Located northeast of Phoenix and 25 miles west of Alpine, the West Fork Black River runs through Thompson-Burro Meadow and is a major tributary of the Black River. The Black River watershed is part of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the United States. It serves as a crucial headwater source of water to the Salt River, a significant source of water for the Phoenix Valley.
The Thompson-Burro Meadow Restoration Project is the highest-priority restoration project for Trout Unlimited (TU) in Arizona over the coming years. The project area lies within the Colorado River Basin and the Salt River Basin and has an abundance of ephemeral, intermittent, and perennial streams – which are all particularly vulnerable in the arid Southwest.
Degradation occurred in the meadow system from historic land management or private actions, first identified in the late 1980s. Then, the 2011 Wallow Fire significantly impacted the project area. Many streams in the burn area experienced runoff from fire- impacted slopes that overwhelmed the systems, causing channel incision and erosion, which led to the loss of instream habitat and floodplain connectivity critical to groundwater storage and functioning riparian and wetland wildlife habitats.
Based on an assessment by the U.S. Forest Service, this project aims to restore the hydrological function of Thompson-Burro Meadow and the West Fork Black River.
TU and its partners will focus on approximately 3.5 miles of stream restoration and 128 acres of wet meadow regeneration. Partners will utilize process-based restoration structures in three creeks (West Fork Black River, Burro Creek, and Thompson Creek) to benefit the associated high-elevation wet meadows.
These process-based restoration techniques will increase water table elevations, restore stream function and natural flow regimes, enhance water storage in a historic wet meadow, mitigate erosion processes, stabilize channel banks, decrease stream temperatures, and restore habitat for native Apache trout in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
This project by the numbers:
- $1.8 million investment in rural Arizona
- 128 acres of wet meadow regeneration
- 8 project partners and funders
- 3.5 miles of stream restoration
This project will directly benefit Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, native Apache trout, New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, and downstream users in the Phoenix Valley, and will contribute to improving the health of the Colorado River Basin and the communities and economies that rely on this river system.
Specifically, this project will utilize nature-based solutions to restore natural hydrology, creating a snowball effect of benefits for multiple species and human communities. By raising the groundwater in Thompson-Burro Meadow to historical levels, we are increasing water storage capacity and reinvigorating natural hydrologic attenuation in the meadow, thereby mitigating the impacts of drought and wildfire. Restoring floodplain connectivity will moderate high-intensity floods that can degrade water quality and damage water distribution infrastructure by reducing the erosive energy of floods and capturing sediment that would otherwise reduce reservoir storage capacity for the water system downstream that services users in the Phoenix Valley.
This project is funded by the U.S. Forest Service – TU Keystone/Regional Agreements, the Bureau of Reclamation – WaterSMART CWMP Phase 1, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, CK Blueshift and BlueCommons ReBeaver Restoration Fund, Microsoft, and the Caterpillar Foundation.
Project partners include the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, Microsoft, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, World Resources Institute, the Caterpillar Foundation, Salt River Project, Arizona Game and Fish, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and BlueCommons ReBeaver Restoration Fund.
