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Sonoran Institute’s education programs on the banks of two important binational rivers are making huge impacts in the classroom

From the Sonoran Institute Blog

The sun is just rising through their school bus windows, but these fourth graders aren’t going to school. Instead, they are doing something some of them have never done before; they’re taking a trip outside their city of Mexicali, the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The bus windows are clouded by the ever-present desert dust, industrial smog, and smoke from burning trash that chokes their air. They make slow progress through traffic that takes them past block after block of pavement and concrete but by very few parks or other greenery. It is hot and exceedingly dry. The rare waterbodies they see are agricultural drains lined with dirty, standing water and debris. As they leave the city limits, space opens up to agriculture fields but no real natural areas. Many of the open areas along the way that are not being cultivated with food are growing mounds of old tires, garbage, and other illegally dumped trash. Eventually, the bus begins to follow a canal that runs parallel to a mostly dry riverbed. The canal is transporting water diverted from the Colorado River. The mostly dry riverbed is the Colorado River. But the kids don’t know that—yet.

Finally, about an hour outside the heat and hardscape, the bus comes to a stop. The door opens, and—like magic—the children step straight into a thick, shady forest. With animals. And bugs. And water.

“They’re actually a little scared,” says Gabriela González-Olimón, environmental education coordinator for our Colorado River Delta program. “They feel like they’re in a jungle. Many have never been in a place like this. Even some of the teachers can’t believe this really exists near Mexicali.”

The students have arrived at our Laguna Grande Restoration Area in the Mexicali Valley. Sonoran Institute-led efforts beginning in 2007 to plant and nurture native cottonwood, mesquite, and willow trees have transformed this area into the largest (nearly five river miles) and most-dense stand of native riparian habitat along the Colorado River in Mexico. It is one of the few green open spaces in the region, and one of the only places to see flowing water in the Mexican stretch of the Colorado River.

Bringing students to the site is one component of our expanding focus on educating and engaging young people in environmental conservation. In addition to programs in the Colorado River Delta, we also sponsor educational programs about the Santa Cruz River in Arizona.

Awakening a Deep Cultural Memory

“Our belief is you can’t care about what you don’t know,” says González-Olimón. “So many children in Mexicali don’t have the opportunity to get out of the city and experience nature. Most of them don’t know where their water comes from. Our program allows them to see first-hand a river they thought was long gone. They can see for themselves all the life that water in the river makes possible. For our work to have long-term success, we have to connect the new generation to the river, as we will need them to be champions for this work.”

Guides take groups ranging from kindergarten through university students into the forest. For nearly three hours, they follow bobcat and coyote tracks, identify bugs and plants, spot migratory birds, and see beavers and other wildlife they would otherwise never encounter. Since 2015, over 4,000 people have visited the site, including more than 30 school groups (about 1,200 students) in 2016, during the first year of our fieldtrip program. Numbers are expected to keep increasing as word of the program and its value spreads. “Living the experience is the most effective way for my students to learn about ecosystem problems and, specifically, the river,” says Edna, a high school teacher visiting with her class from Mexicali. “The Sonoran Institute’s programs also help me get trained and updated in subjects related to the environment we live in.”

Outside of the school programs, our Family Saturday programs provide an opportunity for people of all ages to visit the restoration site for a free guided tour, birdwatching, kayaking, and a chance to see the river that most thought had disappeared with their grandparents’ generation.

“The reactions are incredible,” says Dzoara Rubio, our environmental education assistant. “For the older people, it’s mostly tears when they see the river and the forest—things they’ve heard stories about from their parents and grandparents and are now able to experience with their own families. Seeing the river alive again generates very powerful emotions in the people of Mexicali. It’s waking up memories that connect them with past generations, with their heritage. They instantly care about the river because it’s part of them. So, in addition to our successful ecological restoration, this cultural identity is another dimension of what the Sonoran Institute is rescuing in the Delta.”

Continue reading, here…

Mark Tercek — president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, a #RaisetheRiver coalition partner — outlines thoughts on how environmentalists should proceed during this unprecedented time of change and restates the core principals of their organization. Bottom line? “We just need to get to work.”

Read the full story on The Nature Conservancy Blog.

Mark Tercek — president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, a #RaisetheRiver coalition partner — outlines thoughts on how environmentalists should proceed during this unprecedented time of change and restates the core principals of their organization. Bottom line? “We just need to get to work.”

Read the full story on The Nature Conservancy Blog.

Water leasing is being used as a way to leverage water for environmental purposes. Our coalition partners Osvel Hinojosa of Pronatura Noroeste, The Nature Conservancy, Sonoran Institute and the Colorado River Delta Water Trust are featured in this in-depth article on this strategy, and their creative use of water leasing to bring water and life back to the #ColoradoRiverDelta.

Read the full story, at Ecosystems Marketplace

Water leasing is being used as a way to leverage water for environmental purposes. Our coalition partners Osvel Hinojosa of Pronatura Noroeste, The Nature Conservancy, Sonoran Institute and the Colorado River Delta Water Trust are featured in this in-depth article on this strategy, and their creative use of water leasing to bring water and life back to the #ColoradoRiverDelta.

Read the full story, at Ecosystems Marketplace

It’s a wrap! We’ve just enjoyed two packed days of planning strategies to continue our work to restore water and life in the #ColoradoRiverDelta. After listening to the progress updates, “tales from the field”, ideas, back-stories and passionate presentations, it is clear that we have an amazing coalition of partners! Here’s to Sonoran Institute, Pronatura Noroeste, National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, Save the Colorado River Delta, The Redford Center — and especially our generous supporters and funders. Here’s to an exciting 2017 in support of the Colorado River Delta and surrounding communities!

It’s a wrap! We’ve just enjoyed two packed days of planning strategies to continue our work to restore water and life in the #ColoradoRiverDelta. After listening to the progress updates, “tales from the field”, ideas, back-stories and passionate presentations, it is clear that we have an amazing coalition of partners! Here’s to Sonoran Institute, Pronatura Noroeste, National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, Save the Colorado River Delta, The Redford Center — and especially our generous supporters and funders. Here’s to an exciting 2017 in support of the Colorado River Delta and surrounding communities!

Historic cooperation results in hope for environmental restoration

Cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico governments, supported by a coalition of non-profit organizations, is demonstrating the power of community to achieve environmental benefits, as recently released scientific findings in the Colorado River Delta have documented.

The Colorado River is one of the world’s most endangered rivers. Dams and water diversions for farms and cities upstream in both countries deplete the water before it meets it natural end in the Gulf of California. Its delta, once a vibrant habitat for wildlife and migrating birds, is now dry, as the river stops 70 miles short of the sea. A unique and landmark bi-national collaborative effort to revive the dry delta landscape on behalf of the environment came together in 2014, followed by an engineered release of water into the region – known as a ‘pulse flow’ – which flooded the dry Colorado River Delta and reconnected habitats, wildlife, and local communities with the river for the first time in decades.

On October 21, the International Boundary Water Commission (IBWC) published the “Minute 319 Colorado River Limitrophe and Delta Environmental Flows Monitoring Interim Report“, an interim report on the environmental impact of this 2014 pulse flow, plus subsequent supplemental deliveries of water through December 2015. Research on the effects of the 2014 pulse flow will continue through 2017 with a final report due in June 2018. A binational, University of Arizona-led team of scientists and environmental experts – including those from The Nature Conservancy, Pronatura Noroeste and the Sonoran Institute – contributed to the report. These three organizations are all members of Raise the River, a coalition of conservation organizations working to protect and restore the Colorado River Delta. Other members of Raise the River include the National Audubon Society, The Redford Center, and Restauremos El Colorado.

The IBWC and its Mexican counterpart (CILA) are U.S. and Mexican federal agencies that negotiate and implement binational water treaties and water allocations. In 2012, the IBWC and CILA successfully negotiated Minute 319, an amendment to the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty (modifications of treaties are referred to as minutes). Minute 319 included the authorization of environmental flows of water into the Colorado River Delta from 2013 to 2017, and was the first binational agreement in the world to dedicate flows for environmental purposes. The result of extraordinary binational collaboration among government agencies, conservation organizations, water users, and other Delta stakeholders, Minute 319 provides multiple benefits for water users on both sides of the border. In addition to the water flows, it more broadly provides for the U.S. and Mexico to share surpluses in times of plenty and reductions in times of drought, offers incentives for leaving water in storage, and conserves water through joint investments in projects from water users in both countries. The agreement also served to recognize the Colorado River Delta as a place of global ecological significance.

Following the signing of Minute 319, more than a year of work by a multinational, multidisciplinary, multi-organizational science team went into preparations for designing the pulse flow and establishing the monitoring requirements for its hydrologic and ecological responses. Then, between March 23 to May 18, 2014 nearly 106,00 acre-feet of water was released from Morelos Dam into the dry Delta, flooding more than 4,000 acres of riverbed landscape, and once again – briefly – the river met the sea for the first time since 1997. (An acre-foot is the volume of water required to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot – approximately the amount of water a family of five uses in one year.)

Following the pulse flow, small increments of water—known as base flows—were periodically released into the delta to maintain the pulse flow’s effects.

“Like the pulse flow itself, this report was a binational collaboration. Scientists from government agencies, academia, and conservation organizations on both sides of the border contributed to the monitoring efforts,” said Eloise Kendy, a senior freshwater scientist with the North America Water Program of The Nature Conservancy.

The team, and the study

The monitoring team includes more than 21 scientists from universities, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations from both Mexico and the U.S., including El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Pronatura Noroeste, The Nature Conservancy, Sonoran Institute, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the University of Arizona, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The study results released on October 21, 2016 detailed the increase in birds, plants, and groundwater in the delta since the pulse flow, which signifies that these water flows in the Colorado River Basin could help restore the native environment and bring back native flora and fauna to the arid Colorado River delta.

“The findings confirm that what scientists and conservationists are doing for the delta is working”, said Jennifer Pitt, Director of the National Audubon Society’s Colorado River Project, who has been among the leaders of the delta restoration effort for many years. “It’s proof positive that adding a little water back into that ecosystem can work”.

Notable findings

Included among the findings of the study are the following five notable achievements that resulted from this historic cooperative effort:

1. Plants: Native plant life returned, with a 16% increase in density of green vegetation recorded by satellite imagery in the floodplain one year following the pulse flow.
   • Although greenness declined in 2015, it was still greener in 2015 compared to 2013, indicating that the single pulse flow in 2014 stimulated plant growth for at least one year.
   • Native plants – including cottonwood, mesquite, and willow seedlings – grew much better in restoration areas where non-native vegetation was removed before the pulse flow, as well as in areas actively managed following the primary release of water.
2. Birds: Greater bird abundance and diversity was recorded, with both the number and diversity of bird species increasing significantly from 2013 to 2015.
   • This was particularly notable where trees were planted, with the highest concentrations in the restoration sites.
   • Of the 19 species monitored for conservation interest, an increase of 49% was recorded from 2013 to 2015.
3. Groundwater: Results indicated that pulse flow also recharged groundwater in the delta, an important resource for some native tree and shrub species.
4. Community: Beyond wildlife, the pulse brought together local residents, from older generations who remembered the river, to younger generations who had never before seen it flow.

“The social response—that was amazing,” says Dr. Osvel Hinojosa Huerta, Director, Water and Wetlands Program of Pronatura Noroeste. He recalls what happened in the border city of San Luis Río Colorado, where the namesake river had largely vanished. “When the river came back, it was like a party in town every day. Thousands of people were celebrating in the river.”

5. Precedent-setting: The study results will be used to inform future bi-national cooperation efforts on behalf of the river. The science team learned a great deal about how water moves through the delta ecosystem and is, for the first time, equipped with data-driven recommendations for future restoration activities. Notably, the pulse flow is setting a precedent for water-sharing agreements globally, as well as inspiring water rights advocates far beyond the region. Raise the River coalition members Pitt and Hinojosa Huerta say that groups involved in river restoration from as close to home as the Rio Grande to as far as Central and Eastern Asia have reached out to express interest in the water sharing concept.

Small amount, large impact

Less than 1 percent of the Colorado’s historic flow to the delta was returned by the flows sanctioned under Minute 319, yet the strategic timing and placement of the water supported the thesis that a small amount of water is sufficient to restore crucial habitat for the birds and wildlife that have historically lived in the delta. It also provided lessons learned to be applied to future water deliveries.

“The most important lesson we learned is that a relatively tiny bit of water can go a long way toward restoring the Delta” added Kendy. “Water expeditiously applied to prepared floodplain areas has established new native trees that are already way over my head”.

The work continues

With Minute 319 concluding in 2017, researchers and coalition members of Raise the River are currently negotiating a successor agreement to support continued cooperative work between Mexico and the U.S., with the hope of having this in place by the end of this year. Just as the report showed that active restoration sites achieved the highest success rate, the restoration of the delta is a long-term process.

“This project demonstrates that a relatively small amount of water, particularly when coupled with active restoration, can provide significant benefits to rivers with reduced flows,” states Karen Schlatter, Adaptive Management Specialist for the Colorado River Delta Program, Sonoran Institute. “When diverse stakeholders collaborate on Colorado River water management, governments, communities, and the environment have much to gain.”

The report results show that the flows created new habitat, increased bird diversity, and also provided a meaningful reconnection of local communities to the environment, offering hope for the region.

Working together, greater good can result, as the recent monitoring report on the Spring 2014 “pulse flow” of water into the Colorado River Delta has validated.

Raise the River Coalition Partner Reports:

• National Audubon Society, October 21, 2016 — Pulses of Water Bring Life to the Famished Colorado River Delta;The Colorado River is one of the world’s most endangered rivers. But recent pulses of water have started to bring life back to the famished region.
• Sonoran Institute, October 26, 2016 — Ever wonder what Minutes have to do with Water?There’s been a lot of news coverage on a recent report about our historic work in the Colorado River Delta. This report answers your FAQ’s and gets you up to speed with this groundbreaking environmental project.
• The Nature Conservancy, October 31, 2016 — Top Four Scientific Results of the Pulse Flow; Highlights of the Interim Report issued by the International Boundary Water Commission, United States and Mexico sections, outlining the scientific results to date of the 2014 “pulse flow” of water into the Colorado River Delta.
• Additional media coverage can be found on the Raise the River website, in our “Press” sectio

Historic cooperation results in hope for environmental restoration

Cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico governments, supported by a coalition of non-profit organizations, is demonstrating the power of community to achieve environmental benefits, as recently released scientific findings in the Colorado River Delta have documented.

The Colorado River is one of the world’s most endangered rivers. Dams and water diversions for farms and cities upstream in both countries deplete the water before it meets it natural end in the Gulf of California. Its delta, once a vibrant habitat for wildlife and migrating birds, is now dry, as the river stops 70 miles short of the sea. A unique and landmark bi-national collaborative effort to revive the dry delta landscape on behalf of the environment came together in 2014, followed by an engineered release of water into the region – known as a ‘pulse flow’ – which flooded the dry Colorado River Delta and reconnected habitats, wildlife, and local communities with the river for the first time in decades.

On October 21, the International Boundary Water Commission (IBWC) published the “Minute 319 Colorado River Limitrophe and Delta Environmental Flows Monitoring Interim Report“, an interim report on the environmental impact of this 2014 pulse flow, plus subsequent supplemental deliveries of water through December 2015. Research on the effects of the 2014 pulse flow will continue through 2017 with a final report due in June 2018. A binational, University of Arizona-led team of scientists and environmental experts – including those from The Nature Conservancy, Pronatura Noroeste and the Sonoran Institute – contributed to the report. These three organizations are all members of Raise the River, a coalition of conservation organizations working to protect and restore the Colorado River Delta. Other members of Raise the River include the National Audubon Society, The Redford Center, and Restauremos El Colorado.

The IBWC and its Mexican counterpart (CILA) are U.S. and Mexican federal agencies that negotiate and implement binational water treaties and water allocations. In 2012, the IBWC and CILA successfully negotiated Minute 319, an amendment to the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty (modifications of treaties are referred to as minutes). Minute 319 included the authorization of environmental flows of water into the Colorado River Delta from 2013 to 2017, and was the first binational agreement in the world to dedicate flows for environmental purposes. The result of extraordinary binational collaboration among government agencies, conservation organizations, water users, and other Delta stakeholders, Minute 319 provides multiple benefits for water users on both sides of the border. In addition to the water flows, it more broadly provides for the U.S. and Mexico to share surpluses in times of plenty and reductions in times of drought, offers incentives for leaving water in storage, and conserves water through joint investments in projects from water users in both countries. The agreement also served to recognize the Colorado River Delta as a place of global ecological significance.

Following the signing of Minute 319, more than a year of work by a multinational, multidisciplinary, multi-organizational science team went into preparations for designing the pulse flow and establishing the monitoring requirements for its hydrologic and ecological responses. Then, between March 23 to May 18, 2014 nearly 106,00 acre-feet of water was released from Morelos Dam into the dry Delta, flooding more than 4,000 acres of riverbed landscape, and once again – briefly – the river met the sea for the first time since 1997. (An acre-foot is the volume of water required to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot – approximately the amount of water a family of five uses in one year.)

Following the pulse flow, small increments of water—known as base flows—were periodically released into the delta to maintain the pulse flow’s effects.

“Like the pulse flow itself, this report was a binational collaboration. Scientists from government agencies, academia, and conservation organizations on both sides of the border contributed to the monitoring efforts,” said Eloise Kendy, a senior freshwater scientist with the North America Water Program of The Nature Conservancy.

The team, and the study

The monitoring team includes more than 21 scientists from universities, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations from both Mexico and the U.S., including El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Pronatura Noroeste, The Nature Conservancy, Sonoran Institute, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the University of Arizona, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The study results released on October 21, 2016 detailed the increase in birds, plants, and groundwater in the delta since the pulse flow, which signifies that these water flows in the Colorado River Basin could help restore the native environment and bring back native flora and fauna to the arid Colorado River delta.

“The findings confirm that what scientists and conservationists are doing for the delta is working”, said Jennifer Pitt, Director of the National Audubon Society’s Colorado River Project, who has been among the leaders of the delta restoration effort for many years. “It’s proof positive that adding a little water back into that ecosystem can work”.

Notable findings

Included among the findings of the study are the following five notable achievements that resulted from this historic cooperative effort:

1. Plants: Native plant life returned, with a 16% increase in density of green vegetation recorded by satellite imagery in the floodplain one year following the pulse flow.
   • Although greenness declined in 2015, it was still greener in 2015 compared to 2013, indicating that the single pulse flow in 2014 stimulated plant growth for at least one year.
   • Native plants – including cottonwood, mesquite, and willow seedlings – grew much better in restoration areas where non-native vegetation was removed before the pulse flow, as well as in areas actively managed following the primary release of water.
2. Birds: Greater bird abundance and diversity was recorded, with both the number and diversity of bird species increasing significantly from 2013 to 2015.
   • This was particularly notable where trees were planted, with the highest concentrations in the restoration sites.
   • Of the 19 species monitored for conservation interest, an increase of 49% was recorded from 2013 to 2015.
3. Groundwater: Results indicated that pulse flow also recharged groundwater in the delta, an important resource for some native tree and shrub species.
4. Community: Beyond wildlife, the pulse brought together local residents, from older generations who remembered the river, to younger generations who had never before seen it flow.

“The social response—that was amazing,” says Dr. Osvel Hinojosa Huerta, Director, Water and Wetlands Program of Pronatura Noroeste. He recalls what happened in the border city of San Luis Río Colorado, where the namesake river had largely vanished. “When the river came back, it was like a party in town every day. Thousands of people were celebrating in the river.”

5. Precedent-setting: The study results will be used to inform future bi-national cooperation efforts on behalf of the river. The science team learned a great deal about how water moves through the delta ecosystem and is, for the first time, equipped with data-driven recommendations for future restoration activities. Notably, the pulse flow is setting a precedent for water-sharing agreements globally, as well as inspiring water rights advocates far beyond the region. Raise the River coalition members Pitt and Hinojosa Huerta say that groups involved in river restoration from as close to home as the Rio Grande to as far as Central and Eastern Asia have reached out to express interest in the water sharing concept.

Small amount, large impact

Less than 1 percent of the Colorado’s historic flow to the delta was returned by the flows sanctioned under Minute 319, yet the strategic timing and placement of the water supported the thesis that a small amount of water is sufficient to restore crucial habitat for the birds and wildlife that have historically lived in the delta. It also provided lessons learned to be applied to future water deliveries.

“The most important lesson we learned is that a relatively tiny bit of water can go a long way toward restoring the Delta” added Kendy. “Water expeditiously applied to prepared floodplain areas has established new native trees that are already way over my head”.

The work continues

With Minute 319 concluding in 2017, researchers and coalition members of Raise the River are currently negotiating a successor agreement to support continued cooperative work between Mexico and the U.S., with the hope of having this in place by the end of this year. Just as the report showed that active restoration sites achieved the highest success rate, the restoration of the delta is a long-term process.

“This project demonstrates that a relatively small amount of water, particularly when coupled with active restoration, can provide significant benefits to rivers with reduced flows,” states Karen Schlatter, Adaptive Management Specialist for the Colorado River Delta Program, Sonoran Institute. “When diverse stakeholders collaborate on Colorado River water management, governments, communities, and the environment have much to gain.”

The report results show that the flows created new habitat, increased bird diversity, and also provided a meaningful reconnection of local communities to the environment, offering hope for the region.

Working together, greater good can result, as the recent monitoring report on the Spring 2014 “pulse flow” of water into the Colorado River Delta has validated.

Raise the River Coalition Partner Reports:

• National Audubon Society, October 21, 2016 — Pulses of Water Bring Life to the Famished Colorado River Delta;The Colorado River is one of the world’s most endangered rivers. But recent pulses of water have started to bring life back to the famished region.
• Sonoran Institute, October 26, 2016 — Ever wonder what Minutes have to do with Water?There’s been a lot of news coverage on a recent report about our historic work in the Colorado River Delta. This report answers your FAQ’s and gets you up to speed with this groundbreaking environmental project.
• The Nature Conservancy, October 31, 2016 — Top Four Scientific Results of the Pulse Flow; Highlights of the Interim Report issued by the International Boundary Water Commission, United States and Mexico sections, outlining the scientific results to date of the 2014 “pulse flow” of water into the Colorado River Delta.
• Additional media coverage can be found on the Raise the River website, in our “Press” sectio

Two growing seasons after the engineered spring flood of 2014, the delta’s birds, plants and groundwater continue to benefit, according to a report by a binational, UA-led team.

By Mari N. Jensen, UA College of Science |Oct. 19, 2016; Original Story from The University of Arizona News

Two growing seasons after the engineered spring flood of the Colorado River Delta in 2014, the delta’s birds, plants and groundwater continue to benefit, according to the latest monitoring report prepared for the International Boundary and Water Commission by a binational, University of Arizona-led team.

“This short-term event has had lasting consequences. This really demonstrates that a little bit of water does a lot of environmental good,” said Karl W. Flessa, UA professor of geosciences and co-chief scientist of the Minute 319 monitoring team.

Martha Gómez Sapiens, a monitoring team member and postdoctoral research associate in the UA Department of Geosciences, stands on a riverbank next to willows and cottonwoods that germinated as a result of the pulse flow. (Photo: Karl W. Flessa/UA Department of Geosciences)

“Some of the cottonwoods that germinated during the initial pulse flow are now more than 10 feet tall,” Flessa said.

The “Minute 319 Colorado River Limitrophe and Delta Environmental Flows Monitoring Interim Report,” released by the International Boundary and Water Commission, documents the effects of the environmental flows in the delta from the initial release of a pulse of water from March 23 through May 18, 2014, plus subsequent supplemental deliveries of water through December 2015.

Minute 319 is the 2012 addition to the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty that authorized environmental flows of water into the Colorado River Delta from 2013 to 2017.

Birdlife responded to the post-flood burgeoning of vegetation, and bird diversity is still higher than before, the monitoring team reports. Migratory waterbirds, nesting waterbirds and nesting riparian birds all increased in abundance.

Upstream dams and water diversions for farms and cities in both countries have dried up most of the river south of the border. With the exception of a few wet years, the river has not reached the Gulf of California since 1960.

“This is the first time environmental water has ever been delivered across an international boundary.” said Eloise Kendy, a senior freshwater scientist with The Nature Conservancy’s North America Water Program.

“The level of collaboration was really unprecedented — from two national governments to the individual farmers whose irrigation canals were used for some of the water deliveries,” she said.

Flessa, Kendy and Karen Schlatter of Sonoran Institute compiled and edited the report on behalf of the binational partnership of many people and federal agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations that monitored the Colorado River Delta under Minute 319.

Some of the water from the pulse flow and subsequent smaller environmental flows recharged the groundwater, which had both ecological and social benefits, Kendy said. The vegetation greened up in areas that received surface water and also in some areas that did not.

“The farmers were happy because it recharged the aquifer they use for groundwater irrigation,” Kendy said. “And plants that were outside the inundation zone got a big drink of water.”

Before 1960, spring floods regularly roared down the Colorado River, scouring the river bottom and overtopping the bank, thereby creating the conditions necessary for cottonwood and willow trees to germinate and establish.

An invasive plant species known as salt cedar or tamarisk is now the dominant plant along the river. Cottonwoods and willows need bare ground and sunlight to germinate, so they cannot establish themselves on tamarisk-covered riverbanks, said Schlatter, a restoration ecologist of the Sonoran Institute’s Colorado River Delta Program.

The March 2014 pulse flow delivered a fraction of the water the pre-1960 spring floods delivered. People from Sonoran Institute and Pronatura Noroeste cleared some areas of non-native vegetation beforehand. The researchers hoped that reducing competition would allow native plants such as willows and cottonwoods to germinate and grow after the pulse flow.

“We mechanically cleared the tamarisk vegetation from the riverbank and old oxbows,” Schlatter said. “We reconnected the meanders to the main river channels so when the pulse flow came there were these nice backwater areas where the conditions were good for the establishment of native trees.”

Now in those restoration areas, cottonwood and willow seeds that germinated after the pulse flow have become trees 3 to 4 meters tall (10 to 13 feet), and bird diversity and abundance has increased, she said.

“Now we have diverse habitat types, including lagoons, cottonwoods-willow forest, mesquite bosque and marshes,” she said. “We are seeing a much higher diversity of riparian bird species in the restoration sites compared to other areas along the river.”

The abundance of 19 bird species of conservation concern, including vermillion flycatchers, hooded orioles and yellow-breasted chats, was 43 percent higher at the restoration sites than at other sites in the floodplain, the monitoring team found.

In addition, the pulse flow reduced soil salinity in some areas that had been targeted for restoration, Schlatter said. “We didn’t expect that — it is a huge bonus.”

Reducing the soil salinity makes conditions more favorable for native plant species.

If there’s another pulse flow, she suggests mechanically clearing tamarisk and other non-native vegetation from the river’s bank.

“We’re not going to get a huge flood on the Colorado River anymore,” Schlatter said. “If the flood isn’t going to provide the same ecological processes floods did in the past, we will have to have active management.”

Other UA members of the monitoring team are Ed Glenn of the UA Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science and Martha Gómez Sapiens and Hector Zamora of the UA Department of Geosciences.

The International Boundary and Water Commission in El Paso, Texas, funded the UA portion of the Minute 319 monitoring program.

Carlos de la Parra of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte is co-chief scientist of the Minute 319 monitoring team. Key contributors to the report include Osvel Hinojosa of Pronatura Noroeste, Jorge Ramírez Hernández and Jesus Eliana Rodríguez Burgueño of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Francisco Zamora of Sonoran Institute, Jeffrey Kennedy of the U.S. Geological Survey and Dale Turner of The Nature Conservancy.

The Minute 319 monitoring team includes more than 21 scientists from universities, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations from both Mexico and the U.S., including El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, the Ensenada-based Pronatura Noroeste, The Nature Conservancy, the Tucson-based Sonoran Institute, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the University of Arizona, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.