[Source: WMIcentral.com] – The Arizona Game and Fish Department is implementing a water quality improvement project along the banks of the Little Colorado River on its Wenima Wildlife Area located just north of Springerville.
The 355 acre property is managed for native wildlife, and includes 2.5 miles of the Little Colorado River. Some of the river’s stream banks are very unstable, and large amounts of soil is washed downstream when water levels rise. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality funded a water quality improvement grant to address these eroding banks. The Department originally purchased this 355 acre property in 1993 with the aid of the Heritage Fund, which utilizes Arizona lottery monies to protect habitat for threatened and endangered species. Since the 1993 acquisition, the habitat within the Wenima Wildlife Area boundaries has greatly improved, but a few sections of the river continue to experience excessive erosion events during spring run off and after large monsoon rains.
The Department applied for and was awarded a water quality improvement grant administered by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. [to read the full article click here].