Dear Friends of the Verde River!

The Center had a busy past few weeks with the Save the Verde campaign! Here’s an update of what we’ve been up to:

We held a letter-writing party on September 1, and more than a dozen people attended! Lots of letters to the mayors, county supervisors and legislators were generated, and lots of pizza was consumed.

To build on this successful event, we’re holding another letter-writing party on Thursday, September 14, again at the Grove Studio, 119 Grove Avenue, Prescott. We’ll make sure we have lots of addresses for letters to the editors, so if you’ve already written a letter to Mayor Simmons, we encourage you to come again and write a letter to the Sedona Red Rock News, Arizona Republic, Prescott Valley Tribune or another of our Arizona newspapers. Contact Ashley Fine at 928-533-4309 or creasotebsh@yahoo.com for more information.

We’ve also been visiting various weekend outdoor events, such as at the Prescott Farmer’s Market and the Prescott Courthouse Square, to hand out flyers and talk to folks about the Big Chino Water Ranch pipeline project and the Save the Verde campaign. We are lining up other opportunities to talk to people in the future, and we could use some volunteers to help! Please let us know if you’re interested by contacting Andrew Somerville, 928-445-0755, andrewsome@hotmail.com.

The Save the Verde campaign in the news!
An article by Steve Ayers in the Camp Verde Bugle is a good overview and introduction to the campaign. “CBD announces campaign to save the Verde River” ran on September 2: http://campverdebugle.1upsoftware.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=17805

Another article about the campaign and the Verde River, this one by Megan Tady, is available at The New Standard. “Water Grab Could Threaten Endangered River” ran on August 22: http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3564

CALENDAR! Click here for the full calendar of upcoming events.

Important note: The Sierra Club is sponsoring a special water meeting today, September 7:

Sept. 7 – General Public Meeting on Water, 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. at the Grove Studio, 119 Grove Ave., Prescott. For additional information and directions, contact Tom at (928) 778-4233.

Also brought to you by the Sierra Club is a “hands-on” opportunity to help the Verde River! You can help with water quality testing in the upper segment of the Verde River by participating in the Water Sentinels program. Contact Tom Slaback, 928-778-4233.

The Center for Biological Diversity appreciates your interest and involvement in the Save the Verde campaign. Please visit http://savetheverde.org/ for other news and updates. You can also make a donation to this campaign from the website! Please consider contributing if you haven’t done so already.

For more information on how to get involved, contact Ashley or Andrew. You may also contact Michelle Harrington, the Center’s Rivers Program Director, at 602-628-9909 or mharrington@biologicaldiversity.org.