|
PRESCOTT
– For the wild animals, Watson Woods has become a happening place.
Bobcats, elk, blue herons, hawks and coyotes are just a few of the species
that regularly congregate on the narrow tract of wooded land that stretches
alongside Highway 89.
 |
Courier/Les Stukenberg
Prescott Creeks’ representatives, from left, Joel Barnes, Toby Corwin,
Michael Byrd and Suzanna McDougal talk about the changing of the
topography in the Watson Woods riparian area while looking at a
1995 aerial photograph.
With Granite Creek cutting through it, the land has, for nearly
a decade, made up the Watson Woods Riparian Preserve.
A group of interested participants met at the woods this week to
discuss progress, as well as a new $200,000 Arizona Water Protection
Fund grant that the Prescott Creeks Preservation Association (Prescott Creeks)
just received.
The preserve’s advocates say the popularity of the woods among the
local wildlife is proof that their efforts are working. |
For instance, the group was excited about the recent sighting of two
bobcats at the woods. In November, Prescott Creeks board member Matt Turner captured
a photograph of one of the bobcats standing in the shade along the banks
of Granite Creek.
Joel Barnes, president of Prescott Creeks, which oversees the preserve, called
the presence of bobcats at Watson Woods “definitely a reason to celebrate.”
Added Michael Byrd, executive director/preserve manager: “It was great
that (the bobcats) were utilizing the shade of one of the trees that
we planted. I thought, ‘OK, that’s what we’re doing out here.’ It brings
it full circle.”
This young bobcat appeared in November 2003 near trees that local
non-profit organization Prescott Creeks planted with the help of over 150
volunteers during the winter of 2002.
For more information about Prescott Creeks, visit their website
www.prescottcreeks.org
Courtesy Photo: Matt Turner,
Prescott Creeks
Over the years, Byrd and the Prescott Creeks have worked to revegetate areas
along the creek that experienced serious disturbance during past sand-and-gravel
operations, utility work, and the recent road construction work on the
Prescott Lakes Parkway.
 |
The next step for the
Prescott Creeks will be a study of the Granite Creek channel to try to determine
the original flow of the creek through Watson Woods, and how the
industrial activity affected it.
Byrd estimated that the contract for the engineering study of the
channel will use anywhere from one-third to one-half of the $200,000
grant money.
The goal is to “get the channel to the point where it can function
naturally,” Byrd said. Although Granite Creek continues to flow
through the area, unnatural berms scar the area.
Even the pond that now serves as a watering hole for birds and other
wildlife is not a natural spot. Jim McCasland, the long-time director
of parks and recreation for the City of Prescott, pointed out that
the pond was once a discharge area for effluent (treated wastewater)
from the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
In the early 1980s, the federal government put a stop to that after
doing an analysis of standards for the Verde River. Because the
water from Granite Creek reaches the Verde River, McCasland said,
“they ruled that what was coming out of our tributary did not meet
that standard.” |
The city then built a system that no longer discharged effluent into
Granite Creek. Byrd noted that the Prescott Creeks is still uncertain about the
details of what it eventually will do to make the Watson Woods area
and the Granite Creek channel more natural.
“It’s hard to say at this point,” he said. “There has been 100 years
of activity in this area. We’re really going to have to put on our detective
hats.”
He characterized Watson Woods as “a big jigsaw puzzle that we still
have most of the pieces to, but the box top that shows us what it looked
like is gone.”
The ultimate goal is to bring back as much as possible of the “jungle
of willow thickets” that existed in the area 140 to 150 years ago, Byrd
said. In the meantime, the Prescott Creeks hopes to keep attracting even more wild
animals to the area.
“We’ve got a lot of objectives, and habitat re-creation and regeneration
is part of that,” Byrd said. “Since 1995, when we got the lease (with
the City of Prescott, which owns the Watson Woods land), we’ve been
slowly working on what we want to do.”
Even though he said “we haven’t moved as fast as we’d hoped to,” Byrd
said the $200,000 grant should help to accelerate those goals in the
next two to three years.
Watson Woods is located along Highway 89, at the south end of Watson
Lake. Visitors can access it from Sundog Ranch Road.
Contact the reporter at cbarks@prescottaz.com
|