For years, Camp Verde has engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship with the Arizona Nature Conservancy, working together with the environmental group on issues like water use and preserving natural areas around theVerde River.
At a meeting on Wednesday, March 24, the Camp Verde Town Council unanimously voted to formalize that relationship in an official partnership with the Nature Conservancy.
“We’ve been working with The Nature Conservancy since I’ve been here at least, doing things in a relatively informal way,” Camp Verde Town Manager Russ Martin said at the March 24 meeting. “Ultimately, what they asked — it was over a year ago or so—was to get into an agreement that would start to formalize that relationship, and for their benefit, ultimately see to our benefit financial resources that we could eventually use for our collective benefit. Instead of just doing their work as best they could, sometimes their funding sources are better if we go after those, or they can funnel them to projects that we control.”
Immediately after the vote on the partnership, the council demonstrated one of those opportunities, by unanimously approving a grant from the The Nature Conservancy to use $50,000 to connect irrigation for the under-construction fields with the town’s wastewater, taking advantage of leftover water to water the grass, preserving the town’s fresh drinking water.
“The town wants to manage the park sustainably,” TNC’s Verde River Projects manager Kim Schonek said, praising the water reclamation project. “We don’t want to park groundwater that could be otherwise used for drinking. Let’s make sure we’re watering that grass in the most efficient way possible.”
Schonek spoke highly of the town’s efforts at sustainable use of water resources and expressed optimism about the potential for this partnership.
“By signing this both The Nature Conservancy and Camp Verde are making a commitment,” Schonek said. “We’re going to work on these projects collaboratively, and these projects are important to us.”
In addition to the park water reclamation project, Schonek spoke of other opportunities to work with the town to deal with storm runoff, trying to find ways to not only deal with flooding issues in Camp Verde, but also to take advantage of the water from storm precipitation to replenish the Verde River.
“I think it’s a community that is really committed to that long-term future of stewarding the town and being good partners,” Schonek said.
Martin also pointed to potential benefits from the partnership in terms of information and know-how that the town would be able to take advantage of, in addition to financial benefits.
“It’s not all about the Benjamins, if you will, that come in our direction,” Martin said. “It’s about stuff we don’t have to spend money on, that they have the expertise to get through.”
