Portions of the Verde River will be closed beginning Monday, in order for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove cattle from the area.

Contractors will be humanely capturing and removing feral cattle from portions of the Verde River in the Tonto, Coconino and Prescott National Forests.

Chandler Mundy is a range specialist with the Forest Service. He says the problem has been building for a while.

“So, there’s been different ranchers over time on the three forests that have lost cows from time to time," Mundy said. "Stray cows wander down and are never seen again, and they reproduce and those reproduce, and now we have a lot of cows down there.”

Feral cattle have been removed from the Verde River area previously, most recently in December. Unauthorized cattle grazing has led to ecological damage of the habitat.

River access from Beasley Flat to its convergence with Fossil Creek will be closed. The public will not be able to float through or camp along this section of the river. The river’s child recreation site and Verde Hot Springs will be closed, though access to Fossil Creek should not be affected by the removal.

The operation is expected to take two weeks, leaving these segments closed until May 24.