Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)

The Water Quality Division of ADEQ is responsible for carrying out the mandates of the Arizona Environmental Quality Act (EQA), the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).  These regulations require the State to establish water quality standards for aquifers and surface waters, conduct water quality monitoring and assessments, develop total maximum daily load studies on impaired water bodies, and develop watershed plans with local stakeholders—aimed at improving water quality through both permitted and voluntary programs.  The Division's compliance section provides technical assistance, inspections of both wastewater and drinking water facilities, permit compliance oversight to ensure proper discharge, disposal and/or reuse of wastewater, and ensures the safe provision of drinking water.

Arizona Department of Water Resources

The Arizona Department of Water Resources works to secure long-term dependable water supplies for Arizona's communities.  The Department administers and enforces Arizona’s groundwater code and surface water rights laws (except those related to water quality); negotiates with external political entities to protect Arizona's Colorado River water supply; oversees the use of surface and groundwater resources under State jurisdiction; and represents Arizona in discussions of water rights with the federal government.  Department staff also explores methods of augmenting water supplies to meet future demands, and develops policies that promote conservation and equitable distribution of water.

Arizona Game and Fish

The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s mission is to conserve, enhance and restore Arizona's diverse wildlife resources and habitats through aggressive protection and management programs; and to provide wildlife resources, safe watercraft and off-highway vehicle recreation for the enjoyment, appreciation and use by present and future generations.

Arizona State Land Department

The mission of the Arizona State Land Department is to manage State Trust lands and resources to enhance value and optimize economic return for the Trust beneficiaries, consistent with sound stewardship, conservation, and business management principles; and to manage and support resource conservation programs for the well-being of the public and the State's natural environment.  State Trust land is distinguished from public lands (such as parks or national forests) because all uses of the land must benefit the fourteen trust beneficiaries.  Congress, in granting the State Trust land, recognized the value of the land and the importance of providing support to the public schools and public institutions.  The Common Schools (K-12) are the largest beneficiary, owning approximately 87% of the land, and receiving approximately 90% of the revenue.  Other beneficiaries include the University of Arizona, military institutes, the School of Mines, and the School for the Deaf and Blind.

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for managing 262 million acres of land—approximately one-eighth of the land in the United States—and approximately 300 million additional acres of subsurface mineral resources.  The BLM is also responsible for wildfire management and suppression on 388 million acres.  Most of the lands the BLM manages are located in the western United States, including Alaska, and are dominated by extensive grasslands, forests, high mountains, arctic tundra, and deserts.  The BLM manages a wide variety of resources and uses—including energy and minerals; timber; forage; wild horse and burro populations; fish and wildlife habitat; wilderness areas; archaeological, paleontological and historical sites; and other natural heritage values.

Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation is known for the dams, power plants and canals it has constructed in the 17 western states.  Today, its mission is to assist in meeting increasing water demands, while protecting the environment and the public's investment.  Reclamation places great emphasis on developing partnerships with local entities, towns, cities, counties, states, and Indian Tribes to help accomplish its mission of managing, developing and protecting water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. 

Reclamation is a contemporary water management agency with extensive engineering experience and skills including hydrology, environmental analysis, water quality, water treatment, water conservation, water reuse, construction and water resource management. Reclamation is the largest wholesale water supplier and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States, with operations and facilities in the 17 western states.  Its facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits.

City of Flagstaff

Flagstaff, Arizona is located at the intersection of Interstate 17 and Interstate 40, and is the largest city in northern Arizona.  Flagstaff is considered the regional center within Coconino County and covers just over 64 square miles.  The city is nestled at the base of the San Francisco Peaks and is surrounded by one of the largest pine forests on earth.  Designated as a town in 1894, and becoming an incorporated city in 1928, Flagstaff drew its name from a very tall pine tree made into a flagpole in 1876 to celebrate our nation’s centennial. 

At an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet, Flagstaff is also one of the highest cities in the United States.  The city is a year-round mecca for visitors and many Arizonans maintain second homes here.  Flagstaff is a community rich with cultural diversity, beauty and history, as well as amazing educational, recreational and scientific opportunities.  

City of Page

The City of Page is one of the youngest communities in the United States.  Located in northeastern Arizona, on the southern shores of Lake Powell, Page is approximately five hours north of Phoenix and five hours east of Las Vegas.  Page originated in 1957 as a housing camp for workers building the Glen Canyon Dam.  In 1958, approximately 24 square miles of Navajo land were exchanged for a larger tract in Utah, and “Government Camp” (later named Page in honor of Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John C. Page) was born.

City of Sedona

The City of Sedona was incorporated in 1988 and is one of Arizona’s premier tourism, recreation, resort, retirement, and art centers; all of which contribute to its economic base.

Located in the high southwestern desert, under the rim of the Colorado Plateau, at an elevation of 4,500 feet, it is blessed with four mild seasons, plenty of sunshine and clean air.  The citizens of Sedona are proud of their beautiful environment and work diligently to preserve its uniqueness and special qualities.  Central to this effort is achievement through volunteerism, and an interest in controlling its own destiny through participation in city government.

City of Williams

Williams is located in the heart of the Kaibab National Forest at an elevation of 6,770 feet.  Founded in 1880, Williams was named for the famous trapper, scout and mountain man, “Old Bill Williams”.  The large mountain directly south of town is named Bill Williams Mountain.  Also known as the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon”, Williams was the last town in the United States located on Historic Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40 (on October 13, 1984).  The community continues to thrive on tourism and boasts seven area fishing lakes; hiking trails up Bill Williams Mountain and down Sycamore Canyon; an alpine ski area and cross country ski trails; four seasons weather; and an abundance of wildlife.  The Historic Downtown District covers six square blocks and includes the Grand Canyon Railway Depot and Hotel.  The town boasts a rich heritage that features the Old West and Route 66, and the town's heyday years of the '50s and '60s.

Coconino County

Coconino County is the second largest county in the United States, second only in size to San Bernardino County, California.  Carved out of Yavapai County in 1891, it encompasses 18,608 square miles and is one of the most sparsely populated counties—with 38% Indian Reservation land (home to Navajo, Hopi, Paiute, Havasupai and Hualapai tribes), 32% U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land, 10% State land, 7% other public land, and 13% private land.  In 1891, the population of Coconino County was 4,000; it is currently over 132,000.    

Major cities in the County include Flagstaff, the County seat and largest city; Williams; Sedona and Page.  Other populated areas include the Town of Fredonia, located on the northern border between Arizona and Utah; Valle and Tusayan, located just south of Grand Canyon National park; and various communities on the reservations, with Tuba City being the largest.

Our most famous attraction is Grand Canyon National Park.  Visitation to the park has grown from 44,173 visitors in 1919 to over 5 million annually.  Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona offer beautiful red rock canyon views; high cliffs and trout streams; and a haven for artists and craftsmen.  The San Francisco Peaks, at an elevation of 12,633 feet, are the highest point in Arizona.  Lake Powell, created by the Glen Canyon Dam, is 188 miles long with over 1,900 miles of shoreline.  The City of Page, which overlooks Lake Powell, is home to the John Wesley Powell Museum and features a complete history of the area.

Doney Park Water Company (representing private water companies)

Doney Park Water is a public service non-profit corporation and member-owned cooperative that is regulated by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Arizona Corporation Commission.  Serving a 44 square mile area northeast of Flagstaff, Doney Park Water currently provides water to over 3,000 households and businesses, with seven wells situated throughout our service area.  A major source of water is the Coconino Aquifer, which is at an approximate depth of 1,700 feet.  Our water is considered hard, ranging from 11.1 to 15.6 grains per gallon, depending on where our customers live within the distribution system.  Doney Park Water does not soften the water or use additives; however the water lines are chlorinated periodically.  A water quality report, which provides a detailed description of the quality and content of our water, is distributed annually to our members.

Grand Canyon National Park

On February 26, 1919, Congress designated the Grand Canyon area as Grand Canyon Park, which operates under the direction of the National Park Service.  The park is dominated by the spectacular Grand Canyon, a twisting, 1 mile deep and 277 mile long gorge, formed during some six million years of geological activity and erosion by the Colorado River on the upraised earth's crust.  The river divides the park into the North Rim and South Rim, which overlook the 10 mile wide canyon.  The buttes, spires, mesas and temples in the canyon are in fact mountains looked down upon from the rims.  On-going erosion by the seasonal and permanent rivers produces impressive waterfalls and rapids of washed-down boulders along the length of the canyon and its tributaries. There are over 100 named rapids throughout the Canyon. 

Grand Canyon Trust

The Grand Canyon Trust is a regional, non-profit conservation organization that advocates collaborative, common sense solutions to the significant problems affecting the region’s natural resources.  Our work is focused in the greater Grand Canyon region of northern Arizona, and in the forests and red rock country of central and southern Utah.  The work of the Grand Canyon Trust is currently focused in eight areas: air quality and energy; forests; landscape protection; restoration; water; volunteer; spatial analysis and Native America.  The Trust’s rangeland restoration program will expand significantly with the acquisition of the Kane Ranch and Two-Mile Ranches on the Grand Canyon’s north rim.

Havasupai Tribe

Havasuw `Baaja, the people of the blue green waters, are the traditional guardians of the Grand Canyon.  Related to the Yuman, the Havasupai have, from the beginning, inhabited the Grand Canyon and its environs.  In 1919, with the establishment of the Grand Canyon National Park, the Tribe was restricted to 518 acres—a side canyon which was 5 miles wide and 12 miles long.  188,077 acres of their former homelands have since been returned to the Tribe, and this land makes up the current Reservation.  The closest community to the Reservation is Peach Springs, 64 miles southwest of Hualapai Hilltop.

The population of the Havasupai Tribe is 639, with a median age of 24.8 years.  Most community members live in Supai Village and are employed by the Tribe, working primarily in the tourism industry.  Access to this remote area is by foot or horseback via an eight mile trail to Supai Village.

Hopi Tribe

The Hopi Reservation, located in northeastern Arizona, occupies part of Navajo and Coconino counties and encompasses approximately 1,542,306 acres.  Having inhabited this high and dry area since the 12th century, the Hopi have developed a unique agriculture practice known as “dry farming”.  Instead of plowing their fields, traditional Hopi farmers place “wind breakers” at selected intervals in the fields to retain soil, snow and moisture.  They also have perfected special techniques to plant seeds in arid fields, allowing them to successfully raise corn, beans, squash, melons and other crops in a landscape that appears inhospitable to farming.  

Throughout the Hopi Reservation, every village is an autonomous government.  However, the Hopi Tribal Council makes law for the tribe and sets policy to oversee tribal business.

Hualapai Tribe

Hwal`bay means “People of the Tall Pine”.  The Hualapai Reservation encompasses a million acres along 108 miles of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.  The Hwal`bay call this middle river corridor “Hakataya” or “the backbone of the river”.  Occupying part of three northern Arizona counties—Coconino, Yavapai and Mohave—the Reservation’s topography varies from rolling grassland to forest and the rugged canyons of the Colorado River.  Elevations range from 1,500 feet at the Colorado River, to over 7,300 feet at the highest point of the Aubrey Cliffs.  The population of the Hualapai Tribe is 1,532 and the median age is 23.6.  Tribal, public school, and state and federal governmental services provide the majority of full-time employment to community members.  The principal economic activities are tourism, cattle ranching, timber sales, and arts and crafts.

National Park Service

The National Park Service was created in 1916 “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”.  The national park system comprises 384 sites as diverse and far-flung as Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the Statue of Liberty National Monument.  The National Park Service supports the preservation of natural and historic places and promotes outdoor recreation outside the system, through a range of grant and technical assistance programs.  Major emphasis is placed on cooperation and partnerships with other government bodies, foundations, corporations, and other private parties, to protect the parks and other significant properties and to advance Park Service programs.

Natural Resource Conservation Districts

Natural Resource Conservation Districts (NRCDs) are political subdivisions of the Arizona State Land Department and work cooperatively with landowners and state and federal governments for conservation of land and water resources.  NRCDs create unique partnerships between federal, state and local agencies to address natural resource concerns—including watershed management, enhancement and restoration of riparian areas and integrated land use planning to improve water and air quality.  Many districts have established education centers to promote a balanced appreciation and awareness of Arizona’s environment, and to provide unbiased “hands-on” programs addressing local environmental issues that are practical and relevant.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Arizona Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with offices located throughout Arizona.  NRCS provides technical assistance to Arizona’s 41 conservation districts, which are legal subdivisions of the State or American Indian Nation government.  Conservation districts operate on the premise that local people know most about local needs, and they develop their own programs to address the resource problems within their boundaries.  The districts and NRCS are linked together by mutual conservation objectives as well as by legislation and formal agreements with the Secretary of Agriculture.  These agreements give NRCS the authority to provide one-on-one assistance to landowners on non-federal lands.  No other federal agency has such authority.

Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation covers approximately 27,000 square miles, or 17 million acres of land, occupying all of northeastern Arizona, and extending into Utah and New Mexico.  It is the largest Native American jurisdiction within the United States.  Members of the Nation are known as Navajo but refer to themselves as Diné in the Navajo language.  The 2000 census reported 298,215 Navajo people living throughout the United States, of which 173,987 were living within the Navajo Nation.  

Northern Arizona University

Northern Arizona University (NAU) boasts a student population of about 20,000 at its main campus in Flagstaff and 35 additional sites across the state.  With its solid reputation as a university with all the features of a large institution, but with a personal touch, NAU carefully balances teaching, scholarship and service with a faculty and staff dedicated to each student’s success.  The emphasis is on undergraduate education, but you’ll also find a wide range of graduate programs and research that extend to such national concerns as forest health and bioterrorism.  NAU has carefully integrated on-campus education with distance learning, forming seamless avenues for students to earn degrees.

San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe

The San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe is a small, newly recognized tribe of approximately 265 members, who have lived for the last several hundred years in territory east of the Grand Canyon, and bounded by the San Juan and Colorado Rivers—with the Navajo and Hopi Tribes as their neighbors.  They share a common heritage with the Southern Paiutes of northern Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California, and retain and maintain their native language, which is distinctly separate from their neighbors.  Tribal members reside in several distinct communities located on the Navajo Reservation, primarily in northern Arizona and southeastern Utah.  The largest of these communities are located at Willow Springs (near Tuba Cit) and at Navajo Mountain on the Arizona and Utah border.  Tribal members raise livestock and depend on subsistence farming for a small number of crops.  They are also known for their hand-woven traditional baskets, which utilize age-old weaving techniques.

The Nature Conservancy

For 40 years, The Nature Conservancy in Arizona has been working with local communities, businesses and individuals to protect natural places, providing hope for our land, our water, our way of life.  In Arizona, the Conservancy has helped protect more than 1.5 million acres.  Arizona's Conservation Science Program supports our mission through work in three areas: (1) conservation planning to identify the native systems and places needed to maintain the region’s biological diversity; (2) monitoring and research to understand how our ecological systems operate and to promote science-based adaptive management; and (3) development of scientific assessments to better understand land management needs. 

Tusayan

The community of Tusayan, which was homesteaded in April, 1920 by Forest Ranger George Reed, is located on Highway 64, one mile south of the southern entrance to Grand Canyon National Park.  Tusayan’s population varies slightly but averages around 550 residents, whose primary occupations include providing guest services to visitors in the areas of lodging, restaurants, groceries, fuel, gift shops, convenience store, internet cafes and the IMAX theater.  Recreation includes horseback riding, jeep and ATV tours, air tours, bowling, swimming, and easy access to the Kaibab National Forest.  The Grand Canyon National Park Airport, located ½ mile south of Tusayan, provides services for commercial, tour, private and military aircraft with a 9000’ runway.

Tusayan’s potable water is supplied from groundwater and supplemented by hauled water.  The South Grand Canyon Sanitary District processes 100% of the sanitary system inflow into class “A” reclaimed water, of which approximately 60% is reused on an annual basis through the double plumbing in commercial Tusayan establishments.  Tusayan’s facility was named the 2006 “Small Waste Water System of the Year” by the Arizona Small Utilities Association.  Water conservation is a way of life and daily household usage in many cases is less than 100 gallons per day.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

In Arizona, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s major responsibilities are for threatened and endangered species, migratory birds, freshwater fish, and wildlife habitat.  The Service is the principal federal agency working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American public.  In northern Arizona, the Service’s Ecological Services Flagstaff sub-office works with federal, state, tribal and private partners to minimize the effects of projects and activities on federally-listed species; and to promote recovery of these species by implementing recovery plans.  Staff also works closely with Arizona Game and Fish to conserve habitats for species that are candidates for federal listing, as a means to reduce the need to list these species in the future.  Through the Partners for Wildlife program, the Service provides monetary and technical support to private landowners seeking to improve wildlife habitat. 

U.S. Forest Service

Established in 1905, the Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands.  National forests and grasslands encompass 191 million acres of land, which is an area equivalent to the size of Texas. The job of Forest Service managers is to help people share and enjoy the forest, while conserving the environment for generations to come.

Coconino National Forest is one of 6 national forests in Arizona and is divided into 4 districts—Peaks, Mormon Lake, Red Rock and Mogollon Rim.  The Coconino is one of the most diverse national forests in the country, with landscapes ranging from the famous Red Rocks of Sedona to ponderosa pine forests, to alpine tundra.

Kaibab National Forest is also one of the 6 national forests in Arizona and is part of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the United States.  Bordering both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, the 1.6 million acres of the Kaibab has the distinction of being divided by one of nature's greatest attractions. Headquartered in Williams, Arizona, the South Kaibab covers 1,422 square miles and the North Kaibab stretches over 1,010 square miles.

U.S. Geological Survey

Created by an act of Congress in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stands as the sole science agency for the Department of the Interior.  USGS serves the nation as an independent fact-finding agency that collects, monitors and analyzes scientific data, and provides education about natural resource conditions, issues and problems.  Its diversity of scientific expertise enables USGS to carry out large-scale, multi-disciplinary investigations that build the base of knowledge about the Earth.  The diversity of scientific issues that demand attention has prompted USGS to focus its efforts into four major areas: natural hazards, resources, environment, and information and data management.  A team of USGS scientists is conducting hydrogeologic studies in the upper San Pedro basin to provide the scientific knowledge needed to ensure that water-resource plans are conducive to the sustainability of the resource.