COTTONWOOD, Ariz. - Conservationists say a first-of-its-kind report on Arizona's Verde River Watershed provides a clear road map to restoring the iconic stream's ecosystem.
The Nature Conservancy and Friends of the Verde River - along with other stakeholders - produced the report, which gives the river's watershed a letter grade of C+ for the condition of its water, communities and habitat.
Nancy Steele, executive director of the Friends of the Verde River, says the most daunting challenge in the report is improving the river's low stream flow and poor water quality.
"We can't do much about climate change," says Steele. "We can't do much about drought, and we're certainly not going to stop people from moving here. But what we can do is work with property owners, people who live near the river, who are using the water, and we can reduce their water use."
The watershed stretches 190 miles from the Chino Valley to Phoenix, supplying drinking water, irrigation and recreation for more than 3 million Arizonans. The report marks the 50th anniversary of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Kim Schonek, Verde River program director with The Nature Conservancy, says she would like to have seen a higher overall grade for the watershed, but sees it as a starting point for improvements.
"Coming out with a C+, you know, it doesn't feel great, but it also is sort of a reminder that there's a lot of work to be done, but we've also done quite a bit of work," says Schonek. "So, it's a nice balance to rewarding and understanding what we've already done. but also, knowledge that you have work to do."
Steele adds that by using letter grades to rate the watershed, it provides both conservation groups and policymakers a clear indication of what needs to be done.
"Part of it tells us that it's kind of a wake-up call," says Steele. "We need to pay attention to this river or we're going to lose it. And it gives us an opportunity to say here are some specific things that we do need to do. Here are things we can mitigate."
The report was funded by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust and was researched by entities such as the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. For more information, go to VerdeReportCard.org.
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This week, four tribal nations and environmental groups urged the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn the state's approval of Enbridge's Line 5 tunnel project.
Attorneys for the groups argued the pipeline expansion threatens the Great Lakes and disregards tribal and ecological concerns. They are asking the state to consider a wider range of alternatives to the dual pipelines that carry crude oil and natural gas liquids beneath the Straits of Mackinac.
Carrie La Seur, legal director of the group For Love of Water in Traverse City, said the aging pipelines pose a real spill risk to lakes Michigan and Huron, citing Michigan's Environmental Protection Act for support.
"We argued that Michigan's Environmental Protection Act requires a really comprehensive look at feasible and prudent alternatives to any action that would create environmental damage," La Seur explained.
Enbridge released a statement saying in part the state's decision to approve the application for the Great Lakes Tunnel Project came after a tremendous investment of time and deliberation by the Michigan Public Service Commission and staff. For nearly four years they carefully examined the complex issue and considered many viewpoints, questions, concerns and ideas.
La Seur said the pipeline project is massive and unprecedented, involving drilling more than 300 feet beneath the land and extending more than four miles. She warned it could create even greater risks and complications.
"It would be transporting flammable product. It would require a lot of very challenging maintenance if there were ever a problem. Any type of spill cleanup would be extremely challenging," La Seur outlined. "There are all kinds of reasons why this tunnel presents some unique challenges."
The court has yet to make a decision in the case. Enbridge also needs a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which delayed its review of the project in 2023. The Corps plans to release its draft environmental report this spring.
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The U.S. Forest Service is facing a lawsuit from Montana conservation groups for authorizing a major logging project in a critical wildlife habitat. The Round Star logging project, located 13 miles west of Whitefish, would cover over 9,000 acres of forest land in an area inhabited by Canada lynx and grizzly bears. Both are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, which means they should take priority in logging plans.
Steve Kelly, president of the Council of Wildlife and Fish, is one of the plaintiffs.
"It's already been logged heavily, so we're really talking about some of the last places that lynx can even survive locally, never mind connectivity from one place to another," he said.
According to Alliance for the Wild Rockies, the Round Star project doesn't properly take into account the cumulative effects of nearby projects, which total about 42,000 acres of logging and burning and 100 miles of new roads.
A federal court judge in 2023 ruled against the Forest Service on a project in the Kootenai National Forest that similarly threatened grizzly bear habitats. Kelly wonders why the agency continues to attempt passing projects without adequate analysis of their effects.
"The court now is quite adept at figuring out who's doing what and why and applying the law. So there's really not much wiggle room anymore for the agencies to slide one by," he continued.
Canada lynx require habitat with dense forests and deep snow that also support populations of snowshoe hare, which make up about 75% of the lynx diet.
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By Yessenia Funes for Next City and Yale Climate Connections.
Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for Georgia News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
In Atlanta's Cascade neighborhood, a Black church has operated a community center next door for decades. The recently renovated space is simple inside - white walls and gray carpet - but that's where the magic happens. There, the congregation runs a weekly food pantry where they feed up to 400 predominantly Black families a week. Now, with financial help from the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark climate law passed by Democrats during the Biden administration, the church is offering even more services - by making the center the first community-owned resiliency hub in the city.
The Vicars Community Center, which held its ribbon-cutting ceremony in July, is outfitted with solar panels and battery storage that can provide enough energy to power the building for three days should there be a blackout and no sunlight. The center is prepared to serve as an emergency shelter for locals in the face of a power outage. In the era of fossil fuel-powered hurricanes and heat waves, frontline community members need a safe place to turn when the lights go out.
"It really fit into what we're already trying to do," says Pastor Kevin Earley of Community Church Atlanta, which worked with the clean energy nonprofit Groundswell to develop the resiliency hub in its community center. "We want to be the place that people turn to in the good times and the bad."
From 2000 to 2023, extreme weather caused 80% of power outages, according to the research and communications group Climate Central. Just last month, Hurricane Helene knocked out power for some 5.5 million people in the Southeast and Midwest. Some families were left in the dark for three weeks. Thanks to federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, people in this neighborhood will now have a place to charge their phones, refrigerate their medicines, and plug in life-saving medical devices if an extreme weather event cuts electricity off to their homes. What's more, the center's solar panels reduce planet-warming emissions - and save them $6,000 a year in energy costs.
Despite President-elect Donald Trump's promise to slash the law that helped make the resiliency hub possible, developers don't expect the new administration's plans to affect them. Even if Trump kills the extremely popular direct-pay tax credits program, where the federal government issues payouts to entities that have built qualified clean energy projects, the team in Atlanta will be filing for the IRA credits by May 2025 for the 2024 tax year.
It would be an unlikely logistical nightmare for the president-elect's administration to attempt a tax restructuring that would repeal credits retroactively, explains Friends of the Earth climate and energy justice deputy director Lukas Shankar-Ross. However, other communities of color hoping to tap into IRA dollars to fund similar safety nets in their hometowns may have limited time to take advantage of the law's full benefits before Trump and his allies in Congress cut them.
"It is now our responsibility to shout from the mountaintops how good and impactful these tax credits are for local community and economic development," says Matthew Wesley Williams, senior vice president of community development at Groundswell. The organization partnered with the church to raise money for the solar panels and find the capital needed to own the setup without additional debt. "Organizations that support community resilience like churches, small municipalities, and rural utilities need these resources to stand firm and sustain their local impact."
The effort to create the resiliency hub came together in 2023 when Groundswell reached out to Pastor Earley after activists identified Community Church Atlanta as a key resource during local info-gathering meetings. At the height of the pandemic, Vicars Community Center offered COVID-19 tests and vaccines. It hosts meetings for local groups, as well as blood drives and low-cost health checks.
Groundswell connected the organization to $225,000 in donated philanthropic funding to upgrade the center with solar panels and batteries. The nonprofit will also soon help church leaders tap into those IRA tax credits. The nonprofit sees Vicars as a demonstration that can build support for other community-owned, small-scale solar projects, Williams says. Groundswell has been seeding similar resilience hubs elsewhere in Atlanta and Baltimore.
A majority of the residents who live within a half-mile radius of Vicars are Black, according to data from an Environmental Protection Agency mapping tool. Over half are low-income. They also suffer higher rates of asthma, heart disease, and lower life expectancy than the national and state averages. Nearly a quarter lack access to health care or the internet.
"Folks in our neighborhood who can't drive away or get away now have a place just to even charge their cell phones or get information to be picked up or to receive help," Pastor Earley says.
Churches are a perfect way to introduce Black residents to clean energy initiatives, says Markeya Thomas, the Black engagement senior adviser at Climate Power, a communications group focused on clean energy.
"All throughout history, Black people have had to rely on the church to be able to survive the world that we are existing in," Thomas says.
Pastor Earley is planning ahead to ensure the center's fridges are stocked with food and water for the day an emergency arises. He's exploring options to protect the building during high winds to make it structurally stronger. The solar panels can provide energy, but that's only if the building itself remains out of harm's way. Questions remain over how to make the space a safe overnight facility with cots and security, but the church is starting to map that all out.
Community Church Atlanta has a mission to serve the community, including those who are not of faith. Now, their food pantry can expand to feed more families with the money saved from the reduced energy bills. They fed some 32,000 people last year. In the coming years, the plan is to feed even more.
Yessenia Funes wrote this article for Next City and Yale Climate Connections.
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