Restoration ideas flow from Southwest river experts

A meeting of minds in Tucson this week will eventually lead to a river restoration guidebook that could help on-the-ground environmentalists across the nation protect our most rare and endangered wildlife habitats. The bi-national conference - sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, University of Arizona, National Park Service and Mexico's environmental group Pronatura Noroeste and federal National Institute of Ecology – brought together about 125 scientists, managers, administrators and others interested in protecting the rivers of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. The "Bringing Back Our Rivers and Their Riparian Ecosystems – Learning from the Past for the Benefit of the Future" conference was held Tuesday through Thursday. One key issue facing environmentalists along some of the most highly altered rivers in the world is deciding what a restored river looks like...more