The Gila Watershed Partnership has applied for $700,000 in Arizona Water Protection Fund grants for three projects in Graham and Greenlee counties.

Jan Holder, the partnership’s project coordinator, said during the group’s Aug. 13 meeting that she will make presentations to the state’s Water Protection Fund Commission on Sept. 15 and 16. The proposed grant projects follow:

• The Gila River water conservation education grant application was written by Holder with input from the Graham County Cooperative Extension office. There are only two applicants for this new grant.

• The Wildbunch allotment riparian restoration grant is intended to build exclosures for three riparian areas in upper Greenlee County and supply alternative water sources for livestock permittees. Holder said Frank Hayes and Lance Brown of the Clifton Ranger District assembled information for the grant application.

• The Upper Eagle Creek riparian restoration at Filleman Crossing is in northern Greenlee County. Hayes and Brown also assisted in providing information for the grant application process.

Holder also reported that the proposed Graham and Greenlee counties mobile home recycling research project was not approved for state funding. She said the partnership will reapply next year.

“We will prevail on those discarded mobile homes,” Holder said.

Partnership members hoped to begin a recycling project on materials, such as metals, in discarded mobile homes.

The group’s abandoned car recycling project was successful. A total of 400 abandoned cars in Graham and Greenlee counties were towed to Valley Auto Wrecking in Thatcher. Holder said the proceeds for metal salvage from the abandoned vehicles averaged $97.04 per vehicle. Only two of the abandoned vehicles had usable parts.