Yavapai County Master Watershed Steward Program, 2003

This year, Master Watershed Stewards contributed 525 hours of volunteer service to their communities. Some of their service projects included:

• Surveying fish populations on the Upper Verde River
• Noxious weed control and mapping
• Organized and delivered two public water forums
• Water Advisory Committee activities
• Rangeland monitoring projects

The Master Watershed Steward (MWS) Program was offered for the third time in October/November, 2003. Natural Resources Program Coordinator, Russ Radden, and Extension Agent, Jeff Schalau, coordinated the 10 session MWS course which trains citizens to become active water resource volunteers in their communities. The course had many guest speakers from local experts to state and federal agency personnel. MWS volunteers attend a 50 hour course covering a range of natural resource topics. After completing the course, they become Cooperative Extension volunteers to extend their knowledge within their local communities. In addition, MWS has become a statewide program and received funding from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

The support of the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, Yavapai County Water Advisory Committee, and the International Arid Lands Consortium have been invaluable in helping Cooperative Extension develop and implement this innovative program.

The MWS program has now been expanded across Arizona. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has funded the statewide program and curriculum development for three years. Statewide expansion was largely due to the success of the Yavapai County MWS program.

Russ Radden also conducted 22 water education programs for students and teachers, collaborated with the Yavapai County Water Advisory Committee and regional watershed partnerships, and coordinated the county-wide well water testing program. Mr. Radden also assisted Yavapai County Government with plan reviews, septic system education, and non-point source compliance.

For more information contact:

UA Cooperative Extension
500 S. Marina
P.O. Box 388
Prescott, AZ 86302
Phone: (928) 445-6590
Fax: (928) 445-6593
Email: rdradden@ag.arizona.edu