Arizona Heritage Alliance

Verde Valley honored for economic development

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[Source: Jon Hutchinson, Verde Independent]

 

Chip Davis. Photo Credit: VerdeNews.com

The Verde Valley placed well in the annual Excellence Awards at the 36th Annual Arizona Governor’s Rural and Regional Economic Development Conference taking home two of the four top awards. The 2010 Conference was held Thursday and Friday at the High Country Conference Center at Northern Arizona University. Gov Brewer presented the awards.

Yavapai County won the award the top award for Innovation in Economic Development. District 3 Supervisor Chip Davis and Arizona State Parks Director Renee Bahl were presented with the 2010 Excellence in Economic Development.

Davis had supported the local funding to operate the State Parks in Camp Verde, Jerome, and Sedona. The money came from the District 3 parks improvement fund. The town of Camp Verde, the Jerome Historical Society and the town and the Benefactors for Red Rock State Park joined Davis in funding the continued operation of parks that would otherwise have been closed by the State Budget funding cutbacks.

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Read the entire article [here].

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Number of Breeding Bald Eagles in Arizona Grows

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[Source: Gateway to Sedona] – With the bald eagle breeding season in Arizona coming to a close, the state’s population continues to flourish, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. For the 2010 breeding season, three new active breeding areas were identified bringing the total number of occupied breeding areas in the state to 52. The total number of breeding adult bald eagles also grew to 104, which is the highest on record.

This year, under the careful watch of the Arizona Game and Fish Department and a coalition of 22 other partners that make up the Southwestern Bald Eagle Management Committee, 44 eaglets also reached the critical point of taking their first flight, an important milestone for a young bird’s chances of survival.

Bald eagle numbers over the past 30 years have grown more than 600 percent in the state.

“Identifying three new breeding areas in the state is a positive sign that our population of bald eagles continues to grow and do well,” said Kenneth Jacobson, Arizona Game and Fish Department bald eagle management coordinator.

The breeding season for bald eagles in Arizona typically runs from December through June, although a few bald eagle pairs at higher elevations nest later than those in the rest of the state.

The bald eagle program is supported by the Heritage Fund, a voter-passed initiative that provides funding for wildlife conservation through Arizona Lottery revenue [to read the full article click here].

Council to act on contracts to reopen McFarland Park

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[Source: Mark Cowling, Tri-Valley Central.com] – Agreements are near which will allow the town to move its visitor center to McFarland State Park, reopening the county’s first courthouse to visitors after more than a year, and making all four corners of a key historic intersection open for business again for the first time in over 30 years.

The Florence Main Street Program, which operates the visitor center under contract with the town, will move the visitor center to McFarland State Park, perhaps next month. Main Street will further work with Arizona State Parks and their archivist to bring displays and exhibits to the building.

New riverfront plaza opens window into history of Yuma Crossing

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[Source: Yuma Visitors Bureau] – The “ghost train” arrived in Yuma this summer with the grand opening of Pivot Point Interpretative Plaza by Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.

 This outdoor exhibit area is located on the site where the first railroad train entered Arizona in 1877 and features as its centerpiece a restored 1907 Baldwin steam locomotive.  But the plaza also incorporates some 21st century technology: a surround-sound audio system that re-creates the arrival of a steam locomotive at the old Southern Pacific Hotel – a.k.a. the “ghost train” – and a nightly laser display that shows where the tracks of the original rail bridge crossed the Colorado River. [to read the full article click here].