Naco Brownfields project receives ASU award


Published/Last Modified on Thursday, May 1, 2008 3:06 PM MDT


The Naco Brownfields project, an effort to improve the quality of life of the Naco community that is managed by Cochise College, recently received the 2008 President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness from Arizona State University.


The project has united ASU faculty and students with Naco community members and other universities to secure vital environmental grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, perform environmental site assessments, and begin plans for community development. The project is managed by Rebecca Orozco, director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Cochise College, who also has been involved with the preservation of Camp Naco, the historic fort on the border.

The focus of the more than $600,000 in grants the project received addressed possible contamination from the flow of untreated wastewater from Naco, Sonora. The ASU Environmental Technology Management department contracted to complete Phases I, II and III environmental assessment. As a result, the community qualified to receive a North American Development Bank (NADBank) grant to construct a new wastewater treatment facility that has eliminated the problem of cross-border wastewater contamination. Now, the community is awaiting word on a grant that will help with the development of a park.

Resources from the ASU study also helped the community qualify for a Heritage Fund grant to examine the feasibility of a trail system joining the new park, Camp Naco and an internationally recognized archaeological area: the Naco Mammoth Kill sites.

“This trail system and the restored camp are the keystones for an area community development project that could provide needed resources to revitalize the area,” Orozco said.

Copyright © 2012 Douglas Dispatch

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