support, and what your involvement has made possible here in the Granite Creek Watershed. 2006 has been a year of tremendous growth for Prescott Creeks and we are excited to share it with you!

Watson Woods Riparian Preserve
At the Preserve, we continued with our restoration work funded by the Arizona Water Protection Fund Commission. We have finished our restoration plan for Watson Woods and are searching for funding to begin the on-the-ground efforts to restore the Granite Creeks channel, its floodplain and associated habitat to the natural, functioning ecosystem it once was.

In addition to Prescott Creeks’ restoration work at the Preserve, monthly Creek Care days helped us to clean up the creeks, including Watson Woods Riparian Preserve. These monthly volunteer days involved over 90 people at a time caring about, and caring for, our creeks either through clean ups, or outreach events. Our last Creek Care day of the year was held this month at Watson Woods with Prescott High School (PHS) National Honor Society. This event, led by PHS Senior Katie Hein, removed approximately 600 pounds of trash from the riparian preserve. Other clean up efforts included Butte Creek, Aspen Creek, and the middle portion of Granite Creek. We look forward to continuing these Creek Care days next year and hope to see many of you out there with us. Total volume of trash collected by these dedicated volunteers weighed in at just over half a ton.

Watershed Program
Last year we shared with you the news that Granite Creek and Watson Lake had been listed as “impaired” by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the U.S, Environmental Protection Agency. To help address this issue of impairment, Prescott Creeks submitted a proposal for funding to ADEQ. We are excited to announce that in February Prescott Creeks was awarded a Water Quality Improvement Grant from Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The two-year project has objectives and meaningful outcomes that include:

• The redesign and reconstruction of a stormwater runoff basin adjacent to Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, which will reduce erosion, contain pollutants, and control runoff into the Preserve;
• Stencil storm drains with a message to educate the public about storm drain function;
• Development of Best Management Practices for Small Farm/Ranch owners in the watershed, present them with an educational brochure, as well as project and funding ideas;
• Monitor bacteria and other pollutants to assess water quality improvements from these projects.

Each of these project objectives will include opportunities for community involvement.

This grant has allowed us to hire a second full-time staff member, and will give us the option of hiring another part-time staff member in the near future. Ann-Marie Heins joined us in May as our Watershed Program Coordinator. She will be involved in overseeing the programs funded by the Water Quality Improvement Grant.

Education & Outreach
Education and celebration are important components of the Prescott Creeks mission statement. Each year, we’ve maintained a presence at the Earth Day Celebration at Granite Creek Park in downtown Prescott. This event gives us the opportunity to honor our volunteers each year. This year we celebrated Bridget Reynolds (award-winning graphic artist) and Beverly Ervin (bookkeeper extraordinaire) and presented each of them with our volunteer award plaque. Each of these amazing women has provided invaluable assistance that allows us to continue protecting, restoring and celebrating the creeks.

Throughout the year, Prescott Creeks also hosted booths at the Prescott Farmer’s Market (four times during the summer), Prescott Alternative Transportation’s celebration day, National Trails Day, Mortimer’s Fall Festival, and at the Fall Fest in the Park. At Project WET we were able to get excited about watersheds with 2,500 4 th graders and a over 100 other volunteers from the local conservation community. Each of these events presented Prescott Creeks with an opportunity to “meet the public” and tell the story of our creeks with the community.

Prescott Creeks also presented CreeksFest our 2nd annual film festival at the historic Elks Opera House. CreeksFest was presented on November 4 th and celebrated rivers and flowing water. Over 300 people viewed at least five films by independent filmmakers that explored and celebrated the waters in our lives. For the first time we presented an award to one of the participating films. The Celebration of Nature award was presented to Dr. Stefan Sommer for A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek. A special thank you goes out to all of the sponsors and our excellent volunteer staff. Their support allowed us to bring this exciting event to our area. See event pictures here. Planning is already underway for CreeksFest 2007!

People Who Make Prescott Creeks Go
During the summer Joel Hiller assumed the helm as Board Chair, with Suzanna McDougal as Vice Chair. In May we said good bye to Joel Barnes as our Board President. He served an amazing term of six years and saw Prescott Creeks through many projects and significant growth in the programs and services we offer to the community. With his departure we welcomed Larry Bickford to the newly redesigned and re-titled position of Board Chair. Unfortunately Larry passed away before being able to assume the duties of his new post. We will miss Larry’s leadership, vast experience and his wry wit.

We continued our partnership with Prescott College to provide up to four students with part-time work. In 2006, we were graced with four hardworking students from the College. Many of you knew Napolian Stewart who served as our Information Technology Administrator for three years. He, as well as our Administrative Assistant, Alicia Day graduated in May and left Prescott Creeks to move into their chosen professions. We miss their contributions and their amazing energy, but wish them all the best as they continue their good work in other places. Before becoming our full-time Watershed Program Coordinator, Ann-Marie Heins, worked as our Watershed Technician. Jason Clay has been with us for about a year now as our Outreach Coordinator. Jason has developed a membership program, overseen the Creek Care Days and communicated endlessly with our members, volunteers and partners to involve as many people as possible with our watershed work.

In Conclusion
As we indicated in our recent postcard to you and other Prescott Creeks supporters, our important work is unwavering. Our lease with the City of Prescott for Watson Woods Riparian Preserve still has 14 years before our option for renewal comes due, and restoration work will continue for years to come. Watershed monitoring goes hand-in-hand with Preserve restoration since we cannot truly restore its 126 acres without attention to the interconnected watershed upstream. The impairments to Granite Creek and Watson Lake will not be improved “overnight”; rather it will take years of close coordination with the many stakeholders in our watershed.

To continue and support this essential work, Prescott Creeks is appealing to you for your support. While we have had success with grants like the one with ADEQ, contributions from individuals like you are essential to the success of our mission to “to protect and celebrate the ecological integrity of the Granite Creek Watershed riparian systems and associated wetlands through conservation, restoration and education.”

As you can see, your generous support has allowed Prescott Creeks to accomplish so much this year. Your support helps us do more. Tax-deductible contributions from you will ensure that Prescott Creeks will continue its important community-based work. Please send your checks to Prescott Creeks, PO Box 3004, Prescott, AZ 86302-3004, or you can charge your contribution by credit card through our secure online form by clicking on one of the buttons above. Thank you for preserving, restoring and celebrating Prescott’s creeks with us.