VERDE VALLEY - After almost four years of alienation, frustration and poverty, the Verde River Basin Partnership has decided enough is enough.
They want what was once promised, and they have decided to start making some noise to get it.
Signed into law in November 2005, Title II of the Northern Arizona Land Exchange bill called for the formation of a watershed-wide organization, tasked with making scientific studies of the Verde River basin.
Along with its formation came an implied promise on the part of the federal government to fund those studies.
However, because the communities in the Prescott area chose not to join the partnership, no money has come from Washington.
After having considered downsizing and dissolving, the partnership has decided to press forward, with or without Prescott and Prescott Valley's support, and demand of Congress what the partnership considers its birthright -- specifically the long-promised federal funding.
On Friday, the Partnership sent letters to Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, along with the Arizona's eight members of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture.
The letter is a formal request for $5.4 million in funding, $5.2 million for the studies and $200,000 for operating expenses, to begin in fiscal year 2011.
"Continuing trying to achieve [the inclusion of the Prescott area communities] is a futile exercise," says Ed Wolfe, chairman of the VRBP Coordinating Committee. "We have a strong hope we can get past this impasse where our federal representatives say we can't fund this unless all the people in the Verde basin are all on the same page."
The letters were accompanied by an additional five attachments including a history of the VRBP, a list of the proposed studies and a rebuttal to the objections posed by the Prescott communities.
In additional to the 12 hardcopy letters, the partnership is sending out electronic copies to all members of Congress. According to VRBP, the group is soliciting additional letters of support from the community
"We are going to return to the same grassroots efforts that got the partnership put into law to begin with," Wolfe says.
The partnership will meet at the Jerome Fire Station on Monday to consider additional actions to secure funding.
