Aspen CreekWatch | Lower Butte CreekWatch | Manzanita CreekWatch | Miller/Granite CreekWatch | Lower Miller CreekWatch

- Celebrate Your Watershed! -

The Prescott CreekWatch Network (PCWN) has been launched! The PCWN is establishing interactive networks of citizen led CreekWatch Groups located throughout the Granite Creek watershed. Our vision is for each CreekWatch Group to reflect the interests of its neighborhood community, with volunteer members working and playing together to protect, restore and celebrate their nearby creek.

Wherever we stand in the landscape, we are within a watershed. Prescott, Chino Valley and the southern end of the Williamson Valley area are all nestled within the Granite Creek watershed, which encompasses over 30,000 beautiful acres of the Central Arizona Highlands. Sadly, rapid urbanization in our tri-city area threatens the integrity of these special riparian areas which support a wealth of native vegetation and provide critical habitat and movement corridors for urban wildlife. These creeks also support some of our most prized urban recreation areas, including Granite Creek Park, the Strickland Preserve, the Prescott Downtown Greenways, Goldwater Lake, Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, Watson and Willow Lakes, and many other neighborhood nooks, crannies and secret spots.

The PCWN is unique in that it focuses specifically on the creeks that wind through our local watershed, and helps small neighborhood groups to explore the rich natural and cultural history these streams offer. To date, we have four CreekWatch groups established; one for Lower Manzanita Creek in the Mountain Club neighborhood, one for Lower Butte Creek near the Prescott College Library, and one for the Miller Creek and Granite Creek confluence (West Granite Creek Park) in the Dexter neighborhood. Our newest group, formed in January of 2002, focuses its attention of Aspen Creek

Finally, since the Granite Creek watershed represents the uppermost headwaters of the Verde River, those who live within this watershed have a responsibility to maintain and enhance the health of our creeks not only for themselves, but for all those who live downstream.

Forming this network of neighborhood CreekWatch Groups is an important step toward building a citizen-led, watershed-wide, effort to monitor the health and aesthetics of our local creeks, and to raise community awareness and knowledge of our local water resources. In addition to supporting neighborhoods’ needs and interests related to their creeks, the Network recognizes the importance of coordinating with local schools, business leaders, and community organizations, as well as with city, county and state governments in the spirit of collaborative conservation. The Yavapai County Community Fund, the City of Prescott Trails and Open Space Division, the City of Prescott Neighborhood Services Department, Yavapai County Public Works Department, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Prescott College are all making valuable contributions to support the PCWN vision.