One of our very favorite places to visit when staying in Mesa AZ is the Gilbert Riparian Preserve. The Riparian Preserve was created in 1999 to promote awareness and appreciation of Arizona’s ecology and natural history, mainly desert and riparian environments.
The town of Gilbert made a commitment to re-use 100% of its effluent water and had a vision in 1986. In 1999 they used 110 acres of land in Gilbert to create a riparian basin composed of seven lakes totaling 70 of the 110 acres. The lakes or water recharge basins are filled up on a rotating basis with Gilbert’s treated effluent water and then allowed to percolate into the aquifer where it is stored for future use.
With 4.5 miles of trails within the reserve we love hiking and birdwatching there. Nearly 300 species of birds have been recoded on the preserve since its creation. Sharon and I always take our new binoculars and our old cameras with us to observe and photograph the feathered residents of the preserve.
Since we visit this park a lot you will likely be seeing lots of nature photos on the blog until we leave here in April. With that warning get ready for a ton of photos…
We are not bird watchers, but think we need to take it up! We did visit the Preserve some time ago as a place to walk. Think we missed a lot by not paying attention to the variety of wildlife.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed nature and Sharon just recently became a bird watching photographer. When you slow down and pay attention to the details of nature a whole new world opens up before your eyes.
Delete