33955 S Old Black Canyon Highway Black Canyon City, AZ 85324
1 (623) 374-5282
INFO@BLACKCANYONHERITAGEPARK.ORG

Types of Water Ways

Types of Water Ways that flow in a natural channel (common examples: rivers, creeks, washes and streams)

  1. Perennial - A perennial water way (stream, wash, creek, etc) always flows in some parts all year round during years of normal rainfall.
    Examples include: Agua Fria River, Ash Creek, Sycamore Creek, and Indian Creek.
  2. Intermediate - Most common and has alternating surface and subsurface flows.
  3. Ephemeral - Flows only when it rains. Usually wet only a few hours to several weeks. Riparian areas are not robust.

Wet-Dry (WD) mapping 

This activity to document the presence or absence of surface water.  Most Wet-Dry mapping is conducted in the driest time of the year (in late June), showing hydrologic conditions when the stress on habitat and wildlife is at its greatest.  Alarmingly, in early July 2017, and again in late June 2018 the Agua Fria River gage (USGS/Mayer) showed no surface flow;  the previous dry-up occurred 29 years ago!  Data collected by FAFNM on the Agua Fria River also suggest a drying trend.

It is through the financial support received from FAFNM members, assistance agreements with the BLM, and a generous corporate donation from Cox Conserves that FAFNM members and volunteers are able to conduct this Wet-Dry mapping.

A training video about Wet-Dry mapping can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm9Nvs8VLPA.  The FAFNM program is modeled after the program established by BLM & The Nature Conservancy for the San Pedro River.

The National Audubon Society has created graphs of our mapping of the Agua Fria River.  To see the Audubon Story Map of our Wet-Dry monitoring go to this link http://arcg.is/0Gq0u5 .   

Resources for more on the topic: