Below is a series of photos depicting The Little Colorado River and Nutrioso Creek Riparian Enhancement Project, 2007-2012, a riverbank restoration project funded through the Arizona Water Protection Fund with the assistance of the Arizona Department of Game & Fish.

A restoration of the Little Colorado River bank and adjacent Nutrioso Creek near Springerville in eastern Arizona, the six-year project stabilized 1,832 feet of riverbank along the Little Colorado and 175 feet of riverbank along Nutrioso Creek, as well as other improvements.

According to a report filed in 2013 on the project’s outcome, the site “has responded well to the applied restoration practices. The eroding banks have become vegetated and plantings are becoming established. Bank erodibility hazard index assessments show improved bank stability.”

Before and after along “Bank E” of the Little Colorado River and Nutrioso Creek Riparian Enhancement Project

A tall bank of the river with a tight radius, Bank E required “base rock” added to the bottom of the bank to provide stabilization against erosion

Flattening out the grade of the riverbank protected the “toe” of the bank and allowed the upper bank to be covered in a protective turf-reinforcement mat.

Vegetation quickly took hold almost to the waterline, providing a much more aesthetically pleasing finished product than a rock-lined bank