Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Water Quality Improvement Grants Program:
Grants awarded to Prescott Creeks in June 2007

Project Name: Granite Creek Watershed - Water Quality Improvement - Phase II
Award Amount: $99,062.00

Project Description: This project will build upon the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s and the US EPA’s past investment by implementing water quality improvements, protections and maintenance to the area directly downstream from the redesigned and reconstructed stormwater detention basin addressed in ADEQ grant no. 8-013. It will also have direct benefit to Granite Creek and Watson Lake - both impaired waters.

This will be the second phase of the Granite Creek Watershed - Water Quality Improvement and Monitoring Program to restore the stability of the Granite Creek stream channel while maintaining natural dynamic stream processes: proper hydrologic conditions and functions, stream morphology and channel characteristics, and floodplain function-all resulting in water quality improvements for Granite Creek and Watson Lake.

Project Name: Watson Woods Riparian Preserve – Restoration Project – Phase I
Award Amount: $483,191.00

Project Description: This water quality improvement project at Watson Woods Riparian Preserve will result in direct benefits to two impaired water bodies through implementation of a series of interconnected, ecosystem-wide efforts that include on-the-ground implementation of numerous best management practices, community involvement and education, as well as project performance monitoring. Watson Woods Riparian Preserve is a Frémont cottonwood/red willow riparian gallery forest located along Granite Creek, a mixed perennial/intermittent headwater creek in the Verde Watershed. The 126-acre Preserve is the remaining portion of what was once a 1,000-acre riparian gallery forest near Prescott, Arizona. This project will restore the stability of the Granite Creek stream channel while maintaining natural dynamic stream processes: proper hydrologic conditions and functions, stream morphology and channel characteristics, and floodplain function-all resulting in water quality improvements for Granite Creek and Watson Lake.

Krista Osterberg, ADEQ Grant and Outreach Coordinator (left) and Rebecca Followill, ADEQ Grant Program Coordinator (right) pose with Michael Byrd and the "big, fake check."