About Us
Watershed Collaborative Teams
The Watershed Working Group and the Altar Valley Fire Management Group
About Us
Watershed Collaborative Teams
The Watershed Working Group and the Altar Valley Fire Management Group
The Alliance works with many partners on a variety of projects, both small and large. As some of the larger planning efforts have evolved over the years, dedicated collaborative teams have emerged. By having these teams convene on a regular basis, consistent attendance allows for problem solving to occur. While these teams often work with larger concepts, specific solutions often emerge for smaller, on-the-ground projects. Two of these teams are the Watershed Working Group and the Altar Valley Fire Management Group.
The Altar Valley Watershed Working Group was convened by the Alliance to work on the Altar Valley Watershed Plan. It is a watershed-based collaborative that brings together diverse partners to align resources, research and priority projects to improve the health of the Altar Valley watershed, located southwest of Tucson, Arizona. The Watershed Working Group is convened is facilitated by Southwest Decision Resources, a collaborative design and facilitation team.
The work done by the Watershed Working Group is steered by the Core Team, which coordinates and guides the watershed planning process. Members include AVCA, Pima County, Quiet Creek, and others.
There are also four technical teams that facilitate partner work on priority topics to collaboratively develop and implement the watershed plan. They are:
Hydrology, co-convened by Pima County Regional Flood Control District and JE Fuller
Vegetation, co-convened by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management and National Resources Conservation Service
Wildlife, co-convened by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Pima County Natural Resources, Parks & Recreation
Community, co-convened by the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance and The Nature Conservancy
Altar Valley Fire Management Group
In December 2012, the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance coordinated the first Altar Valley Fire Meeting. This meeting was in response to a wildfire season that had logistical frustrations on the ground, along with questions about how to implement prescribed fire. Since that first meeting in 2012, the Fire Management group has met twice a year.
The group engaged in these meetings is directly responsible for the implementation of prescribed fires in the Altar Valley that have occured since 2014. Having all of these key players in the same room twice a year has allowed for direct conversations that have created cross-agency cooperation, and direct paths to solutions that benefit the landscape on both private and public lands.