1/28/2026: Get to Know Your San Pedro: Home to a Rare Sky Island Habitat by Melissa Crytzer Fry, The San Manuel Miner (p. 16)
Because mountains are abundant in Arizona, it’s easy to take them for granted. Residents within the Tri-Community can look east to our very own Galiuro Mountains, west to the Santa Catalinas or north to the Pinal Mountains. Known as sky islands, these craggy local landmarks may feel commonplace to us – we see them every day – but they are rare worldwide. Read more...
1/5/2026: EPA’s Proposed Rule to Redefine “Waters of the United States”
On Jan. 5 LSPWA submitted formal comments to a proposed rule that would further weaken Clean Water Act protections essential to the health of Arizona’s waterways and would place the Lower San Pedro Watershed at significant risk. Read PDF...
12/31/2025: Get to Know the San Pedro: Rare Riparian Areas – the San Pedro Valley Boasts Three by Melissa Crytzer Fry, The San Manuel Miner (front & last pages)
Those unspooling ribbons of green edging the San Pedro River? Most of us take them for granted, but these lush, vegetated areas alongside rivers and streams are called riparian zones. They stabilize banks, filter pollutants, and provide critical habitat for diverse wildlife. Read more...
12/18/2025: Hidden Gems: Meet Melissa Crytzer Fry of Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance Voyage Phoenix
I never dreamed, at 53, I would be committing my time to fighting for the wildlife and wild areas of Arizona that I cherish. When I moved from downtown Phoenix to the San Pedro Valley in Pinal County, I became enchanted with this portion of the desert’s lush riparian area and its thick, carbon-capturing mesquite bosque along the river. Read More...
12/10/2025: Following Teeth Marks: How Volunteers Are Tracking Beavers on the San Pedro River by Carolina Cuellar, AZ Luminaria
A rare daytime sighting thrills volunteers surveying the binational waterway once known as “Beaver River,” but the data points to a troubling decline. Read more...
11/5/2025: Get to Know Your San Pedro: BioBlitz on the San Pedro by Melissa Crytzer Fry, The San Manuel Miner
Collect nature data with neighbors or just explore during Nov.–Dec. Tri-Community Bioblitz, Survey, Bird Walks. Read more...
10/29/2025: Redhawk Sidesteps Community Dialogue Op Ed by Emily Duwel, The San Manuel Miner
While I was unable to attend Redhawk’s latest sideshow at the San Manuel Community Center...from colleagues at the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance, I understand that little has changed about the format or content to allow for a “robust public consultation process.” And that is the point, or rather one of several points that need to be made. Read more...
10/22/2025: Opposition to Redhawk and BLM Activities Continues and is Robust Op Ed by Craig Anderson, The San Manuel Miner
There is another story to be told besides the recent cut and paste, sanitizied infomercial about the Redhawk open house. The story: a Tribal Community, various conservation groups and an increasing number of residents of the Lower San Pedro Watershed continue to vigorously oppose the activities of Redhawk and the Bureau of Land Management, on ethical, legal and moral grounds. Read more...
8/8/2025: Mining project near San Pedro River moves forward, despite concerns over water, wildlife, and tribal sites by Justin Hobbs, ABC15 Arizona
A controversial mining exploration project is moving forward near the San Pedro River, despite growing concern from nearby residents, environmental groups, and tribal leaders who say their voices are being ignored. The Bureau of Land Management recently approved a plan by Redhawk Copper — the U.S. arm of Canadian-based Faraday Copper — to disturb eight acres of public land near the town of Mammoth to allow up to 67 exploratory drilling sites. Read or listen to more...
8/6/2025: 'It's insulting': Feds decline to review approval of drilling at planned copper mine by John Leos, The Arizona Republic
In the vast expanse between the Galiuro and Catalina Mountains, where the flowing San Pedro River provides a lifeline for migratory birds and endangered fish, a large-scale mining project is one step closer to being realized despite concerns from environmental groups and a tribal government. Read more...
8/5/2025: Copper Mines Close in on Western Apache Sacred Site, and the Forest Protected to Mitigate The Damage by Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News
To offset Resolution Copper’s impacts on the hallowed ground of Oak Flat, the federal government will take possession of a rare old-growth mesquite forest. But it already approved exploratory drilling for another mine nearby. Read more...
7/31/2025: Conservation groups challenge BLM approval of Copper Creek Mine in Pinal County by Katya Mendoza, Arizona Public Media
Tribes, environmental activists say that the agency lacked sufficient tribal consultation, ignored public input. Environmental groups are urging the Bureau of Land Management to redo an environmental assessment for the Copper Creek Exploration Project near Mammoth, Arizona. Read more...
7/31/2025: Environmentalists, tribes ask BLM to reconsider southern Arizona mining project by Alisa Reznick, KJZZ Phoenix
Tribes, environmental activists say that the agency lacked sufficient tribal consultation, ignored public input. Environmental groups are urging the Bureau of Land Management to redo an environmental assessment for the Copper Creek Exploration Project near Mammoth, Arizona. Read or listen to more...
5/8/2025: In Southern Arizona, Community Opposition to Mining Grows in Towns That Once Depended on the Industry by Wyatt Myskow and Yana Kunichoff, Inside Climate News
A rush of proposals to mine the state’s famed “sky islands” with water drawn from overtaxed aquifers is drawing opposition from people who know the industry’s boom and bust cycles. Drought and ever-diminishing water stores, along with the mining industry's infamous "boom-and-bust cycles," are prompting even former miners to question the wisdom of Faraday/Redhawk's proposed copper-mining scheme on Copper Creek. Read more...
3/6/2025: Will Mining Rob the San Pedro and Residents of Water Op ed by Melissa Crytzer, The San Manuel Miner
Our neighbors in Mexico living along the southernmost stretch of the San Pedro River are facing nightmarish challenges. Ranchers' and residents' wells have run dry. Aquifers are tapped out. The subflow beneath their river has tapped out. Read more...
3/26/2025: Will Mining Rob the San Pedro and Residents of Water Op Ed by Melissa Crytzer Fry, The San Manuel Miner
Current LSPWA board president talks to geo-hydrologist Chris Eastoe of the Cascabel Conservation Association for her guest editorial exposing the danger posed by large-scale industrial mining to the San Pedro aquifer. Read more...
3/24/2025: Copper Creek mine foes say project would disrupt San Pedro River conservation by John Leos, The Arizona Republic
In an article exploring both sides of the Faraday Copper/Redhawk Exploration Project, Board member Cathy Gorman makes an important point regarding how the historic protection of the San Pedro watershed has long served to offset environmental degradation elsewhere in the state. Read more...
3/18/2025: Protect the San Pedro Op Ed by Kimberly Schmitz, The San Manuel Miner
A Magma Copper Mine miner's daughter, who grew up in Superior and San Manuel, talks about why it is important to protect the San Pedro from being destroyed. Read more...
3/7/2025: BLM opens Environmental Assessment for Copper Creek Mine Project to public comment by Katya Mendoza, Arizona Public Media
An Ecoflight survey of the Lower San Pedro Watershed captures industrial incursions into a pristine and unique wilderness made up of "55 mountain islands surrounded by desert and grassland seas," along with "7,000 species of plants and animals." Public concerns are addressed about Faraday/Redhawk Exploration's plans to develop mining on Copper Creek, an uphill tributary of the San Pedro, as well as the Bureau of Land Management's related Draft Environmental Assessment. Read more...
Threats to the Lower San Pedro (Watershed) Op Ed by Craig Anderson, Copper Area News, 3/5/2025
A local tri-community resident explains why community members who are rightfully concerned about "dry wells, contaminated water, hazardous air quality, decreased property values and possibly unsellable property"—in the face of the proposed Copper Creek mining scheme—should not be branded as NIMBY (or not-in-my-backyard) extremists. Read more...
3/3/2025: Proposed mine threatens San Pedro River, Aravaipa Canyon Local opinion by Russ McSpadden. Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Several months ago, I checked one of my trail cameras in a canyon within the San Pedro River watershed and was stunned by what I saw: an endangered ocelot drinking from a spring, luminous even in the grainy nighttime footage. The sighting confirmed what conservationists, biologists and locals have long known: The San Pedro and its surrounding wildlands — from the Sky Islands at the border to the Galiuro Mountains and Aravaipa Canyon further north — make up one of the most biologically rich landscapes left in the American Southwest. It’s also under assault. Read more...
2/19/2025: Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance Addresses Threats to the San Pedro by T.C. Brown, Copper Area News
In a recap of our Feb. 11 Public Meeting in Mammoth, T.C. Brown breaks down the major issues addressed by speakers. Among topics covered are the need to protect the San Pedro's unfragmented wilderness from over-development, how industrial mining will impact the watershed's underlying geo-hydrology, and how communities can advocate to hold governments and industries to account. Read more...
2/13/2025: Community concerned about future of San Pedro Watershed environment ABC15 News
Check out ABC15 News's coverage of our Feb. 11 Public Meeting in Mammoth. Talking before a packed house, LSPWA Board Members and representatives from partner organizations spoke out about the dire need to protect one of the nation's most unique riparian ecosystems from industrial devastation. Watch the show...
Did you miss the meeting? You can also watch speakers' video clips or read the press release to learn more.
12/4/2024: Redhawk Open House Fails to Provide True Community Engagement Op Ed By Melissa Crytzer Fry, The San Manuel Miner
Redhawk Exploration is called out for sidestepping crucial public concerns when it comes to ensuring future community water availability and the protection of the San Pedro's vital riparian ecosystem. Read more...
LSPWA and the Cascabel Conservation Association jointly submitted comments to the Air Force on its intended use of ecologically rare and pristine wilderness areas along the San Pedro River and on nearby Tribal Nation lands, for daily training sorties involving supersonic military aircraft. Read...
9/21/2024: Sonora ranchers warn imperiled San Pedro aquifer will impact Arizona, too by Emily Bregel, Arizona Daily Star
Learn how the aquifer that supplies the San Pedro River's headwaters in Sonora, Mexico, is being over-pumped by mining and how ranchers there are sounding the alarm. Read more...
9/9/24: Potential copper mine in Mammoth raising concerns for some residents ABC15 News
As the demand for copper goes up in the country, more mining operations in the Copper State are likely on the way. Catch an interview with LSPWA Board Chair Peter Else, in which he talks about how a proposed mine along Copper Creek could irreparably harm its distributary, the San Pedro River. Read more...
8/9/2024: Arizona’s groundwater laws mean proposed copper mine near Mammoth could pump unlimited water Op Ed by Melissa Crytzer Fry and Steve Fry, Arizona Luminaria and Inside Climate News
Invaluable maps and insights are shared with Arizona Luminaria and Inside Climate News, for their collaborative investigation into how the proposed Copper Creek Mine could end up imperiling both the city's water supply and the Lower San Pedro River Watershed. Read more...
12/1/2025: The wealthy profit from public lands, and taxpayers pick up the tab. Roughly two-thirds of grazing on Bureau of Land Management land is controlled by just 10% of permit holders. High Country News
12/31/2025: The Mirage of Assured Water in Arizona Local Opinion by Rusty Childress to the Arizona Daily Star
12/26/2025: A Top Source of Lead Pollution Faced Tighter Rules. Then Trump Intervened. The New York Times (Miami, AZ Smelter)
10/20/2025: From Utah to China, Where in the World Could Arizona Copper Sitting Under an Apache Holy Site Go? KJZZ Phoenix
11/18/25: Trump Administration Moves to Weaken Federal Protections for Waterways and Wetlands CTNewsJunkie.com
11/14/2025: Interior Department lists copper on the critical minerals list U.S. Geological Survey
Undated: Town of Kearny facing dry wells. ASARCO gets first dibs on water. Town of Kearny Arizona Communication Plan (PDF)
4/19/24: Why LSPWA changed its Mission after recent SunZia court loss
4/18/2022: San Pedro River Named Among America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2022
12/15/2022: Documents Challenging SunZia Submitted
2022: Enjoy two books about the San Pedro River Valley
2/11/2022: Conservation Challenges in the Lower San Pedro Watershed
7/16/2021: SunZia's transmission line plan would harm San Pedro River ecosystem, bird routes Op Ed by LSPWA chair Peter Else, Arizona Daily Star
3/12/2019: Updates on LSPWA for Early 2019 — Mar 12, 2019 11:24:28 PM
3/9/2019: Alex reports on Wildlife Monitoring
2/6/2018: 2017 Update from the Officers of the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance
3/8/2016: Comments Submitted on Ray Mine Tailings Proposal
2/16/2015: Winter Meeting, March 2nd at Oracle State Park
10/27/2013: Meader Releases New Paper on Water Usage by Mesquite
10/15/2009: Summer Meeting of the LSPWA
10/15/2009: Scenario Planning for Climate Change