Bill Williams River

Bill Williams River
Bill Williams River at Southern end of Lake Havasu
Source elevation	480 ft (150 m)

The Bill Williams River is a 46.3-mile-long (74.5 km) river in western-central Arizona in Mohave County; the river proper is the northern border of La Paz County which it drains in the north, as well as areas of far western Yavapai County. It is a major drainage westwards into the Colorado River of the Lower Colorado River Valley south of Hoover Dam/Lake Mead, and the drainage basin covers portions of northwest, and west central Arizona. The equivalent drainage system paralleling the east-west lower reaches of the Bill Williams is the Gila River, which flows east-to-west across central Arizona, joining the Colorado River in the southwest at Yuma. The Bill Williams River's confluence with the Colorado is north of Parker, and south of Lake Havasu City.

The two tributaries to the Bill Williams are the Big Sandy River and the Santa Maria River. Alamo Lake is a major fishing and recreation region on the Bill Williams River. The Colorado River confluence region, the Bill Williams River Delta, and the entire riparian environment has state parks and wilderness areas: Buckskin Mountain State Park, Cattail Cove State Park, and the Gibraltar Mountain, Swansea, and Cactus Plain wilderness areas.

Wildlife reserve

The city of Scottsdale, Arizona, formerly owned a ranch on the river and planned to export water from it. However, in 2006, Scottsdale sold the ranch surrounding to the Phelps Dodge mining company, which is operating it as a nature reserve, under a government program for companies to restore habitat in one area to balance environmental damage caused elsewhere.

Fish species

• Largemouth Bass
• Bullhead
• Catfish (Channel)
• Catfish (Flathead)
• Redear Sunfish
• Green Sunfish
• Bluegill Sunfish
• Carp

External links

• Alamo Lake State Park
• Arizona Boating Locations Facilities Map
• Arizona Fishing Locations Map