Please join us on Saturday, July 18, from 1 to 3 pm at the Rothery Atria, 3305 E. Fry Blvd., for a one-hour presentation on this critical topic given by Holly Richter, PhD, followed by a question-and-answer period.

Holly has dedicated 35 years to advancing climate change resilience through conservation, ecological restoration, and sustainable water management. She works with the Cochise Conservation and Recharge Network and coordinates the interagency science-based adaptive management process for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, which was initiated in 2021 under a Memorandum of Understanding between the US Bureau of Land Management, Fort Huachuca/US Army, Cochise County, and the City of Sierra Vista.

In 1999, Holly initiated the binational San Pedro River Wet Dry Mapping Program in collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. This citizen science program focuses on the water needs of a riparian ecosystem under a changing climate. Twenty-seven years later, dozens of participating groups and agencies along with hundreds of volunteers map the San Pedro River in June from south of the border to its confluence with the Gila River.  The maps that The Nature Conservancy produces annually as part of this ongoing effort show that the reach of the San Pedro that is becoming drier the fastest is the reach from the Mexico border to Highway 92.

What can be done to improve the flow of the river and help restore the underlying aquifer that we all depend on for water in our area of Cochise County?  Holly will describe the efforts already underway, plans for future projects, and the importance of restoring the San Pedro River to a sustainable state.