San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico—Hector Patiño leaned against
his shovel, taking a break from weeding. The sun beat down on his straw
hat. His three friendly dogs flopped down in the shade.
Behind Patiño, 45, cottonwood and willow trees formed a
dense thicket, interspersed with honey mesquite seedlings and a thick
understory of shrubs. Bees swarmed. A crissal thrasher sang prettily. A
pair of white-crowned sparrows chittered at the shadow of a marsh hawk
passing overhead.
Just months ago, this area was a barren wasteland, said
Patiño. But last April he and a crew of workers from the nearby village
of Miguel Alemán planted the trees. With fertile soil and steady sun—and
just enough irrigation water—the trees have already grown ten feet tall
(three meters), enough to shade his dogs.
This 250-acre plot in the Mexicali Valley, south of Yuma on
the Arizona border, is part of an innovative effort to restore small
parts of the two-million-acre (8,100-square-kilometer) Colorado River Delta. Thanks to dams and canals that have diverted water to farm fields and cities, the Colorado no longer reaches the sea, and its delta has been desiccated. (See "8 Mighty Rivers Run Dry From Overuse.")
But now a coalition of environmentalists, community
leaders, and governments, working under a U.S.-Mexico agreement that is
allowing them to reclaim a small fraction of the river's water for the
environment, are trying to reverse some of the damage in a few places,
including Miguel Alemán. Patiño is the president of the local
restoration committee.
Over the past few months, he said, migratory birds like
warblers, sparrows, and woodpeckers have begun showing up again. Those
animals have been followed by raptors, rattlesnakes, and coyotes.
What's more, the return of water is refilling the
groundwater aquifer below. "This benefits our community, because
people's house wells had been going dry," said Patiño.
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