• By Josh Bootzin Sun Staff Writer
 
• Jan 26, 2025 Updated Jan 26, 2025

• The Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area admitted more than 60,000 visitors to its state parks in fiscal year 2024, provided public tours to nearly 4,000 people and generated support from 70 volunteers across all of its educational and community event programs.

  Executive Director Cathy Douglas attended the Jan. 14 Yuma City Council work session to provide an update on the Yuma Crossing accomplishments from Oct. 1, 2023, through Sep. 30, 2024.

  Yuma Crossing encapsulates seven square miles in and around the city of Yuma, responsible for maintenance and operation of 400 acres of restored wetlands along three contiguous miles of the Colorado River, in addition to the operation of the Colorado River and Yuma Territorial Prison state historic parks.

• Photos by Josh Bootzin/Yuma Sun
   
• Jan 26, 2025 Updated Jan 26, 2025

The Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park hosted its inaugural Wild West Days event on Saturday, Jan. 25, drawing over 1,000 visitors for the museum's most-attended single-day event in recent memory. Jay Walker hosted a day of Wild West shootout reenactments, live music performances, a Victorian runway show, a mustache and beard contest and much more. "We're just so excited that Yuma showed up for this event," Yanna Kruze, prison manager, said.

• By Josh Bootzin Sun Staff Writer
•  
• Have you ever wanted to take a trip back in time to the Wild West? The Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area has you covered, hosting Wild West Days, the first event of its kind, on Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.

• By Josh Bootzin Sun Staff Writer
 
• Sep 24, 2024 Updated Sep 24, 2024

• By Josh Bootzin Sun staff writer
 

• The Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area (YCNHA) is about ready to unveil its newest and boldest creation at the Yuma East Wetlands. Sunset View Park, situated at the Wetlands’ southeast end, will boast a hilltop ramada, a 30-foot plaza with rock benches, and a network of trails.

  Directly behind the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex (PAAC) and across the canal, the park’s main plaza will be lined with native trees (mostly honey mesquite and palo verdes) and bushes, as well as a pollinator garden for a monarch butterfly habitat.

  Newly constructed trails will access the ramada, whose design pays homage to the Yuma Territorial Prison’s iconic guard tower, from three sides, and they’ll connect the plaza to the parking lot and river access point to the north. An anti-flood irrigation system will also be installed and connected to the preexisting system of pumps along the river.