By Brandon Loomis | The Arizona Republic
PALOMINAS – As cottonwood seeds drift on the breeze, seeking wet San Pedro River sand, the water trickles and pools but does not flow continuously across this ecologically critical oasis.
Where there’s no water, the seeds won’t germinate. This narrow ribbon of forest in southern Arizona will have to wait another year for a shot at renewal.
Drought and groundwater pumping for farms and homes around Sierra Vista are a threat to a federally protected conservation area straddling what many revere as the Southwest’s last free-flowing river.
“Every gallon of water that we pump is one gallon that would have eventually made it to the river system,” said Holly Richter, Arizona conservation director for the Nature Conservancy.
