Francisco Zamora

Francisco Zamora, a photo by Semester in the West on Flickr.

Francisco Zamora
Director, Colorado River Delta Program, Sonoran Institute
Colorado River Delta, Mexico
October 30-31

“I could talk for an hour about…” seems to be this man’s catch phrase. Francisco Zamora knows more than quite a bit about the Colorado River Delta. As we drove by what I thought was sandy, shrubby patch of desert, he said, “You’re looking upstream the Colorado River.” The river no longer connects with the Pacific Ocean as it historically has. Francisco and other representatives from the Sonoran Institute encouraged the Westies to look at the area and its issues from several perspectives: political, historical, cultural, and ecological. He took us to a restoration site where we planted and irrigated over 100 willows and cottonwoods. Before we got to working, Francisco told us that his hope was to not only to reconnect the river with the ocean, but also “the river with the people.”

By Sam Hinkle