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Fred Phillips
take off
A flock of birds takes off from the East Wetlands restoration area in Yuma, Arizona.
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By Ann Walker
Want to explore along the Colorado River in sunny Yuma, but don’t have room in your suitcase, car or RV for a bike? No worries … you can now rent a bike by the hour or day at the Visitor Information Center, located at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, 201 N. 4th Ave.
The short-term rentals feature 7-speed Electra Townie comfort bikes in both women's and men's styles and include helmets and locks, along with cargo baskets on some models. From the Quartermaster Depot, bikers can access vehicle-free, paved trails in both directions along the river.
The new rental program is from Mr. B's Bicycles, which also offers weekly rentals of road and mountain bikes at its Las Palmillas store, 1200 Castle Dome Ave. Mr. B's owns and maintains the equipment and reservations and payments are made online, with Yuma Visitors Bureau staff handling bike pickups and returns.
"Trails and visitors all converge here, so the Quartermaster Depot is really the perfect spot to offer bike rentals,” said YVB Executive Director Linda Morgan. “This is something people have been asking for many years, so we’re really happy to help make it happen.”
Yuma’s 21st century revival has centered on the Colorado River, with riverfront trails linking a new hotel and conference center to two new city parks, two existing state historic parks and hundreds of hectares of restored wetlands that provide welcoming habitat for hundreds of species of birds and animals just steps from downtown.
The paved, lighted pathway - perfect for strolling, biking and even rollerblading - runs west from the visitor center to West Wetlands Park and Joe Henry Memorial Park and east through Gateway Park, at the heart of the historic river crossing that first put Yuma on the map. The newest section of the trail goes under the Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge and then skirts East Wetlands nature area for about three kilometres. In deference to the wildlife, this section of the trail is not lighted, but offers expansive vistas of marshes, wetlands, and riparian woodlands from dawn to dusk.
“We created a rustic hiking trail through the East Wetlands a few years ago, but now this hard-surfaced trail on the levee provides easy access for wheelchairs and strollers as well as bikes,” said Charles Flynn, executive director of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, which spearheaded both the riverfront redevelopment and environment restoration projects. “Now everyone has a picture window into nature.”
Everyone can also enjoy the City’s 100th birthday gift to itself: Centennial Beach is a new Colorado River swim spot in West Wetlands Park where you can dig your toes into 1,850 tons of sand that was trucked in to facilitate sunbathing and castle building. New trails are also being cleared through cottonwoods and willows that in the last decade have grown from foot-long cuttings into a towering forest on the lower bench.
“When we started our project, you couldn’t get to the river or touch the water because the non-native growth vegetation was so thick,” Flynn explained. “We wanted to reconnect the city and its people to the river that gives it life.”
“People just can’t get enough of the water, no matter what time of year,” Flynn added. “This is not just for the benefit of birds and animals but for people to enjoy as well.”
Yuma’s environmental restoration efforts have been no small undertaking: Since 2002, workers have planted more than 150,000 trees, plant and shrubs and moved more than 330,000 cubic yards of dirt to create two miles of back channel and small lakes that dot the once water-starved East Wetlands. Water used to backwash filters at the city water plant helps flush excess salt from the soil and nurtures the tree growth.
As the tangle of invasive vegetation along the river has been replaced with native trees and water quality has improved, wildlife has voted with its wings: The bird population has doubled and species diversity increased by 75 percent. In fact, endangered Yuma clapper rails are now mating and nesting in the East Wetlands, and it’s eventually expected to provide habitat for more than 330 species of birds and wildlife.
Exhibits at the Quartermaster Depot explain more about Yuma’s environment restoration projects, as well as the past, present and future of the Colorado River. To learn more about bike rentals, call the VIC at 783-0071 or go to mrbsbicycles.com.
Ann Walker is a writer for Yuma Visitors Bureau. You can reach her at ann@visityuma.com. To plan a Yuma visit, go to visityuma.com or call 800-293-0071.