On Sept. 23, the Town of Camp Verde received a letter from the Nature Conservancy of Arizona announcing that the small town had been chosen as the 2019 recipient of the Morris K. Udall Award for Outstanding Conservation Achievement, recognizing the town for demonstrating “a sincere and sustained commitment to conservation in Arizona.
On Oct. 25, the award was presented to Mayor Charlie German and members of the town staff at a dinner ceremony in Prescott.
“For more than 10 years, the Town of Camp Verde has been a critical partner in developing many projects that restore and protect the Verde River,” Nature Conservancy State Director Patrick Graham and Chairman of the Board Bill Way wrote in their letter to Camp Verde. “Staff and elected officials participate in the Verde River Exchange, Sustaining Flows Council and Verde Watershed Restoration Coalition. These efforts ensure that regional collaboration increases and that the Verde River is recognized for its importance to the economy and to the ecology of the desert Southwest. The Town of Camp Verde has been a strong advocate for and passionate supporter of the Nature Conservancy and our work in Arizona.”
At a meeting on Nov. 6, the Camp Verde Town Council discussed the award.
“One of the points we made when we were over there is the unique- ness of Camp Verde,” Camp Verde Economic Development Director Steve Ayers said at the meeting. “When I got hired here in 2013, we talked about trying to balance the ledger sheet. We’re trying to expand economic development while at the same time protect all those things that we all moved here for, whether it be the river or the history or the culture or whatever.”
Ayers pointed to this being a year where the town received both this award for conservation as well as an economic development award, suggesting that “we’re doing something right.”
“I’ve traveled the country many times and I was looking for this place,” former Mayor Tony Gioia told the council at the Nov. 6 meeting. Since leaving public office, Gioia become vice president of the Friends of the Verde River. He congratulated the town government and staff for their efforts to focus on conservation.
Gioia praised “the work that the Friends has done in keeping water in the Verde River, better utilizing the resource so there remains an abundance of water flowing in the river,” as well as the efforts by various municipalities, not just Camp Verde, to recharge aquifers and keep the river clean.
“That is very exciting for our water future,” Gioia said.
