About Us
The Stewards of Public lands value the many miles of beautiful public lands, including mountains, vistas, Verde River and its tributaries, riparian washes and other public lands in the Verde Valley. Stewards unite governmental agencies, community volunteers, businesses, and organizations, pooling resources to clean up public lands. Stewards find creative ways to coordinate existing programs at the federal, state and local level to address the issue of overlapping jurisdictions. "The Stewards are not just about cleanup projects. Our efforts are a long-term commitment." --Prescott National Forest Verde District Ranger

History
Stewards of Public Lands “lead by doing.” Stewards have provided more than 2000 hours of volunteer effort to clean 3300 acres of public lands in the Verde Valley. Stewards facilitated a process whereby towns, cities, counties, and state and federal governmental entities collaborated beyond jurisdictional boundaries, combining resources to remove more than 110 tons of trash and litter from upper Verde Valley public lands. Stewards have maintained the cleaned lands, as well as coordinated monitoring and law enforcement activities. The Stewards and their partners placed ‘No Dumping” signs covering more than 2200 acres, with plans in progress to place signage over the remaining 1100 acres. Additional dumping is greatly reduced and Stewards’ maintenance efforts keep the minimal additional dumping cleaned up, thanks to the law enforcement and signage deterrents. “Why do we do this hard work? Because it feels so good to get an ugly mess cleaned up and then see the natural Arizona beauty that belongs to us all.” Jess Tyler, Stewards Co-Chair.

Future Goals
Protect people and property from wildfire, protect the Verde River aquifer from the effects of illegal dumping, clean up public lands, maintain and monitor cleaned areas, expand program to new areas in the Verde Valley and work with state legislators concerning rampant illegal dumping in Arizona.


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