Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
On Monday, January 20th, Tó Nizhóní Ání field staff Andrew Atencia and our watershed restoration seasonal team members traveled to Munds Draw near Jerome, AZ, to participate, learn, and work in watershed restoration practices in the Verde River Watershed. n partnership with Prescott National Forest and Friends of the Verde River, this volunteer workday involved juniper branch cutting to create picket baffles from the branches. The pickets were driven into the ground with post drivers and hand sledges, then filled in with rocks in between. Their workday showcased the start-to-end process to create baffles to induce a meander and improve sinuosity in a, currently, very straight channel. Running water and brush will hit this structure, slowing its flow and redirecting it to the opposite bank to erode out another curve in the channel.
After lunch, the work crew walked the length of the worksite channel and discovered the previous work done by the National Forest and volunteers. This area is identified as a priority project by the National Forest and has since seen many restoration techniques, like rock rundowns and one rock dams. After work finishing the third picket baffle, volunteers drove down to the Verde River and discussed the impacts of our work on the watershed and the current threats to the Verde River. Ahéhee’! Thank you, Friends of the Verde River and Prescott National Forest, for hosting this event! Our work crew from the Black Mesa region learned so much and enjoyed their time in north central Arizona.
Photos by Andrew Antencia, Community Organizer, Tó Nizhóní Ání
