EDITOR'S PAGE

EDITOR'S

TO MANY PERSONS not familiar with Arizona's varied terrain, the word "riparian" must seem incongruous in references to a state known for its arid climate. Even our own residents, accustomed to bonedry stretches of the Gila, Salt, and Santa Cruz rivers, may well have been surprised by the inviting scene along the banks of the Gila of 1846 that appeared in last November's Arizona Highways. Yet, as artist Bill Ahrendt's painting indicated, tree-lined streams flowing from sources in often distant mountains were an essential part of the physical geography that greeted Arizona's early explorers.

But in this century, man's impact on that geography has been obvious in many ways. One of the most extreme examples has been the effect on our natural waterways and wetlands. The Arizona Nature Conservancy reports that, in the last 100 years, 90 percent of the state's riparian ecosystems have been lost as a result of human activities!

Nearly two years ago, the Commission on the Arizona Environment identified riparian habitat conservation as the environmental issue of highest priority facing the state.

The commission adopted this definition: "The term 'riparian area' is intended to include the vegetation, habitats, and ecosystems that are associated with streams or lakes or are dependent on the existence of perennial or ephemeral surface or subsurface water drainage." The benefits of such resources to humans are of very great magnitude, the commission pointed out. Their economic importance is reflected in such uses as grazing and other forms of agriculture, mining, timber, sand and gravel operations, residential development, and municipal water supplies. In their natural condition, riparian areas not only provide esthetic values and recreational opportunities; they also can maintain or improve water quality, increase groundwater recharge, serve as habitat for extensive populations of wildlife, and contribute to research and education.

The commission undertook an ambitious project to learn as much as it could about the status of riparian areas, their present specific economic significance, and the multiple demands being placed upon them. It called for an inventory of such areas and collection of as many different viewpoints as possible. Responses were analyzed to determine key issues; these were then submitted to all study participants and their reactions were solicited; the comments were carefully reviewed.

As a result of this conscientious and laborious process, the commission believes that it has developed broad support for the following recommendations: That all state agencies be required by executive order to consider the principles of preservation and, when appropriate, mitigation of adverse impacts on or restoration of riparian resources in their decisions, actions, regulations, and funding.

That the Legislature create a Committee on Riparian Resource Protection, to include members of both houses and representatives of appropriate state agencies and user interest groups. The committee would be instructed to consider, among other things, development of mechanisms for the acquisition, protection, and management of riparian resources on public and private lands; encouragement of common terminology and sharing of inventory data; encouragement of cooperation among local, state, and federal agencies with jurisdiction over riparian management and regulation; establishment of minimum flow standards where appropriate; and development of educational programs on riparian resource issues.

Because of the careful, comprehensive, and nonpartisan process of consensus by which the commission developed its recommendations, most observers seem to anticipate positive results in 1989 from both legislative and executive branches of the state government.

Arizona has been transformed in this century largely as a result of reclamation projects that depended upon damming and diverting the waters of its rivers. Now we are recognizing that there were serious disadvantages as well as advantages to those programs. The Commission on the Arizona Environment has taken a firm step toward establishing balance in a primary area of public policy.