After decades of disinvestment and hyper-militarization in our borderland communities, many citizens have been disenfranchised and excluded from development and decisions resulting in dramatic change. Participatory process and opportunities to share diverse perspectives are seemingly increasing. Voice and agency over our shared home and shared future is imperative if we hope to continue the regenerative healing of our borderland ecosystems and borderland communities.
While other areas across the Santa Cruz River Watershed in both Santa Cruz and Pima Counties have seen dramatic investments and results via Green Infrastructure initiatives and watershed restoration, the City of Nogales has seen little removal of gray infrastructure or investment in greenways within the once thriving urban core.
Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, AKA Ambos Nogales, are two neighboring cities located on the United States-Mexico border. Nogales, Arizona is a city in Santa Cruz County in the state of Arizona, USA. It is smaller in size compared to its Mexican counterpart, Nogales, Sonora. The population of Nogales, Arizona is estimated to be around 20,000 to 25,000 residents.
On the other hand, Nogales, Sonora is a larger city in the state of Sonora, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the Municipality of Nogales. The population of Nogales, Sonora is considerably larger than Nogales, Arizona, with estimates ranging from 250,000 to 300,000 residents.
During the Spring 2022, Tierra y Alma worked in partnership with the University of Arizona, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, to facilitate an outreach study gauging the public interest in restoring the Nogales Wash, a major tributary of the Santa Cruz River and a transboundary waterway, using Green Infrastructure improvements.
“I really want to see more plants and less cement. I think it would be really nice to have murals… I think it would represent our community more if we had paintings that told our stories and what we stand for.” – Paula, Santa Cruz County Resident
“I am hopeful for the future of the Nogales Wash… I would like to see some of the concrete removed. Vegetation growing would be beneficial for the whole community ” – Sergio, Santa Cruz County Resident
“Its already gorgeous but imagine more green and more nature in general… Also more sidewalks would be a great addition.” – Luis, Santa Cruz County Resident
“I would like to see more life, more plants, more areas where bikes can pass by, more color, places where people can walk and enjoy it and not be rushed by cars.” –Linneth, Santa Cruz County Resident
Nogales, Arizona lies downhill from its Mexican neighbor, which means rainwater and channeled water flow into the city and through it. Every rainy season, the City of
Nogales, Arizona, experiences flooding and sewage spills in the Nogales Wash that runs through the city (Arizona Public Media, 2018; Ingram et al. 1994). Hazards associated with the changing climate are projected to increasingly affect such bodies of water, including through dangerous flooding (IPCC, 2021;Wilder et al. 2012). Green infrastructure (GI) is known to decrease flooding and make cities more resilient, livable, and healthy (McPhearson et al., 2015)
This short excerpt below better outlines the intentions of the study in the words of the research team;
The purpose of this project is to engage communities in Nogales to assess public support for the potential revitalization of the Nogales Wash, which would consist of the removal of concrete from the ground of this canal and the creation of a linear park, or greenway. Such a radical transformation of the wash is being explored by the Santa Cruz County Community Development Department, but they realize it can be controversial. Flowing bodies of water were often lined precisely to reduce flooding by removing runoff rapidly away from the city, and while this sort of engineering solution to flooding prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s, now we know that lined rivers exacerbate heat in the city, accumulate trash, are an eyesore to people living close to it, and ultimately increase peak flow and sediment build up downstream. This type of grey infrastructure has created such problems in Nogales, AZ. Some cities in the US have acknowledged the problems created and exacerbated by liners and are now investing resources in “daylighting” their rivers to restore them to more natural states.
The Nogales Wash Restoration Project offered the unique opportunity to engage a new generation of stakeholders in the community planning process, to capture a more diverse multigenerational understanding of shared aspirations among Nogales residents, and provide a green infrastructure career readiness programming that allows young Nogales residents to better invest in their community. Our borderlands are alive and vibrant despite decades of disinvestment, our youth need to explore new pathways for healing and regenerative careers if we hope to disrupt degradation and invest in our watershed.
For this reason, Tierra y Alma recruited four students over the age of 18 years old from Nogales and Rio Rico were selected for a 3 20-hour stipend “micro-internship” experience centered around green infrastructure career readiness and community engagement. Using the Reconciliation en el Rio framework for learning, justice and reconciliation ecology, participants engaged in a series of place-based assessments and career readiness experiences that provided opportunity for reflection and exploration of personal connections to place and community via a project-based learning model. Career readiness training pertained to tools and techniques used in environmental and resource management, such as GIS amenity mapping, data collection, community outreach, and design charrettes.
Santa Cruz County Youth Experiences in the Nogales Arroyo
Interns also conducted site surveys and assessments along the Nogales Arroyo at feasible restoration sites. Ground truthing the Nogales Arroyo allowed participants to actually walk along the Wash and record their observations of culture, infrastructure and ecology that exist in the place. For some participants these experiences marked the first times that they had ever visited the Nogales Arroyo. For one participant, it was their first time returning to the wash since he was 6 years old, when he remembered watching 4th of July fireworks with his Nana.
After documenting their sensory experiences and observations each intern recorded an audio dispatch where they debriefed their exploration, their impressions and their aspirations for the waterway moving forward. Their reflections include the lack of people centric infrastructure, the surprising amount of beauty and biodiversity along the Nogales wash, and desires to see healing regenerative change. These reflections and multimedia can be found across the page.
Experiences on the land connect our youth to their history as well as aspirational models for visions for the future. By inviting young people into the conversation and exploring tangible pathways to advance their growth within these emerging fields such as Green Infrastructure, is imperative if we hope to sustainably heal and innovate our way through the ever complicating climate crisis.
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