Charles Corrado wins Member Volunteer Challenge grand prize
Written by: Charles Corrado
Charles Corrado standing
by the San Pedro River. As you can see, it is but a small stream
now. At one time, small boats were able to travel on this
river.
I live in the Southwest, which has been and is in a severe
drought for the last 14 years. It's a very fragile environment with
limited water resources. The San Pedro River, which is one of the
last un-dammed rivers in Arizona, and the entire USA, is slowly
dying.
Charles Corrado (right)
and a Sierra Club member monitoring the groundwater levels of the
San Pedro River using the latest measuring technology.
I belong to a non-profit group called "The Friends of the San Pedro River" (www.sanpedroriver.org),email: fspr@sanpedro.org. This group is dedicated to preserving this last remaining vestige of a once thriving Riparian that has supported human population for thousands of years. It is a life line to many species of birds and mammals that depend on it, in fact, bridge work was suspended for several months to accommodate the migratory birds that depend on the river for survival.
Members of the Friends of the
San Pedro standing in front of a collection of debris and chairs
that had been picked up along the river by them.
My participation in this effort has been volunteering to clean
up the debris that has collected along the river due to human
misuse. This involves walking along the river at various points
with large bags to collect this debris and dispose of it properly.
In conjunction with this organization, I belong to the Sierra Club
(Member # 46999022) www.sierraclub.org. I, along with others,
monitor the groundwater levels and water quality levels in the San
Pedro River Riparian. In addition, I try to make as many people as
possible aware of this situation. Both groups work closely with the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and I have been on several field
trips with the local BLM ranger.