This story was originally published by Reasons to be Cheerful
A pelican descends through a canopy of green cottonwood leaves. The frost-plumed bird lands upon an exposed sandbank in a thin ribbon of blue water flanked by lithe willows. Gorgeous as it is, this lush Sonoran Desert oasis is but a relic of a time when the water was much more than a sliver. Here, the once-mighty Colorado River swelled across the Fort Yuma Quechan Reservation, straddling California and Arizona near the U.S.–Mexico border.
Frank Venegas, the Quechan Tribe’s water technician, looks out on the river and shakes his head. He grew up fishing here with his uncles and laments not being able to do the same with his nephews. Now, not only has the water been reduced to a trickle through the reservation, but in many areas, just beyond this stretch of shoreline, invasive plants choke out river access.
The post ‘We Are the People of the River’ appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.
