Actions

About Our Conservation Actions

Building public awareness and involvement, in concert with our close partners, is a critical dimension of our efforts to protect the unique riparian biohabitat and cultural heritage of the San Pedro River Valley. Find out about our education and outreach activities below. Click here to learn more about our Advocacy .

Rock cliffs and flowing water in Aravaipa Canyon.

Our Valley, Our Water

A Public Meeting Series on Water Sustainability & Related Threats to the Lower San Pedro River Watershed

The communities of the entire San Pedro River Valley face a host of threats to their aquifers, groundwater and surface water. To date, there are no state restrictions on industrial water usage—a cause for growing unease among resident and conservation stakeholders as water tables are dropping and wells are beginning to run dry.

To address a paucity of public information and to better understand our communities' concerns, LSPWA is hosting a public meeting series, featuring hydrological and water-sustainability experts, followed by audience Q&A's.

We want to hear from you! The community’s feedback about current concerns and priorities in the San Pedro River Valley are helping LSPWA and partners to shape future strategies and lay the groundwork for efforts to preserve and improve the area’s critical water resources and natural habitats. (Take our survey here.)

To view meeting presentations and learn more, visit:

Aug. 20, 2026: Our Valley, Our Water: Once It's Gone, It's Gone (upcoming)
Mar. 31, 2026: Our Valley, Our Water: Hydrology in the San Pedro Valley
Feb. 11, 2026: Facing Unprecedented Challenges on the Lower San Pedro Watershed

LSPWA stakeholders visit Aravaipa Canyon East.

Passengers from a March EcoFlight tour. © EcoFlight

Connecting Stakeholders to the San Pedro—on the Ground and in the Air

In early June, LSPWA invited journalists, lawyers, hydrologists, wildlife conservation specialists, and river restoration professionals on an overnight camp-out and morning hike in Aravaipa Canyon ~ East.

“It’s hard to understand industrial impact to our watershed without wading through the creeks and rivers we’re trying to protect,” notes Speight, who organized the event and shared watershed and historic insight about the region.

LSPWA also partnered with EcoFlight to conduct three more aerial tours of the San Pedro River, Copper Creek, Aravaipa Canyon and (for contrast) the nearby Hayden and Ray Mines. Departing from San Manuel Airport, this set of overflights included LSPWA members, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, hydrologists, attorneys and guests from the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation, Sky Island Alliance, and Arizona Wildlife Federation.

Of equal significance, two board members participated in Flights Across America, an EcoFlight initiative in which 10 college and graduate students study a conservation-related theme. LSPWA board chair Crytzer Fry, director Leif Abrell, and members of the Tohono o'Odham nation participated in a roundtable discussion with students on this year's theme, tribal engagement in land and resource management.

A male and female pair of Desert Purple Martins courting atop a saguaro.

Purple Martin Perch Parties

The rare Desert Purple Martin migrates each year from Brazil to gather along the San Pedro River in Mammoth, their largest breeding site in the state. To build awareness of and appreciation for this unique avian species, LSPWA and the Tucson Bird Alliance have been partnering to host a series of summertime Desert Purple Martin bird-watching sessions.

Jennie MacFarland from the Tucson Bird Alliance has been sharing her insights into the Desert Purple Martins, including their habitat needs and what makes them so special to the area.

Our next Purple Martin Perch Party sets off on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 5.30 PM from the 7B Nature Trail Parking Area in Mammoth. Advance registration is required as space is limited.

"Water for Tech, Mining & Energy" conference video still.

Showing up at the University of Arizona's "Water for Tech, Mining & Energy" conference

Several of our members virtually attended the University of Arizona’s “Water for Tech, Mining & Energy: Pathways to Arizona's Future” Conference, held April 14-15.

While we were sorely disappointed by the lack of representation of community voices, an event highpoint included a candid response about lax groundwater rules in Arizona from Patagonia Area Resource Alliance’s Executive Director Anna Daria, in the event’s only session addressing community concerns about mining, data centers, and other high-water-use industries. [Watch Daria's response here]

Friends of Sonoita Creek measuring flood-plain inundation. Photo: Friends of Sonoita Creek Facebook

Citizen-Science Monitoring

LSWPA vice-chair Garland Speight and chair Crytzer Fry were invited by Friends of Sonita Creek to Patagonia on April 8 to learn more about the group’s citizen-science monitoring activities in conjunction with the Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) Community Science Alliance.

Learn about LSPWA's own call for community-science volunteers.

Joining Panel Discussion on Mining Impacts and Community Health

On April 2, LSPWA Chair Melissa Crytzer Fry participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and The Calabasas Alliance to share insight about threats to the Lower San Pedro. Multiple communities discussed ways of moving forward in combating industrial projects that pose dangers to community health.

Developed by the Zuni Pueblo and Bill Zeedyk, Zuni bowls are in-channel rock structures that stop unstable erosion and improve soil moisture and help vegetation.

Participating with Watershed Leaders in Aravaipa ~ Klondyke

On Dec. 17, 2025, LSPWA members attended a fieldtrip to the eastern side of Aravaipa Canyon, hosted by the Aravaipa Watershed Conservation Alliance. We learned about AWCA’s water conservation efforts – Zuni bowls and one-rock dams – tools that could be used to improve the Lower San Pedro’s watershed health as well.

Evidence of beaver chews are discovered near the Aravaipa confluence.

Beavers Mean Business

On Dec. 6, 2025, LSPWA board members Leif Abrell and Melissa Crytzer Fry participated in the 5th Annual San Pedro Beaver Survey conducted by partner, Watershed Management Group.

Did you know that the natural dam-building skills of beavers result in the creation of wetlands, which slows water flow, filters pollutants, recharges groundwater and creates fire breaks to naturally restore watersheds?

A series of four surveys took place along various stretches of the Lower San Pedro River, with approximately 32 volunteers covering nine miles. Overall, 50 miles was covered across 18 survey stretches, including on the Upper San Pedro and Lower Babocomari.

Abrell’s group, which surveyed approximately 2.5 miles upstream of the Aravaipa confluence, documented evidence of beaver chews in two separate areas about 1.5 miles apart. While Crytzer Fry’s group – in Dudleyville, at the Salt River Project’s mitigation property – didn’t document any evidence of beavers, they were pleased to see suitable habitat and continuous flow of the San Pedro. Another LSPWA member, Craig Anderson (not part of the survey), recently documented fresh chews just south of the Salt River Project property, illustrating that these “habitat engineers” are gaining ground in their repair of our wetlands and water systems. The above article also highlights a rare, daytime sighting of a beaver on the Lower San Pedro River, outside of San Manuel.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse