The Economic Benefits Associated with a Healthy Colorado River Delta

"This is about preserving a heritage we all thought was gone forever; it is about commitment for the preservation of an essential life-supporting ecosystem... And it is about fostering hope for a more viable, sustainable future."

- Dr. Exequiel Ezcurra, Director of the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States and Sonoran Institute Board Member, from the foreword of the Sonoran Institute's publication, Conservation Priorities in the Colorado River Delta.

Friends,

For the past 10 years, the Sonoran Institute and our conservation partners have been working to restore one of North America's most valuable ecosystems: the Colorado River Delta. Years of massive upstream water diversions from the Colorado River have reduced what was once two million acres of wetlands and incredibly productive fisheries to less than 10 percent of its original size. But the Delta has proven to be surprisingly resilient and is still an important stopover for more than 300,000 migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway and crucial to the survival of several threatened and endangered species.

The livelihood and culture of indigenous communities on both sides of the border, especially the Cocopa in the U.S. and the Cucapá in Mexico, continue to be inextricably linked to the Colorado River and its Delta as they have been from time immemorial.  And as tenuous as the Colorado's connection to the Gulf of California has become, the limited freshwater it supplies is vital to the Gulf's fish nurseries, particularly for totoaba, shrimp, and corvina.

Stepping Up to Larger Scale Projects

Reversing decades of damage to the Delta takes time, but our work is gathering momentum. In the past six months we have doubled our program staff and grown out of our one-room office space. Now with seven full-time and three part-time employees, our Mexicali office has become one of the Institute's largest (see our related Meet Edith Santiago and Meet Team Delta stories below). Our work so far has focused on monitoring and small-scale restoration projects, working with local people to remove invasive species such as salt cedar and planting in its place bird-friendly native vegetation, such as willow and cottonwood trees. More communities are getting involved in these efforts. Students from four area high schools have joined our Adopt-a-River program, committing to spend time at least once a month for six months either monitoring vegetation and birds or cleaning up restoration sites.

"We've learned tremendous lessons over the past five years," says Francisco Zamora, director of the Institute's Upper Gulf Legacy Program. "We've gained experience through the smaller test projects, and now we've been able to secure funding to move onto larger-scale projects. It's great progress for the Sonoran Institute, but more importantly for the Delta communities and for the habitat there."

The Economic Benefits of a Healthy Delta

The key to any large-scale, long-term restoration strategy is to secure more water for the Delta. We have seen that relatively modest flows of freshwater can significantly advance the Delta's recovery, and we know that a healthier Delta will bring many important economic benefits to adjacent communities. But how much are these benefits worth? How many jobs in the fishing and tourism industries would a healthier Delta create? And would these benefits provide justification for securing new water management mechanisms that benefit the local economy and environment? Thanks to funding we received recently from the Tinker Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, we plan to soon have answers.

"The ultimate goal is to develop an economic rationale, a cost-benefit analysis for putting water back in the Colorado River," Francisco says. "We have a pretty good idea about the cost of restoring the Delta and have identified the size and the type of restoration projects needed. Once we can quantify the benefits of restoration in economic terms, we will be able to make the case that it is good for everyone to allow water back in the river."

Linking Conservation to Economic Prosperity

The economic evaluation is a bi-national partnership, a collaboration among eight different institutions from Mexico and the U.S., including non-governmental organizations, universities, and at least one government agency in Mexico. Within two years, we should be able to put hard numbers behind our premise that conservation is not only good for the environment but that it also brings prosperity to the local people and communities.

With more staff, increased funding, bigger projects, and strong local and bi-national partnerships, our work in the Delta of the Colorado River is increasingly successful and gratifying. 

Sincerely, 
 

Luther Propst

Executive Director