The Sonoran Institute

Delta program The overall goal of The program is to restore a functional corridor in The Colorado river delta by creating a network of riparian and estuarine habitat sites that will sustain biodiversity and facilitate connectivity of river flows to The estuary. Through 2025, we will collectively restore an additional 1,300 acres of riparian habitat, with Sonoran Institute contributing 433 acres of new habitat. 1. Delivered 10,507 acre-feet of treated wastewater to The hardy river and upper estuary for environmental restoration 2. Maintained and enhanced 831 acres of restored habitat, including The deliver 4,182 acre-feet of water for irrigation of restored sites 3. As part of The binational agreement minute 323, prepared a plan to deliver 25,000 acre-feet of water to The Colorado river in 2024 and a plan to monitor The ecological and hydrological impacts of restoration actions. 4. 215 days of river-sea connectivity in 2023. 5. 2,535 acres of river channel and mudflats in The estuary enhanced. 6. 94% increase in fish diversity in The estuary in 2023 with respect to The baseline (2012) 7. 2,100 people engaged, experienced, or learned about The benefits of restoring The delta and more than 22,369 people informed about The importance of dedicating water for The environment through social media. 8. Conducted 17 workshops where community members and students in mexicali learned about The importance of urban wetlands in mexicali and The new river, The ecosystem services they provide, and The relevance of reporting illegal trash dumping or burning of trash to The police. 9. Continued to advance The establishment of a natural protected area in The state of baja California that comprises about 74,000 acres, in collaboration with The raise The river coalition.

Santa cruz river program Sonoran Institute's santa cruz river program's vision is for a living, flowing river that is The foundation of community health and prosperity from mexico to marana. 1. Established relationships with The u.s. and mexican consuls, launching a binational working group that aims to address many of The water infrastructure-related problems in nogales, sonora and nogales, Arizona. 2. Launched our restoration planning study for The middle santa cruz river from The santa cruz/pima county line north to The san xavier district of The tohono o'odham nation. The in-person kickoff meeting brought out over 40 water managers and leaders to begin The process of planning for new flows in The santa cruz river. This project will continue through 2024. 3. Sonoran Institute hosted three trash cleanups in 2023-all of which took place in tucson. In total we hosted over 210 volunteers and hauled 11,900 lbs. Of trash out of The santa cruz river. 4. For The second year in a row, in 2023 Sonoran Institute published our living river reports for both The tucson and nogales reaches of The santa cruz river. The tucson report was distributed to nearly 12,000 households and The nogales report was distributed to nearly 2,000 households in 2023. Both reports are available in english and spanish. 5. 2023 santa cruz river research days (held in april) was a huge success. We were in-person again, though we were also broadcasting over zoom. We offered real-time spanish/english language interpretation which was used by both virtual and in-person attendees. This was our biggest event yet with 180 registrants. Day 1 had 50 in-person attendees and day 2 had around 25 in-person attendees with similar numbers at our field trip to historic canoa ranch.

Growing water smart program: The growing water smart program addresses The challenges of an over- appropriated Colorado river, as well as The impacts of climate change that do not leave water for both healthy landscapes (environment) and thriving communities (people). The growing water smart program, offered in partnership with The babbitt center for land and water policy, provides training and assistance to establish plans, policies and programs that conserve municipal water and use it sustainably in communities across Arizona, Colorado, and soon California. In our growing water smart workshops and follow-up assistance, an interdisciplinary team of land-use planners, water providers, and government officials assess their community's water challenges, and identify and implement strategies to reduce water demand in new and existing development and manage water sustainably and holistically into The future. 1. Held growing water smart Arizona workshop march 6-8 in phoenix, az. Five teams participated: city of eloy, globe/miami (cobre valley), city of goodyear, city of maricopa, pinal county and yuma county. 2.held growing water smart workshop may 8-10 in Colorado. Seven teams participated, including: city of boulder, commerce city, city of fort lupton, town of frederick, town of hudson, town of estes park, town of superior. 3. Held The first California growing water smart workshop in ontario, California with our partners The babbitt center for land and water policy, water education for latino leaders, and civic well. The following communities participated: city of indio, city of rialto, city of baldwin park, city of el monte. 4. Held Colorado growing water smart workshop in grand junction, Colorado from october 22-24. The following communities participated: city of cortez, city of fruita, city of glenwood springs, city of grand junction, town of ridgway, city of steamboat springs, and summit county. 5. Held two listening sessions to introduce growing water smart workshops for The us-mexico border. 6. On june 6, we held our second and final bridging The gap convening of subject matter experts to study past water transfer projects and highlight findings that may lead to opportunities to foster greater dialogue between water providers, communities seeking water, and communities from where water would come. 7. November 8, held growing water smart peer network webinar on water allocation policies featuring speakers from buena vista, co and chandler, az. 8. Awarded 10 technical assistance grants to past growing water smart participating communities: o city of commerce city, co: design two low-water and xeriscape display gardens that reflect more stringent city land use code updates. O town of frederick, co: update and strengthen The water shortage contingency plan and will coordinate with central weld county water district. O town of superior, co: complete and update The drought management plan to meet current best practices. O indio water authority, indio, ca: develop two drought-tolerant and low- water landscape design templates. O city of rialto, ca: review current mwelo codes and guidelines and develop an mwelo guideline handbook for public and city use. O city of cheyenne, wy for a landscape conversion project o city of greeley, co for The design of a low-income landscape assistance program o city of longmont, co for a plan and policy assessment o cities of miami and globe, az for code updates o city of maricopa, az for a landscape conversion project

One basin program The one basin program brings people with competing interests, who speak different languages, and have diverse backgrounds together to find equitable, workable, effective solutions to address water challenges in The Colorado river basin. The goal of The program is that The Colorado river is managed in a more holistic, inclusive, and adaptive fashion to benefit communities and wildlife. 1. Submitted scoping comments on draft supplemental environmental impact statement (seis) 2. Submitted joint comments on seis' alternatives impact on delta 3. Gained preliminary support from us federal officials for an endowment for The Colorado river delta 4. Launched tribal water manager's network 5. Submitted scoping comments on post-2026 operating guidelines for The Colorado river 6. Hosted workshop to review The water & tribes initiative capacity assessment findings and prioritize capacity building assistance to tribes 7. Produced methodology and template for collecting data and reporting on community benefits of restoration