As part of year-long celebrations of the National Park Service Centennial, the Sierra Club is working with local communities on trail projects to connect people with nature, particularly in urban areas. There are nine projects in seven locations across the United States. Follow our multi-part series as we interview project leaders to learn more about how the projects are helping people unplug and experience nature nearby.
Part 2: Meet Jennifer Martin with the Arizona Water Sentinels Program working in Phoenix, AZ.
Project: Ecological restoration and outdoor recreation in South Phoenix to help heal both a natural world and community from decades of pollution and environmental injustice.
First, paint us a picture of your community. Where is it? What’s it like?
The Rio Salado Habitat Restoration (RSHR) area is located in South Phoenix, an environmentally and economically neglected area. Historical refuse dumping, past and current industrial activity and litter, and the seeds of invasive landscaping plants washing in with every storm impact both the river and the surrounding community. This community is plagued by high unemployment, underfunded schools, and a paucity of opportunities to connect with nature. The community is blessed with rich cultural diversity, amenities such as the Rio Salado and South Mountain, and community organizations such as the Sierra Club Water Sentinels program working to make South Phoenix a better place to live and recreate.
How do community members connect with each other? Do they connect with nature?
Community members primarily connect through family, school, and church relationships. Opportunities to connect with nature have historically been quite limited in South Phoenix, so in addition to providing new opportunities through the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area, outreach is needed to build knowledge and appreciation of the area and of getting outdoors.
What have been some of the barriers that prevent or discourage people in the area from spending time outside?
Prior to the establishment of the Restoration Area, a primary barrier would have been lack of access to open space and attractive outdoor opportunities in South Phoenix. Neighborhoods are reflective of the high poverty rate in this community, and are interspersed with industrial zones, including historically contaminated sites. Now that the Restoration Area is providing a place for local residents to experience nature and get outside, a barrier is lack of knowledge of the area, what it offers, and of the value of spending time in nature. We have frequently heard neighborhood youth say, “I didn’t know there was wildlife in Phoenix.”
Tell us about your work with the trail project. What do you have planned and how will it help area residents experience the outdoors?
We are providing monthly events on the RSHRA, removing trash and invasive, non-native plant species, and revegetating the corridor with native species such as cottonwoods. By restoring the riparian habitat, maintaining a robust trail system, and providing outreach to engage the local community both in ecological restoration and outdoor recreation, Sierra Club is helping to heal both an ecosystem and a community from decades of pollution and neglect.
We are also in the process of creating murals on the pillars under an overpass known as the Seventh Street Bridge. Trails that parallel the Salt River in South Phoenix periodically encounter street overpasses, which can feel less inviting than the surrounding trails. We partnered with local high school Phoenix Collegiate Academy and South Mountain Community College for the mural project. Presentations on the Rio Salado were given to five high school classes. Teams of five to eight high school students then created images inspired by the presentation, and three were selected to be painted on the pillars. Wiley Wallace is an art professor with South Mountain Community College and an experienced mural artist. He helped prepare the pillars and provided guidance about how to conduct the actual painting of the pillars.
We are now in the process of working with the high school students and the broader community to paint the pillars. This portion of the project is successfully engaging local youth in conservation, building broad community partnerships, beautifying the trail system and encouraging its use, and promoting conservation.
We recently planted 40 cottonwood trees along the same segment of trail. After months of removing invasive, non-native vegetation from the riverbed that crowds out native plants and sucks the river dry, we planted native cottonwood trees to create wildlife habitat, beautify the trail, and build a sense of investment in the project by engaging the local community.
We continue to remove trash and invasive species from the trails on a monthly basis to maintain the trail system and ensure that the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area continues to provide residents of South Phoenix with a healthy and beautiful opportunity to experience nature.
In your time working on this project, is there one moment that stands out for you that really illustrates the value of providing new outdoor opportunities?
One morning on the Rio I took a moment away from the hustle and bustle of coordinating the event to watch an elderly woman and a high-school freshman, both from South Phoenix but until that morning strangers to one another, stand side-by-side painting an image the student had helped create onto a pillar under the 7th Street Bridge. The image had a “before and after” theme, with half of the pillar showing a river with tires, oily pollutants in the water and dead fish lying around, and other side showing the river post-restoration, with native plants and clean water. The elderly woman looked down at the youngster and said, “I have never painted anything in my life!” and sounded delighted. The girl said, “Me neither!” and they both laughed. We planned the process such that one need not be an artist to contribute, and as I watched them I saw that the mural was turning out beautifully, and part of their laughter was because they couldn’t believe they were creating something that looked so professional. As I walked away to get back to running the event I could hear that the ice had been broken and they had begun to chat about how neither of them had ever been to the Rio Salado before either. Bringing together people of all generations around art and conservation was the concept when we planned the project, but to feel their delight as they connected to one another through the experience they were sharing made me realize that the greatest value of what we do is sometimes in these intangible moments that pass between two people.
This year we’re celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service, but as we look ahead to the next century, what do you hope to see when it comes to our public lands?
My hope for our public lands is that rather than a battleground for political ideology, they are celebrated by all as the greatest treasure of our country. That way, we can all put our collective energies toward restoring and managing these lands, rather than constantly protecting them from being taken from the public trust. I hope that these lands provide opportunities for people of all ages, walks of life, and backgrounds, and that those who visit, enjoy, and care for our public lands are reflective of the diversity that is our country.