11/8/2007 7:22:00 PM Group raises money to protect the Verde
Courtesy/Center for Biological Diversity
Prescott youngster Eli Harvey draws the winning ticket from a bowl his father, Ron Harvey, holds during a raffle drawing that the Center for Biological Diversity, a local conservation group, sponsored this past week.
Special to the Courier
PRESCOTT - The Center for Biological Diversity, a local nonprofit conservation organization, this past week generated $360 from a raffle that will help the center's staff gear up for more local educational activities that focus attention on the beauty and ecological significance of the Verde River.
This past Wednesday, a local boy, Eli Harvey, drew the winning raffle ticket for his father Ron Harvey's painting. The money from the raffle will benefit the center's Save the Verde Campaign.
The Verde River is one of Arizona's few remaining perennial rivers flowing through desert grasslands and canyons. Its lush green corridor is home to the nesting bald eagle and the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher.
Declining native fish species, including the razorback sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, loach minnow and spikedace, also depend on the river, which emanates from springs fed by the Big Chino aquifer near Paulden.
In 2006 American Rivers, a national conservation group, placed the Verde on its list of America's 10 most endangered rivers.
Ron Harvey, dean of students at Kestrel High School, donated his original framed painting, "Sunrise on the Lower Verde," for the cause.
The Frame and I shop in downtown Prescott displayed the painting and assisted with raffle ticket sales.
The raffle gained national interest, with tickets bought from as far away as New Jersey. Ron Harvey's "The Verde River Network" MySpace Internet web page and exposure on the center's website, www.savetheverde.org, spread the word.
Tucson resident Saundra Smith, who held the winning ticket, said the river's beauty inspired her to participate in the raffle.
"I purchased raffle tickets because I saw beautiful pictures of the Verde River on the Save the Verde website and felt the need to participate in the river's preservation," she said.
Harvey said he created the painting to remind people about the importance of preserving the cherished river.
Two proposed Big Chino aquifer pipeline projects, as well as the prevalence of exempt wells and proposed large-scale residential development in the tri-cities, pose a potential threat to the river, according to the center.
"I want this river to be here not just this year, but every year, so that my children and others can share this place," he said. "If we all give just a little bit of ourselves and plan our future water use wisely, we can do it, just as millions of little drops can create a river."
The center's campaign seeks to connect actions with the responsibility to care for the Verde River habitat and the species that depend on the river to survive. The campaign advocates finalizing a comprehensive plan to reduce or eliminate threats to the river before construction begins on a municipal pipeline.
The center recognizes the role of art in connecting the public to the environment and the Verde River. Its "Little Drop of Water" project offers people a way to creatively express themselves about protecting the river and conserving water by decorating a paper water droplet.
"Ron Harvey is using his own art and his own time to really make a difference locally in emphasizing the importance of our own Verde River," said Joanne Oellers, the center's Verde campaign coordinator. "His dedication shows how a little time every week culminates in the support of a great cause - protecting this desert jewel."
