Wikipedia: Today, Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park (formerly known as Yuma Crossing State Historic Park), and sites including Yuma Territorial Prison showcase a captivating history amidst the beautiful Yuma East and West Wetlands and the silhouetted backdrops of the Chocolate and Castle Dome ranges of Arizona and California.

The heritage area’s interpretive themes include Yuma’s importance as a cultural crossroads, emphasizing the region’s intersection of three major cultures: Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American. The heritage area recognizes that this rich blend of traditions can best be sustained by their continued expression through architecture, music, food and other folkways within the heritage area.

The heritage area has championed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar endeavor to restore habitat and water flow to the East Wetlands. In 2004, heritage area partners secured a Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin restoration work. More than 200 acres (0.81 km2) of nonnative vegetation have been cleared and more than 130 acres (0.53 km2) have been replanted with cottonwood, willow, mesquite, native grasses, and Palo Verde trees. A one-mile (1.6 km) length of back channel has also been excavated, and some 20,000 new trees were planted in 2006. To date, ten different funding sources have provided almost $6 million toward the eventual goal of $18–20 million to complete the project.