Friends of the San Pedro River Inc

30th Anniversary of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area

Celebrate 30 years of good stewardship and river protection!

Please consider a gift today... to the FRIENDS OF THE SAN PEDRO RIVER, the face and voice of the river!  

This year we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act of 1988 that created the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. The SPRNCA protects almost 57,000 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management adjoining 40 miles of the San Pedro River from the international border to St. David. The meander of the river is home to a desert riparian area, a remnant of a once widespread network of such rivers in Arizona. It supports a lush gallery forest of cottonwoods and willows. The riparian forest provides shelter and sustenance to hundreds of species of native birds, not to mention the many noteworthy mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The SPRNCA also protects many archaeological sites reaching back to the last ice age. The conservation area provides a venue for environmental education, nature study, and recreational opportunities for birding, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, and picnicking.

The San Pedro River is:

• a ribbon of life winding through the desert.
• a corridor for millions of migratory birds.
• the shade of cottonwoods and a cool breeze rustling the leaves of the gallery forest.
• a Clovis point embedded in a mammoth skeleton.
• the bustle of a train depot that once served the historic Tombstone silver mine a century ago. 

The San Pedro River with its neighboring townsites preserves the Old West while it sustains the wildlife of today.  Learn more at: www.sanpedroriver.org.

We know how much you care about the river and its future.  Perhaps we met at Fairbank Day or Earth Day in the past year.  You expressed your concern about groundwater pumping that threatens to lower the water table beneath the river and its cottonwood/willow forest.  You shared your enjoyment of the great outdoors and your awe of nature its finest.  Help us secure the future of this "Last Great Place" as the Nature Conservancy has called the San Pedro River.

Thanks to your support, we can look back on many accomplishments of the Friends of the San Pedro River in 2018: engaging the local community to advocate for water conservation measures and for protection of the river, providing comments to BLM promoting good stewardship and sustainable management alternatives for the San Pedro Resource Management Plan, promoting youth education through our interpretive walks, school visits, and videos on the return of beavers to the river, the function of cottonwoods in a healthy river system, and the hydrology of the river. Your support has made these accomplishments possible! 

The milestone of the 30th Anniversary of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA) serves as a reminder of the commitment of the Friends of the San Pedro River – our volunteer organization is one year older than the SPRNCA itself!  And we have YOU to thank for that!  The dollars from your generous donations and the hours of all of our many volunteers have enabled the Friends to continue to engage the public at our interpretive walks and local children during our educational programs through these many years.

Once again, your donation today will support the Friends as we advocate for river protection and promote good stewardship of the river.

Thank you for your support of the San Pedro River and the Friends!