An international waterfront conference is taking place in Yuma through the weekend. For the Arizona Science Desk, Maya Springhawk Robnett reports…
Many of the 105 attendees are seeing Yuma for the first time. Chuck Pritchard from Cape May, New Jersey has never been to the Southwest before now. Pritchard is on the board of an environmental group that is the steward of a restored historical schooner within an underdeveloped waterfront area. Pritchard says he hopes to bring some knowledge home to that board.
“I’m also really interested in the waterfront development in Philadelphia,” he explains. “Independent Seaport Museum is right in the middle of Penn’s Landing. And so, there’s going to be a lecture on that...”
Jack Schmidt is a professor in the Department of Water Sciences at Utah State University. Schmidt is scheduled to speak twice during the conference, discussing physical and ecological changes to the Colorado River and efforts to restore it. Schmidt says Yuma is an interesting case study in a river’s evolution…
“Yuma has witnessed the transformation of the river because it is at the far downstream end and aside from the small amount of water that is headed to Mexico, the river has been completely changed here,” Schmidt says.
The Urban Waterfronts Conference continues through Sunday.