Bridle Creek Habitat Enhancement Area

About the Program
The Freeport-McMoRan Bridle Creek Habitat Enhancement Area encompasses 27 acres of riparian corridor areas and is located about sixty miles west of Prescott, AZ and one mile from the active Bagdad Mine. The site contains cottonwood, willow and desert grassland vegetative communities. Working with the community and local biologists, the team manages the area to provide quality habitat for wildlife and a space for outdoor learning.

Practices and Impacts

• The grassland habitat enhancement project focuses on providing a native grassland area for pollinators. The project is managed through mowing and cleanups and includes a yearly plant assessment. 
• The Bagdad Grassland Habitat Clean-up Project focuses on teaching community members about the negative impacts humans have on habitat, such as trash, and how to contribute to better impacts.
• Since 2019, the team has offered opportunities for middle and elementary school students to engage in hands-on learning in the Bridle Creek habitat. Middle school events include water quality sampling in the riparian area, drone surveys of the property and a live raptor presentation. Elementary school events include a scavenger hunt, live raptor presentation, native plantings and a science fair. Over 80 participants are engaged in these events annually.
• The Bridle Creek area provides habitat for many native bird species. The team completes rigorous avian species monitoring, which consists of counting bird species from locations throughout the site several times per year. The team has noted species returning to the site year after year, as well as some new bird species that had not been previously recorded in the area.