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Arizona Elk and Audubon Groups Form Conservation Alliance

Picture Canyon – A massive restoration project has been underway for the past 2 years, removing Scotch Thistle, realigning the stream, and removing the dike alongside the stream, adding a pond, and planting native vegetation. This work was directed by the engineering firm,  Natural Stream Design, and financed by a $350,000 grant. Ongoing help is needed to control invasive species.

Picture Canyon – A massive restoration project has been underway for the past 2 years, removing Scotch Thistle, realigning the stream, and removing the dike alongside the stream, adding a pond, and planting native vegetation. This work was directed by the engineering firm, Natural Stream Design, and financed by a $350,000 grant. Ongoing help is needed to control invasive species.

Sedona AZ (June 16, 2013) – The Audubon Society is one of the earliest American conservation organizations. Formed more than a century ago, the Audubon mission statement directs that the organization is “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds.”

The Arizona Elk Society (AES) is much younger, a little over a decade old. Its mission statement directs “the Mission of the Arizona Elk Society is to raise funds to benefit elk and other wildlife through habitat conservation.”

The obvious common ground of the Audubon and Arizona Elk societies? Habitat conservation. Focusing on different critters may be why the two organizations did not form a strong working relationship until recently.

We have all heard that “two heads are better than one” or that “partnerships are more effective than individual efforts” and, in the conservation of natural resources, that is particularly true. The need for habitat restoration is so vast an undertaking that no one entity can be effective alone.

Many large corporations offer grant programs that help with resource conservation. Toyota has such a grant program, TogetherGreen, which has become the basis for the newly formed alliance between the Arizona Elk and Northern Arizona Audubon groups.

For a variety of reasons many of Arizona’s high mountain meadows have changed since settlement, and the function of holding rainwater in the meadow soil is lost due to erosion scars that lower the water table. Problematic for any restoration effort is that meadow scars range from small and manageable to huge and complex, often resulting in head scratching to determine how to fix the bigger scars.

elkThe TogetherGreen grant has provided an opportunity for Audubon and Arizona Elk to come together for the common purpose of restoring the larger meadows with the greater erosion problems. With the support of the U.S. Forest Service, this partnership has been joined by experienced stream design ecologists to plan, design and implement a conservation strategy for Buck Springs, an incredibly diverse area of Arizona north of Payson.

The leadership of both societies have pledged to work together on future common interests and there is much to do, including better natural resource management. Elk, forest-dwelling birds, bats, amphibians, and many other wildlife species depend on the meadow habitats – what is good for one species is good for all.

For more information on the Arizona Elk Society and the Northern Arizona Audubon Society visit their websites. Donations and volunteers are welcome and necessary.

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For the best in Arizona news and views, read www.SedonaEye.com daily!

 

1 Comment

  1. Carolyn says:

    didn’t know there was an elk society, nice to know they’re working with other groups to protect wildlife, nice work EYE

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