- On the lands of the Cocopah Tribe in the U.S. state of Arizona, declining water levels on the Colorado River have paved the way for invasive plants to take over a riverside once full of native trees.
- Native vegetation along the river not only provides habitat for wildlife but also has shaped Cocopah culture by providing resources to build homes, art and other items.
- This year, the Cocopah Tribe’s Environment Protection Office cut the ribbon on a project to restore land along the river to what it looked like decades ago, complete with a walking trail.
- For 2024, the tribe plans to use $5.5 million in grant funding to restore habitat and plant native trees along an even longer stretch of the river, helping to preserve Cocopah culture for generations to come.
In the southwesternmost corner of Arizona, the Colorado River weaves in between Mexico and the lands of the Native American Cocopah Tribe.
Many spots along the river’s shore are lined with dense thickets of invasive reeds called phragmites that surpass 3 meters (9.8 feet) in height. With rigid, green stems and feathery heads standing high, it’s difficult to see across to the other side of the waterway. However, a 3-hectare (7-acre) stretch on the North Cocopah Reservation is nearly free of the reeds.
Instead, it’s surrounded by a mix of cottonwoods (Populus), willows (Salix) and mesquites (Prosopis). Those are trees that Joe Rodriquez, a member of the Cocopah Tribe and the manager of the Cocpaph Museum and Cultural Center, remembers seeing along the river, growing up in the 1970s.
Rodriquez recalls playing with his friends barefoot in the sand during summers and running underneath large mesquite trees for shade.
“We picked the closest tree to run to because the ground was so hot. That’s when we grew up. We ran, we swam, we climbed trees,” he said.
On Earth Day last April, the tribe’s Environmental Protection Office cut the ribbon on its two-year project to clear invasive reeds and plant more than 1,000 native trees — restoring the riverside to what it looked like decades ago. After opening remarks, tribal members explored the restoration site complete with a 1.6 kilometer (1-mile) walking trail, a labyrinth and rocks to sit on and reflect.
The name of the trail, “Final Keepers of the River,” is a fitting one, says Environmental Protection Office director Jen Alspach, who’s not a member of the tribe. As the last Native American tribe on the Colorado River before it flows into Mexico after passing through seven states the Cocopah serve as the river’s caretakers.
