Narrative and initial proofing finished at 9 AM Idaho Time.
We have been asked the questions below concerning Verde River Day. We created this blog post to give ourselves some structure and appropriate motivation to properly and thoughtfully answer the questions. Thanks, Dan!
1) When did you get word that you would be the keynote speaker for 30th annual VRD and by whom?
I was first contacted to be keynote speak for the 2018 VRD in the spring of 2018. Max Castillo sent an email with the invitation. I declined but suggested I would consider 2019 depending on our schedule. When we were in The Verde Valley, we often cross paths with Max in Walmart of all places. Max now even jokes, "Well, I'll see you in Walmart when you get back down here." Anyway, during one of our visits together in Walmart this past Arizona Season, I told Max I'd be willing to speak at the 2019 VRD. Max said he would pass it on. By and by, I received a note from George Christianson, DEHO Park Manager, asking if I was serious. I said we'd be happy to speak and he said he'd pass it on. A few more emails were exchanged and the speaking engagement was confirmed on both ends. We are very happy and humbled by the opportunity to speak on the 30th Anniv. of the first VRD held September 30, 1989.
2) Reaction
Since the topic has been under discussion for nearly a year and a half, there really wasn't a reaction. When I was first asked to speak at the 2018 VRD, the reaction was confusion since we have a rather rigid travel schedule. By thinking so far in advance about our 2019 schedule, we were able to make the necessary adjustments to arrive in Arizona a month earlier than normal. In lieu of a "reaction," I would say that I am very happy and humbled to have the opportunity. However, I lie awake each night fretting about what to say, how to say it and how to organize the various parts of my speech. Seriously, I am not kidding. I wake up each night, sometimes in the proverbial cold sweat, fretting about the speech. I am very comfortable speaking in public so that's not an issue. It's just that there are SO MANY bases to cover and SO MANY people to recognize, thank and call attention to and SO MANY "then & now" issues to illustrate. 30 years of Verde River Day is ALL about ALL the people and organizations who have made it happen!
The problem is a classic public speaking problem--how to cover a lot of material without getting too long or wordy or off on sleep-inducing tangents. People go to VRD to have FUN and learn FUN stuff about The Verde River and its natural and cultural resources. They don't go to VRD to hear some old guy rattle on and on about the Old Days. So, I have a real challenge on my hands and it's causing me a lot of hand wringing.
3) Give me your memories on the main players besides yourself that got VRD off and running. I remember Jon Clow, Dick Larson, Rick Champion and Charles Jackson (then chamber ceo). Tell me a little about the role each of those played and yourself in getting the first VRD off the ground?
To fully understand any aspect of any attempt to answer this question you have to go back years prior to VRD and walk through the long, frustrating, tedious process of working to get sand and gravel mining out of The Verde River. I began that process with some tentative baby steps all way back in 1981 and really became super serious about the whole thing in 1983-1984. Yes, it really does go back that far. I ran in my first election in 1986 as an Independent for State Representative solely to call attention to the collateral issue of sand & gravel mining: Stream Access.
The Legislature had a real head of stream to make it 100% illegal to float on the surface of the water that crossed private property. Sen. John Hays was the ring leader of that nefarious legislation and it was at the behest and because of sand and gravel mining. It was one of their many ways of trying to keep the public from seeing what they were doing. If they could keep people from observing their operations, there would be less pressure on them.
But you have to realize, some one doesn't simply spring onto the ballot for an election. There's a huge amount of work that has to be done to get to that point. By 1984, it was clear to me that fighting sand and gravel was my life's main purpose and I would continue until they were out of the river. Running in the 1986 election was simply an outgrowth of that process.
We began taking people on "familiarization trips" on The Verde River in 1982, amped it up in 1983, reached new levels in 1984-1985 and really started 'going for it in 1986 and beyond.
The hardest part of the whole process was getting "the right" people involved. Anybody could look at what was happening and flip out but "the right" people had to be involved to make a change. Those people were community leaders, local, state and federally elected office holders, local, state and federal agency Staff and, of course, the media.
It was a tall order to get all those people to come on the river and it took years to get them out on the water and begin to reach critical mass. The #1 organization that needed to buy in to the deal was the EPA. It took FOREVER to get the EPA involved--years.
Finally, when they did get on the river and start looking into things they were very blunt with me. I will never forget the conversation one day on a gravel bar out on the river. The head guy whose name I can't remember was point blank, "How do we know this just isn't you who cares? How do we know the community cares about this river? Sure, you're all upset about it but what if it's just you and nobody else? You're going to have to show us that other people besides YOU care about this river." This was sometime in 1988 and it just flattened me. I was devastated, shocked and saddened beyond words.
I didn't know what to do. I had no clue. Back then that sounded like the death knell of my efforts.
I was truly stumped. One day I was hanging around with Jim Bishop unloading my tale of woe and Jim said, "Why don't you organize some sort of a festival or something for the river?" Well, I sure hadn't thought of that and it was like a thunderbolt out of the blue.
But then how the heck do you do a festival? Well, I had no clue. And the other key thing was that me, myself and I couldn't organize a festival because the EPA would come right back with the same thing. It had to be something that grew organically out of the community itself and it had to have much OTHER impetus and leadership than from me. Man, that seemed like an impossible challenge but at least I had an idea. Sometimes ideas sell themselves and, luckily, that's what happened with this idea.
I knew I needed some organization to take the lead and thought immediately of The Verde Natural Resource Conservation District. (NRCD). Local legend Charles Van Gorder was still very much alive and well and thoroughly involved in the NRCD then even though I think he was in his 90's. So, I first went to Charles in a private meeting and laid out the whole idea of the NRCD working to get the community involved in some sort of an event to educate people about the river. Charles loved the idea and said he would suggest it to the NRCD Board Chair. After Charles mentioned it to her, I then had a meeting with her and talked up the idea. She asked me to make a presentation for the Board. I did and they voted unanimously to support creation of some type of an event.
Well, with that Board vote as a base, I was able to parlay it to various other venues. Rick Champion got onboard because one of the mines was right in his backyard and because Susan Champion was on a crusade to get them out of the river. Jon Clow was "all in" for the git go. Well, prior to this time we had infected The Verde News Publisher Dick Larson with river fever. He had bought a canoe and a Bronco II to carry it. I gave a sales pitch to Dick about how he ought to take he lead and get something going. Without Dick's enthusiasm, VRD would have never happened. Dick's charisma brought a lot of other people onboard and, POOF, suddenly it was a community thing and not a John Parsons thing. Man, I was so relieved I could hardy stand it.
Meanwhile, of course, I kept the EPA thoroughly informed about how the community had spontaneously come together to create and support an event to celebrate the river. I conveniently left out my sneaky role in instigating the whole thing. Hey, it wasn't MY deal, it was the community's gig! Well, this was Big News to the EPA. Big News and it completely changed their mind set. Suddenly, it wasn't John Parsons as the river's only Friend, there was an event going to happen.
I have only vague memories of how the name was chosen. I remember lots of discussion and some angst about the choice of a name. I did interject during those meetings that the river needed is own "day" I didn't necessarily mean it to be called a "day" but just to have its day to shine. I think it was Dick Larson who piped up, "Well, why don't we call it Verde River Day then?" It was an instant hit with the committee.
Looking back, it seems magical to me that all of this took place over 30 years ago. It's really kind of hard for me to believe that so many people stepped forward to eagerly, willingly and happily to work on a "day" for the river. Practically everybody knows the river now and many people cheerfully call themselves Friends Of The Verde River. But it wasn't like that back in the late 80's. Not even close.
It's just incredible there was a critical mass of movers and shakers who stepped forward and gave their time and energy to "git 'er dun." And that was not lost on the EPA. When the Regional Director heard about it, he finally agreed to come on a canoe trip and see the S&G operations for himself. He quizzed me relentlessly about this so-called "day" that was being organized for the river. I told him all the right stuff and he was visibly moved when he saw the S&G operations. He promised he would get them out.
In a superb stroke of historical irony, The EPA Cease & Desist order than forever banned sand & gravel operations from The Verde River was dated September 30, 1989, the same day as the very first Verde River Day!
4) Recap a little of the river history that was going on in the mid-to-late 80s, the threats of the sand and gravel industry, and all the things going on that prompted this effort to create a Verde River education/appreciation event?
The lengthy narrative in response to question #3 provides most of the context for the answers to question #4. It's important to note that the decade of the 1980's was a pivotal time of change for The Verde River. I moved to Tucson on Valentine's Day 1979. Nobody I knew there then even had a nano-detail about The Verde River....and most folks didn't even know its name or the fact it was in Arizona. The same phenomena greeted me when I moved to Flagstaff in October 1980. I'd ask people about The Verde River and be greeted with "Huh?" for a reply. Ten years later, there was a much wider awareness that the river existed as well as a growing awareness the river faced an uncertain future.
Coming out of the 70's into the decade of the 80's, the fate of The Verde River was in the hands of The Good Ol' Boys, people who had always viewed the river as a resource to use and abuse. Midstream sand & gravel operations were just one of many abuses. The Good Ol/' Boys believed they had every right to suck the river dry because any water left in the channel would be wasted and worse yet, left to go to those undeserving people in Phoenix. The mentality was to "use it or lose it" without ANY regard for the health of the river or the fish, game and riparian resources of the river.
It was so bad that Salt River Project had a full time paid employee 100% dedicated to eradicating those "water wasting" cottonwood trees. This gregarious individual would happily pay a "bounty" to people who took out their cottonwood trees. The bounty would depend on just how much estimated water the offensive trees sucked from the river.
Meanwhile, The sons of The Bubba Boyz who controlled the river's destiny revolted when AZGFD reintroduced otters into The Verde River. These bubbas believed the otters would take "their" fish! They shot as many as they could see and left their carcasses to rot on the river bank.
Back then there were not even any places to actually access the river. Developing formal "river access points" was viewed as some sort of a joke by "foreigners," which was the local bubba boyz name for anyone who didn't live in The Verde Valley.
Dumping of old car bodies into the river was still viewed as viable "erosion control" for so-called "bank stabilization." Cattle roamed at will in the river channel, destroying young riparian seedlings before that could ever get a chance to grow. The Old Timers wholeheartedly believed the cattle kept flood waters from reaching homes and outbuildings. Riparian vegetation was seen as the enemy to be eradicated and kept as close to non-existent as possible.
The river was universally known far and wide as "The Dirty Verde." Those mere words were often spoken with physically visible, tangible disgust, practically spit out of people's mouth like some sort of an epithet. It was so disgusting that many people I encountered actually called the rounded, alluvial basalt river boulders "nigger heads!"
I was aghast, amazed and angered by this attitude and the attendant behaviors. I couldn't even believe it but the evidence was everywhere. It didn't matter who I talked to or where, there was zero respect and even less admiration for the river.
This was the stage I entered on when I founded the Northern Arizona Paddlers Club in Flagstaff in March 1981.
Essentially, I devoted my Life in the 1980's to turning that paradigm around. I received 1.913 voted in the 1986 election and parlayed those votes into lobbying to get a law to protect paddler's rights to cross private property on the surface of flowing water. I attended Gov. Mecham's signing of the bill into law and asked him to appoint me to The Arizona Outdoor Recreation Coordinating Commission. He did so in April 1987. On AORCC I was able to free up about a million dollars to construct formal "river access points" (RAP) from Cottonwood to Beasley Flats below Camp Verde. These RAPs played a key role in turning around public sentiment about the river and its attendant resources.
Often during the campaign to remove sand & gravel from the river, The Old Timers would claim "removing sand & gravel from the river will SHUT DOWN development in the Verde Valley." HAHAHA! I had my life threatened several times during the campaign. The Old Timers clung to their old, outdated ways of life and were loathe to see them go.
The bottom line is that The Verde River was basically outright despised at the beginning of the decade of the 1980's...tolerated only because of the water that could be sucked from its soul. By the end of the 80's, the supertanker of opinion was beginning to turn. The inception of Verde River Day played an enormous role in that sea change. While I had envisioned such an event initially only for helping with the sand & gravel campaign, it turned out that Verde River Day became the flagship of a new era for the river.
5) Best memories of Verde River Days? And the prior keynote speakers such as John McCain and Barry Goldwater that brought statewide prominence to Verde River Day?
Here's a Challenge for Verde News: create a comprehensive list of every Verde River Day keynote speaker! I have forgotten so many of them. Likewise, I honestly can't remember any specific, timeless comments that may have been made. In my mind's eye I can see a cavalcade of prominent, famous people standing up at Verde River Day to speak either of its or their own importance. The speaker I remember most was former Governor Bruce Babbitt. Bruce is a natural born speaker. He recounted in great detail the creation of The Verde River Greenway. He told "the rest of the story," as Paul Harvey would have said. Bruce got right down into his thinking, timing and personal actions that were at the very core of how the Greenway came into being. It was (and is) utterly fascinating and remains a story only a handful of people know. I felt so fortunate to be standing there listening as Bruce told that story. It was like hearing some secret aspect of Arizona History finally being explained by the actual perpetrator. I hope someday someone can do an oral history with Bruce on that story. It needs to be told.
My Best memory of Verde River Day was taking Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, on canoe rides. That memory burns bright enough in my mind, it seems like just yesterday. I wish I had paddled John but I chose to paddle Cindy. I assigned my late Dear Friend Vince VanHorn to paddle John. John cared far deeper for The Verde River than people will ever know and it was a great Life Moment to be able to host the couple on canoes that day.
One of the goofier memories I have is of arguably the strangest so-called keynote speaker I can recall at Verde River Day. Dick Larson somehow became connected with this individual and fell under his "spell," so to speak. Dick was filled with such enthusiasm for the guy we all had no choice to nod in agreement when Dick insisted he take the stage. His stage name was "Box Car Willie" and I don't recall he had ANY connection whatsoever with The Verde River, or ANY river, for that matter. All I can remember is that his performance made me cringe and want to disappear behind a nearby tree.
The other finest memory I have is what you might call a "mental collage." or a "mental mosaic." I see so many people working together over so many years. I see so many smiles and kind, positive words. I see hard work, creative efforts, risks taken & rewarded, satisfaction in a job well done, lots of colorful canoes, a cavalcade of characters and so very much more. This amalgam of blurry images always comes to mind whenever the three magical words "Verde River Day" are spoken. Even today merely writing these words brings a mist to my eyes and a glow to my Heart. I've never been involved with anything more inspiring than Verde River Day. I've never worked so closely and successfully over such a long time with as many people continually devoted to a common goal. I am so incredibly proud of the people who have and continue to make Verde River Day a highlight of The Verde Valley annual cultural calendar.
6) As a side note to Verde River Day, can you give a little history and reflection on the positive outcomes for the river that the Flood of 1993 created?
The 1993 Verde River Flood was the biggest in modern history. The impacts of the event were felt far and wide and reverberated for quite some time afterwards. In my own personal case, the flood rendered our home uninhabitable on Cottonwood's Blue Sky Drive. We were forced to move to Rimrock to being life anew. I lost nearly all of my possessions because I had foolishly stored then in containers located in the floodplain..
Because of the severely degraded condition of the river's main channel due to the sand & gravel operations, the flood flow was able to create far more devastating impacts. However, in the long run this thorough scouring of the river channel and its banks set the stage for a spectacular resurgence of the riparian vegetation, especially the cottonwood-willow gallery forest. A spin off benefit of the flood was that it clearly taught people not to build homes or structures in or encroaching on the flood way and flood plain. It brought that painful lesson home to roost in such emphatic fashion that the river thereafter remains forever unthreatened by ill-advised intrusions into the flood plain. The river indelibly etched itself into the local collective consciousness with a resounding, "Hey, LOOK, I'm still here and I'm still in charge in this area!" In some ways that would now be difficult to prove or quantify, I've always felt the 1993 Flood was an underlying impetus to get the Verde Watershed Association off the ground and rolling toward a bright and pivotal future.
It's not impossible for another such epic flood to occur but it is somewhat unlikely due primarily to the management and structural changes that have taken place on the river and in its watershed since 1993. The river was essentially one giant drainage ditch and this condition set the stage and exacerbated the impacts of the 1993 Flood. Today, the naturally restored condition and health of the river's riparian vegetation works to reduce the velocity and ferocity of a flood. The 2019 February Flood impacts would have been much worse without the mitigating factors the healthy riparian brought to the table. Likewise, the distant watershed drainage areas that feed a flood are in much better condition than they were in 1993. Prudent grazing and timber management of those areas plays a huge factor in reducing the instantaneous release of runoff and the affects ripple downstream into the river.
A river doesn't exist in a vacuum. All rivers are lifelong children of their parent watersheds forever joined at the hip to whatever conditions and management actions take place in the distant headwaters.
Now far removed from the 1993 Flood we tend to think that era between 1989 and 1993 marked a historic turning point in the history of human interaction with The Verde River. Hopefully some day soon, a scholar will undertake efforts to document that sweeping assertion and write a book about it.
7) What is your assessment of the health of the Verde River today? Examples of why?
The overall health of the Verde River is excellent and the best it has ever been in modern recorded history. Such a positive assessment takes into account not only what has been done and is being done on behalf of the river but also what will be done in the future to assure continued healthy existence of a fragile desert river.
Any and every special natural resource can only continue to exist and prosper if it has legions of devoted Friends who stand up against threats and work to improve the condition and health of that natural resource. Back in the early 1980's, The Verde River had very few Friends. We've joked in the past that back then "You could count the river's Friends on your fingers and have a lot of fingers left over." Today, the true number of Friends of The Verde River is unknown. The number is too large to know. The river's Friends hail from far and wide, farther and wider than any of us know. The river is building an ever brighter regional and, yes, national reputation as one of the best examples of a free-flowing desert stream that remains in healthy condition.
Paramount examples include active municipal community support for the river such as Clarkdale's "Verde @ Clarkdale" and Camp Verde's extensive planning and development efforts to showcase the river's role in that cultural area. The Nature Conservancy's ongoing efforts to encourage improvements to efficiency of irrigation withdrawals and agricultural water usage is a huge factor in the river's health. The recent spectacular success of Chip Norton's/Hauser Farm's "Drink Beer, Save Water" campaign is a shining example of private sector support for astonishing, tangible gains in river flow. Likewise, projects such as Doug Von Gausig's "Verde River Institute" help preserve information and documentation about the river's evolution from past into future. The full spectrum of Friends of The Verde River now essentially presents a united front against external projects that pose credible threats to the dry season base flow of the river. The river's littoral riparian vegetation is healthier now than any time since the arrival of Anglo-European settlers in the 1860's. Invasive species have reached "pubic enemy" status and the sheer amount of money and physical labor being devoted to their removal is remarkable. The Forest Service's Wild & Scenic River operations have successfully extended such invasive removal efforts far beyond the confine of The Verde Valley. The Verde River watershed is now widely recognized as a unique Southwestern natural asset. Collective management of the watershed by various local, state, tribal and federal entities reached critical mass in recent decades and has demonstrated a wide range of beneficial dividends to the river itself.
The river now has more Friends, more agency support, more public awareness, more recreational usage and more overall respect and affection that it has had at anytime in the history of human interaction with the resource.
Indeed, the positive impacts on behalf of the river are a total that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
8) How does it feel and what does it say about the Verde Valley that Verde River Day is alive and well 30 years later?
Although no one realized it at the time in 1989, Verde River Day was an "instant institution." Even though the original intention was simply to show that the community cared about the river, what really happened was a rendition of the classic business success cliche: "Find a need and fill it."
Verde River Day has thrived for 30 years primarily because people have a need to know more about the river and some folks specific really want to show (or continue to reaffirm) that they care about the river. The event was not a passing fad. Enthusiasm for Verde River Day did not wane. In fact, a credible case could be made that interest solidified and increased through three decades. The collaboration, continuity and collective community efforts necessary to carry Verde River Day forward have been sustained, encouraged and rewarded because of the recurrent annual public support for the event and the underlying purpose. The 30 year legacy of Verde River Day is a rock solid testimony that the people who live in and visit The Verde Valley care about the river and are willing to underscore and demonstrate that care with their attendance at and support for Verde River Day.
It is a singular honor to be have the opportunity to address these and other highlights on the upcoming 30th Anniversary of the first event.
I apologize for any individuals, efforts, projects and events I have left out in the above narrative. It's nearly impossible to cover every detail of the past 30 years in the context of this brief narrative.
Thank You for reading. Sincerely, John Parsons
