Love and Water in Arizona

Enthusiasts of all stripes engage with lawmakers on the importance of water security.

Every now and again someone will ask: How can a bird conservation org team up with hunters? Why make a coalition with local brewers, or outdoor enthusiasts, or farmers or a garden club? What makes such a coalition successful; what is the glue that binds us together? 

Quite simply: Love.

Each of these groups do the work to help create a sustainable water future because they love something, and water is a crucial element to make each of those loves possible. You can鈥檛 brew beer without water; can鈥檛 grow crops without water; can鈥檛 support birds and fish without water; can鈥檛 sustain outdoor areas and game animal populations without water. Nobody, in fact, can live without water鈥攚hich is why we all have a stake in making sure that there is enough of it to go around for everyone. 

During this legislative session, a coalition organized by 探花精选 Southwest brought together members of the Western Rivers Brewers' Council, Trout Unlimited, the Arizona Wildlife Federation, 探花精选 chapters, and HECHO鈥攁 group of hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of predominantly Latinx heritage focused on public land policy鈥攖o the state capitol in Phoenix to urge state legislators to create a secure water future for everyone in Arizona. 

鈥淲e have done advocacy day for many years,鈥 says Haley Paul, policy director of 探花精选 Southwest, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 a chance for 探花精选 and our partners鈥攐ur locally based 探花精选 chapters, our hunter and angler friends, local small business breweries鈥攖o come together at the state capitol to talk to our lawmakers about why we care about these issues.鈥 

It takes work to find that commonality and to forge relationships across groups, and it takes resolve to make sure that legislators understand the stakes involved. 鈥淲e suggest to our folks that they don鈥檛 have to be a policy expert,鈥 says Paul. 鈥淵ou speak from the heart. You speak your story about why these issues matter to you.鈥 

Jelena Grbic, secretary of Maricopa 探花精选 Society also spoke to the importance of collaboration and relationship building. 鈥淥ne of the challenges we face is getting the word out around conservation,鈥 she says. 鈥淥ne of the things we鈥檝e worked with other Arizona chapters on is developing bilingual materials to reach Spanish-speaking people in the state.鈥 

Traditionally, anglers and hunters have been quite involved with conservation, especially on public lands, and groups that support hunters and anglers of color are engaging with this work with renewed vigor. HECHO, which formed in 2013, provides a platform for Hispanics/Latinos to contribute knowledge and perspectives about public land conservation for future generations.  

Dana Orozco, Arizona field coordinator for HECHO, echoed that need for community engagement when asked about why she was at the advocacy day. 鈥淚鈥檓 here today advocating for my community in Arizona for protecting and conserving our water,鈥 she says.

Going forward, each of the coalition partners will be doing their own outreach and advocacy work within their respective niches. 探花精选 Southwest and Arizona Wilderness Brewing, for example, have collaborated to relaunch the Birds and Beer event at the Rio Salado 探花精选 Center in Phoenix with an owl-themed beer and presentation. The crowd engaged with the wonder of owls and the connection between birds and beer鈥攁s it happens, it鈥檚 the same message Paul and others shared with legislators at Western Rivers Advocacy Day: 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 have water, we have nothing.鈥