Sierra Club Arizona Water Sentinels – Foundation Project

Arizona Water Sentinels is a program of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter. The Riester Foundation provides support for this citizen-science program which conducts restoration to improve wildlife habitats on the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration area; a seven-mile stretch of the Salt River in South Phoenix. Coordinating hundreds of volunteers every year to conduct river clean-ups, invasive species removal and native revegetation help wildlife and the river while connecting people to their local watershed and open space. Additionally, the Riester Foundation is supporting a native plant nursery for future habitat restoration efforts.

Water Sentinels is leading the way in restoration by propagating cottonwood and willow trees and developing best practices that can be used by other organizations. These efforts benefit more than 200 species of birds, numerous species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.