ENV394-395

ENV 394: Internship: Riparian Area Restoration with Fred Phillips Consulting

Thank you for visiting my site! Please scroll down for photos of the Riparian Areas

This summer I had the unique fortune to be a part of a riparian zone restoration project in Yuma Arizona. A riparian area consists of the flanking vegetation zones on river and stream banks. The zones are considered important not only for habitat, but also for bank stabilization, and runoff filtration. I was accepted into a double internship position with the company Fred Phillips Consulting, which focused on large scale restoration and landscaping. I was to help with the restoration efforts, but also create the beginnings of an environmental education plan. Fred Phillips Consulting had been hired by the Yuma Crossing Heritage Area to restore and create a large wetland/ riparian area. The Yuma Crossing Heritage Area's slogan is "to conserve, enhance, and interpret the natural and cultural resources of the community through collaboration and partnerships. I was accepted into the program readily, but not given much more information than a start date, end date, location and the necessity of boots. I left Raleigh, North Carolina by car, taking almost a week to reach Arizona. Upon arrival, I met with Carol Chapman, the resident biologist and my new internship supervisor, who worked for Fred Phillips. I learned that an overzealous contractor had constructed a city park in the riparian zone that was almost three times the permitted area. Arizona’s wetland mitigation laws are much more severe than North Carolina’s, proven by the consequences of this mistake; a mitigation area consisting of a 1400 acre tract of land that embraced the Colorado River. This error positively resulted inthe creation of an expansive wilderness habitat. Primarily, the acreage was reforested with Sandbar Willow, Gooding Willow, Honey Mesquite, Screw Bean Mesquite and Freemont Cottonwood. This was one of the first projects of this scale that Fred Phillips Consulting had accepted, and much was trial and error. I assisted Carol Chapman in almost all of the company’s operations, which included tree planting, soil and water testing, flora species identification, bird surveys, and public relations between the city of Yuma and the local Native American tribes, the Cocopah and Quechan.

Yuma Arizona is located in the far southwest corner of the state, less than a half hour’s drive from the USA/ Mexico border. The land is arid, with less an average of four inches of rain all year. A common joke of the area is “we had a two inch rain!” meaning the few drops that made the journey to the ground drops were sparsely scattered two inches apart. From above, the landscape is a mixture of browns and reds save for an isolated section of sand dunes, the remnants of a land once near or under water. This dune field is famous for being the site of the now famous desert scene of the Mel Brooks picture, Spaceballs.

My internships with Fred Phillips Consulting under Ms. Chapman lasted for a period of six weeks. Having won the bid on the project, the company was put in charge of restoring or creating the riparian habitat along the shores of the Colorado River. The river stood as a dividing line not only between Arizona and California, but also between Yuma and the nearby Indian Reservation, the Quechan. This was the first large scale project for the budding firm, and many aspects of the project were new, having to be researched first. I played a large role in the identification of many local and invasive plants such as Tamarisk, and other flora species used to rid areas of salt. A large section of the given acreage was subject to one way water flow, similar to the Dead Sea, and had a thick crusty layer of salts on the soil surface. This area is still called Ibis Lake, even though the water body has all but dried up and no hint of an Ibis can be found. I mentioned to my supervisor that I knew of a certain genus of plant, Salicornia, which grew in the hyper-saline marshes in South Carolina near my aunt’s house. This plant thrived in the salty environment and was even being cultivated and harvested in many parts of the world as a gourmet salad crop, popularized by its nature of storing salt in its tissues. A member of this genus was observed by a local botanist in a nearby location. The saline levels were close to those found in Ibis Lake. Test plots are currently being planted to determine the effectiveness of the plant at facilitating removal of salt from Ibis Lake.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned during my internship was how to handle relationships during various levels of work related stress. Fred Phillips Consulting was working in conjunction with JSA, a local landscaping company, but through past experiences, the contractors of both companies were at odds, rather than working together. Temperatures could soar to 120 degrees during the day and no shade was around, since the acerage was mostly bulldozed in preparation for plantings so irritability in the field was prevalent.Meetings were often tense, since the two companies had different ideas regarding the restoration of riparian area. I managed, somewhat more successfully than my overseer, to effectively communicate our position to the landscapers without resorting to argument. Perhaps this was due to my age and newness to the project, but I nonetheless was able to get the two sides talking civilly to one another. A main cause of distaste for the consulting firm by the landscapers was a certain biologist who oversaw the progress of the landscape work. Rather than send in a weekly report form, she instead reported each problem she saw directly to the foreman of the landscapers. This was eventually viewed as nagging, resulting in bad feelings on the field towards our entire company.

Another source of personal tensions was the close proximity of the Quechan Native American tribe to the project. Each detail of the project was expected to be presented to the tribe in written and spoken form at the weekly tribal council. The tribe had attached responsibility of all aspects of the river to Fred Phillips himself. I attended several tribal councils, and witnessed Mr. Phillips being berated for actions he had no control over, or even anything to do with, such as the City of Yuma using Quechan iconography to decorate the park’s benches, or the repainting of the Ocean to Ocean Bridge, which spanned the Colorado River, and served as a major artery of traffic to the tribe’s casino. Mr. Phillips calmly apologized for everything and offered to see what he could do. He later explained to me that oftentimes in order to keep a project moving, you had to make sacrifices, and take abuse that was unwarranted. It seemed strange to me at the time, but because of his humility (he later said he wanted to lash out almost every time he had to go to Tribal Council) the project continued unobstructed, and as a bonus, we were able to hook our irrigation into the tribe’s water supply through the casino’s pipes.

Overall, during my six weeks assisting the Yuma riparian zone restoration project I learned more about real life situations and procedures than any amount of schooling could teach me. I couldn’t grasp the scope of an occupation just by reading about it. I had to dig holes, plant trees, learn 30+ bird calls of the area and even occasionally just float downstream on a raft to survey the area. This was the only way to fully experience life as an ecologist.

The Pilot Project site along the Colorado River

The Yuma West Wetlands Project site

Yuma East Wetlands Pilot Project and Ocean to Ocean Bridge

Various wildflowers sown by Fred Phillips Consulting, and a few that popped up on their own. Any unidentified specimens of flora found are cross referenced against various books of southwest invasive species, Fish and Game, and the Bureau of Land Management. Confirmed invasives are quickly removed. Many specimens remain unidentified, and stay under close watch.

Plant mixture sample from an irrigated field including the unidentified shrubby invasive from the chenopodiaceae, or goosefoot family. It is shown here with both green and red stems. This plant grew much faster than the planted mesquites, willows and cottonwood trees. It sucked most of the irrigation water from the desired plants, then shaded them out. Some specimens were over eight feet tall.

Natives struggling to keep ahead of the Chenopodiaceae.

Globemallow, a native with flowers about the size of a dime.

Surrounded wildflowers; Tamarisk and the goosefoot closing in fast.