Another Step Forward for Restoring the Colorado Delta

Posted: 22-Oct-2002; Updated: 21-Aug-2003

Before the 1930s, before its waters were diverted for farming, household and industrial uses, and before Hoover Dam was built, the Colorado River flowed freely from its headwaters in the Colorado Rockies south to the Gulf of Mexico. Massive amounts of silt washing downriver from the floodplains and carved from the Grand Canyon formed the vast Colorado River Delta, a fertile network of channels and waterways covering almost two million acres. This Delta once harbored an abundance of fish and wildlife that sustained the native Cucupá Indians.

Today, the Delta is but one tenth its former size, struggling to maintain itself on only a tiny fraction of the river's water. Not only are plants and wildlife threatened, but the native people's way of life is also being put to the test. Yet even in its diminished state, the Delta continues to provide the most important wetland habitat in North America's Sonoran desert region, and its estuaries provide breeding grounds for Gulf species like the vaquita porpoise and the totoaba (both now virtually extinct).

But there is hope for the Delta's recovery. One of our ecosystem specialists Jennifer Pitt has been working with private U.S. and Mexican groups dedicated to bringing the Delta back to life. Last week, in a series of workshops, experts and scientists pooled their knowledge and know-how on water, birds, fish and other wildlife, and began mapping out a strategy for preserving the region's biodiversity -- literally.

Using GIS technology, participants are creating interactive maps of conservation and water needs and threatened ecosystems, highlighting endangered species like the Southwest willow flycatcher, that will serve as the blueprint for restoration of the amazing Delta region. The team, which includes the Sonoran Institute, WWF Mexico,  Pronatura Sonora, and the Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, will soon present briefings to senior officials.

FIND OUT MORE

A Delta Once More (1999 report from Environmental Defense)

Mapping Conservation Strategies in the Colorado River Delta: A State-of-Knowledge Workshop (October 15-17, 2002)

University of Arizona web site