Create part-time flow in Sinclair Wash for people and nature

People love Frances Short Pond, Picture Canyon, the I-40 wetlands, and the two perennial streams on the Museum of Northern Arizona property. In all likelihood, these are the only publicly accessible perennial (year-long) waters that will ever exist within Flagstaff city limits. However, Friends of the Rio de Flag wants the City to make a flowing stream for part of the year in the lowest mile of Sinclair Wash (from Lone Tree Road to I-40) within a 65-acre canyon owned by the City and County (yellow polygon on the map). This is by far the best publicly-owned riparian area in Flagstaff. Its streamside trail is the crown jewel of the Flagstaff Urban Trails System (per Martin Ince, founder of the FUTS). In Spring 2025, Friends of the Rio is doing research (see the Map and enhance Flagstaff’s rare riparian woodlands tab) to provide hard data that the streamside woodlands here include the best cottonwoods, willows, and maples in Flagstaff. You can find photos and details of the canyon’s features in Friends of the Rio de Flag’s superb smartphone app.

Sadly, when the Army Corps of Engineers builds a 2-mile concrete tube that will dewater this mile of stream, that dewatering could wipe out our best riparian woodland. But the City can create new flows that would keep this riparian forest thriving. This mile of stream has never flowed all year long, and we are not asking for year-long flow. How can we provide part-year flow?

Answer: Flagstaff’s main reclaimed water line along Lone Tree Road could easily provide enough flow to sustain these riparian woodlands.

That flow could be on perhaps 15-30 days a year, with most flow on weekends or holidays when many people can enjoy it. The project would especially benefit the adjoining low-income Brannen Homes neighborhood, which abuts the entire south rim of the 65-acre project. All the land in the stream bottom and banks is owned by the City of Flagstaff or Coconino County Parks. Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, Sawmill (Archuleta) Park, and the Flagstaff Community Labyrinth sit atop the north cliff.

Potential partners: In early 2025, this project is not on the City’s to-do list, so we need to constructively engage the City as the most important partner by far. Other potential partners include Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, Coconino County Parks, Friends of Flagstaff’s Future (stream steward for the downstream half of this wash), REI (trail steward for the upstream half of this reach), Spring Hill Baptist Church, and Southside Community Association.

Side Note: This riparian area has two locally-rare willow species – one individual of each. The one young Goodding’s Willow is a fine native riparian tree, probably the only individual within 10 miles of Flagstaff. The mature and beautiful Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica) is native to Asia, but because each plant is unisex and has no sex partner nearby, it cannot produce invasive offspring. Let’s enjoy it! It is just right of center in the photo below.