ARIZONA WATERSHED SYMPOSIA: A FORUM FOR REPORTING EARLY WATERSHED MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Abstract

The role of the Arizona Water Resources Committee and the goal of the Arizona Watershed Program in the early watershed management activities of the state are presented in the introduction of this paper to place its contents in perspective. The Arizona Watershed Resources Committee was a “citizen's advisory committee” that was formed in 1956 to assist in implementing the recommendations made in historic Barr Report to increase water yields and enhance the other natural resources found on the watersheds in the Salt and Verde River Basins of north-central Arizona (Fox et al. 2000). The Barr Report had been released to the public in the form of a short summary publication (Part I) and a more detailed and comprehensive document (Part II), both with the intriguing title of “Recovering Rainfall - More Water for Irrigation,” in the fall of 1956 (Barr 1956a, 1956b, respectively). Contents of the report supported the belief of members of the Arizona Water Resources Committee and many other people that the state's watersheds were in “bad shape” while providing what was called a “scientific basis” for improving these conditions by more intensive watershed management to primarily increase streamflow volumes. The Arizona Watershed Program was a collaborative initiative of the Arizona Water Resources Committee, the Watershed Management Division of the Arizona State Land Department, and the U.S. Forest Service and their cooperators to investigate the effects of vegetative management practices on the hydrologic processes affecting water yields and incorporate the findings obtained into watershed management practices (Fox et al. 2000). It was planned that this general goal would be met by three “highly integrated” programs – a research program, an action program, and a public relations program. Findings of the research and action programs have been reported by Ffolliott and Thorud (1974, 1975), Hibbert (1979), Baker and Ffolliott (1998), Baker (1999), Neary et al. (2002, 2008), DeBano et al. (2004), Solomon and Schmidt (1981), and others. A main component of the public relations program – the Arizona Watershed Symposia – is the focus of this paper.