Camp Verde Habitat Stewardship Plan

Long-term management of habitats requires cooperation and input from a wide variety of landowners, public land managers, non-profit organizations, and private citizens. In Central Arizona, partnerships and collaboration in the Verde Valley have become integral to the restoration and continued use of the Verde River.  Management of recreation and agriculture remain important concerns in this area, along with concerns for wildlife and native ecology in this valuable riparian corridor.  To provide coordinated habitat stewardship of the river in the Town of Camp Verde, Friends of the Verde River Greenway hired EnviroPlan Partners to develop a cooperative plan for managing riparian land management concerns in this portion of the river.  The plan incorporates concerns and feedback from a wide array of private land owners, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to provide a coordinated restoration approach.  The plan examines key issues and ecological concerns in the floodplain, such as the scale and frequency of large-scale flooding events, the spread of invasive non-native plant species, and conservation needs for threatened and endangered species.

Specific recommendations for each of the landowners were then developed to provide a customized approach that meets the large-scale goals for the watershed in the Town of Camp Verde.  These included recommendations for noxious weed management, native plant restoration, and carbon sequestration opportunities.  As a whole, the plan provides a blueprint for users and operators along the Verde River to develop a strategy to improve the resilience and ecological health of the river in the community.