Let's restore the Colorado River Delta

In the spring of 2025, the Pronatura Noroeste team —made up of Eng. Francisco Castillo from the Restoration department; Moises Arano, Manuel Meza, Simón Tapia, and Ángel Bazquez from the restoration brigade; I.A. Elizabeth Torres, Psych. Gabriela Chávez, and Lic. Yuliana Dimas from the community engagement team— together with María and Erika Leyva, horticulture students from the State University of Sonora, facilitated a collaboration with Professor Ted Martinez and his group of students from Northern Arizona University, who visited the Colorado River Delta on April 12, 2025.

The Pronatura Noroeste team guided the volunteers to showcase the restoration efforts in the Colorado River border area. It’s worth noting that the partnership with NAU has been ongoing in the Delta since 2005. Visitors have provided significant support to restoration site activities: helping build nurseries, producing native plants, weeding in the pollinator garden and at the Janitzio Restoration Site, reforesting the Miguel Alemán Restoration Site, and engaging in community work in the Mexican section of the Colorado River.

This collaboration with NAU serves as a binational example of the commitment shown by university programs—such as the Honors Program and Grand Canyon Semester—to help students gain a deeper understanding of the Colorado River Basin, especially in the context of Mexico.

During the visit with Ted and his students to the Janitzio Restoration Site, they removed non-native plants to improve conditions for reforested trees, produced 40 native trees, which were then taken to the Miguel Alemán Restoration Site nursery. The visit concluded with a guided tour by Eng. Juan José Ríosmoreno from the International Boundary and Water Commission at the Morelos Diversion Dam. The group learned about the delivery point of Colorado River water to Mexico, explored the interior facilities, received an explanation of hydrometry systems, and toured the north and east dam sections for aquatic bird identification.

Thanks for your support. We will continue welcoming groups of visitors interested in learning more about the Colorado River, its main challenges, and the actions they can take to support nature.