Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
ENVIRONMENT
Phoenix provides more than $1M to protect Valley water sources, Arizona forests
(SRP)
Forest thinning helps prevent wildfires and protects the Valley's water supply, Salt River Project officials said.
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Phoenix has joined with SRP in thinning Arizona forests to prevent wildfires that endanger watersheds serving the Valley.
The city has contributed more than $1 million to the Biomass Power Partnership to help pay for bioenergy that supports strategic thinning across the Salt River and Verde River watersheds, according to SRP.
“Joining with Salt River Project in this partnership is a crucial step towards protecting our forests and watersheds,” Phoenix Water Service Director Troy Hayes said.
“By investing in forest thinning projects and biomass power generation, we are not only mitigating the risk of catastrophic fires but also ensuring the sustainability and quality of our water supply.”
SRP signed an agreement with several municipalities to provide funding to extend a purchased power agreement with Novo BioPower in Snowflake that generates renewable bioenergy by processing the small trees that are removed through forest thinning projects in northern Arizona.
“This will help us to restore Arizona’s forests to a more natural condition to ensure SRP can continue to deliver reliable and affordable water,” Elvy Barton, SRP manager of water and forest sustainability, said.
A challenge to restoration efforts is finding marketable options “for the enormous amount of low-value, small ponderosa pine trees that are removed,” SRP officials stated in a release.
The Biomass Power Partnership provides each municipality with Renewable Energy Credits based on their contribution. In addition, each city will receive watershed restoration and carbon benefits and support almost 2,000 acres of strategic forest thinning every year, according to SRP.
The 10-year agreement is part of SRP’s sustainability goals “to protect the health of the watersheds through partnerships, education and support to thin 500,000 acres of unhealthy overgrown forested lands by 2035.”
Arizona forests are at a high risk of catastrophic fires that could significantly affect the watersheds that feed SRP’s reservoir system and provide water to the Valley, according to the utility.
“Wildfires degrade water quality, significantly increase water treatment costs and impact water system resiliency by filling reservoirs with debris and sediment. Strategic forest thinning projects in northern Arizona reduce this risk and also protect nearby communities and wildlife habitats.”
The Novo Biopower plant uses small trees from forest thinning, other non-marketable woody material such as branches that are left over from thinning operations and sawmill residues. SRP purchases enough energy from the plant to serve approximately 3,200 average residential homes in the Phoenix metropolitan area, according to the release.
SRP manages the water supply for much of the Valley – most of which comes from 8.3 million acres of land in northern Arizona.
Snowfall and rain provide the water that travels through the watershed into SRP reservoirs, which is then delivered to 2.5 million homes and businesses in the Phoenix metropolitan area via an extensive network of canals, SRP officials said.