It’s one thing to like the idea of desert creeks and rivers – it’s another to experience them. On Friday April 1st, WMG staff traveled to Ciénega Creek in Southern Arizona, where we saw an area that is slated for beaver reintroduction. Under the shade of cottonwood trees and willows, and stepping through stretches of cold, flowing water, we spent the day exchanging knowledge with partners from all over the West and Sonora, Mexico – building the movement to bring beavers back and help our desert rivers flow again. Can you donate today to support the movement for flowing desert rivers?
One of the most powerful parts of the day was hearing this knowledge exchange across different languages. Bilingual members of our staff served as translators for the many participants who only spoke English or Spanish, allowing landowners and staff from government agencies and nonprofits to share success stories, lessons learned, and dreams for our rivers with each other.
WMG organized this Beaver-Related Restoration Practitioners workshop last week as an extension of our Release the Beavers campaign and effort to build a coalition of beaver believers across not only the community, but also other non-profits and government agencies. Then, on Thursday April 7th at our Beavers & Brews/Castoriando con Chelas event at the Living Lab, we continued this work by sharing the findings from our Binational Beaver Survey on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as next steps for action. These efforts, and all other aspects of our Release the Beavers campaign, are primarily supported by donations from you, the WMG community.
Loyal donors have committed a $40,000 match this spring to boost our goal of raising $100,000. We need your gift today, to reach our goal and fund our collective movement for a hydro-local future across geography, class, race, cultural background, age and more. Your donation also supports:
-Expanding the first-ever binational beaver survey in the San Pedro Watershed to understand beavers' range, population size, and riparian health through a new community science effort with volunteers and partners on both sides of the border.
-Helping us provide free workshops on topics like building rain gardens, healthy desert soils, and edible native gardens both in person and virtually, allowing people from beyond the Tucson area to participate.
-Allowing our staff to collaborate with low-income communities and communities of color like Flowing Wells, Barrio Kroeger Lane, and South Tucson. We’re partnering with community members to lead conversations on the history of local rivers and gentrification, and creating access to nature for communities most impacted by the heat island effect with cooling rain gardens.
-Opening up our Living Lab & Learning Center for K-12 school groups, docent-led tours, and Family Saturdays, a free, bilingual program that makes nature and sustainability more accessible for kids and their families.
With your support, we can keep restoring our rivers and helping people connect with nature wherever they are, and whatever their backgrounds. Join our movement with a donation today, and your gift will be matched!
