FOSD newsletter1.1-web - Arizona Land and Water Trust

F R I E N D S O F T H E S O N O R A N D E S E RT
Open Space Bond Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 1
January 2005
Sponsoring Organizations
• Arizona Open Land Trust
• Arizona-Sonora Desert
Museum
• Coalition for Sonoran Desert
Protection
• Sonoran Institute
• The Nature Conservancy
• Trust for Public Land
Inside this issue:
Baker Acquisition
2
Oversight Committee
2
Sweetwater Preserve
3
A-7 Ranch Acquisition
3
Jacobs Trust Acquisition
4
Thank you for your support to protect open space!
Thanks to your overwhelming support for open space protection, Pima
County is now on track for spending
the largest amount of public funds
for open space acquisitions in Arizona’s history. On May 18, 2004
Pima County voters overwhelmingly
supported $174.3 million in open
space bonds with 66% of the vote.
These land acquisitions will protect
what is best about our community:
clean water, clear blue skies, and
open space for recreation and habitat
protection. The passage of Question
1 couldn’t have happened without
your constant support, and of
course, your vote! Friends of the So-
Open Space Acquisitions Completed
Habitat Protection Priorities - $112 million available
- Baker, Southeast Corridor, 155 acres, $226,341
Community Open Space – $37.3 million available
- Sweetwater Preserve, Tucson Mountains, 695 acres, $12 million
Jurisdictional Open Space - $15 million available
- A-7 (Bellota) Ranch, San Pedro River, 6,828 acres: $2 million
- Jacobs Trust, 36th Street Corridor, 80 acres: $601,336
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base - $ 10 million available
- none to date
Sweetwater Preserve
Acquisition
Editor:
Vanessa Bechtol
Friends of the Sonoran Desert
c/o Arizona Open Land Trust
1915 E. Camino Miraval
Tucson, Arizona 85718
(520) 577-8564
vbechtol@aolt.org
noran Desert, a committee organized
for the purpose of passing Question
1, continues to support the protection of open spaces. The Friends of the
Sonoran Desert Open Space Bond Newsletter is our bi-annual newsletter to keep
you updated on how funds from the
Open Space bonds are being spent.
Each newsletter will provide you with
an update on how much has been
spent out of the total bond package
and highlight some of the properties
acquired. This first newsletter highlights the first four open space acquisitions: Baker, Sweetwater Preserve,
the A-7 Ranch, and the Jacobs Trust
property.
A-7/Bellota Ranch
Acquisition
I-10
Jacobs Trust
Acquisition
I-10
I-19
Baker Acquisition
PAGE 2
FRIENDS OF TH E SO NOR A N D ESE R T
VO LU M E 1, I S S U E 1
Baker Property at Agua Verde Creek
Location: Agua Verde Creek
Size: 155 acres
Cost: $226,341
The Baker property acquired by Pima County
includes a lush, densely vegetated half-mile segment of the Agua Verde Creek that connects
the Colossal Cave Mountain Park (also acquired
using voter approved open space bonds in 1986
and 1997) with the 3,979 acre Cienega Creek
Natural Preserve. This is the only private property separating the critical link of the two county
owned and protected areas.
The property has been identified by Pima
County as an important riparian area and among
the highest priority for habitat conservation.
While most other Tucson washes have been
completely depleted of water supply, the Agua
Verde Creek flows intermittently in response to
rainfall and maintains a high quality of clean water. The acquisition of this property continues
to protect the high quality of water supply from
the Cienega Creek Natural Preserve and Agua
Verde Creek.
Photo by Linwood Smith.
Colossal Cave Mountain Park
Baker
Property
Cienega Creek
Natural
Preserve
Oversight and the Conservation Acquisition Commission
The Pima County Board of Supervisors formed the Conservation Acquisition Commission to ensure the highest accountability to the voters
for any open space acquisition. The purpose of the Commission is to
provide oversight and monitoring of all open space acquisitions that will
be placed before the Board of Supervisors for consideration. The Commission holds regular public meetings to discuss potential land purchases. Additional information on the Conservation Acquisition Commission and Pima County’s 2004 Open Space Bonds can be found at
http://www.bonds.pima.gov/commissionCAC/CACcommission.htm
Next meeting: Thursday, February 10, 2005 – 3:00 p.m., Manning
House, 450 West Paseo Redondo.
Conservation Acquisition
Commission members:
Bill Roe, Chair
Jan Johnson, Vice-Chair
Bill Arnold
Les Corey
Trevor Hare
Rob Marshall
Chuck Pettis
Tim Prouty
Wanda Shattuck
Tom Sheridan
Helen Wilson
VO LU M E 1, I S S U E 1
FRIENDS OF TH E SO NOR A N D ESE R T
PAGE 3
Sweetwater Preserve Acquisition
Location: Tucson Mountains
Size: 695 acres
Cost: $12 million
preserve protects diverse wildlife
habitat from the impacts of urban sprawl. It also ensures that
the trails throughout the property, which have been in use for
more than 50 years, remain accessible for horseback riders,
hikers, mountain bikers, walkers
and runners.
The acquisition of Sweetwater Preserve
protects a key segment of the Sweetwater Wash, which connects the Tucson
Mountain Park to the Santa Cruz River
corridor. Deer, gray fox, bobcat, toads,
bats, skunks, and snakes, among others,
rely on the Sweetwater Wash for suitable
habitat and a safe migration corridor.
Scenic views, recreational opportunities,
and archaeological resources are also
protected through the acquisition of this
property.
This parcel was the largest remaining
private, undeveloped parcel in the Tucson Mountains, which is under growing
threat of urbanization. The acquisition
and management of Sweetwater Preserve as an urban park and open space
Sweetwater Preserve is located
north of Sweetwater Drive, one
mile west of Camino de Oeste,
and south of Camino del Cerro.
It is just ½ mile from Saguaro
National Park West.
As CEO of Northwest Hospital, I depend on Tucson’s
blue skies and open lands to recruit our nation’s top
healthcare professionals to our community.
Jeff Comer, CEO of Northwest Hospital
A-7/Bellota Ranch Acquisition
Location: San Pedro River and Redington Pass
Size: 6,828 acres
Cost: $2 million
Formerly called the Bellota Ranch and dating back to
the 1870s, the A-7 Ranch covers rugged terrain and
stretches from Redington Road on the southwestern
corner of the Santa Catalina Mountains, northeast to
the San Pedro River. The Property was once associated with the Agua Caliente Ranch, which is now a
Pima County park. The property includes perennial
and intermittent streams, springs and shallow groundwater areas, cottonwood-willow forest, and mesquite
bosques.
Numerous priority vulnerable species are found on
the ranch, including the long-fin dace, lowland leopard frog, desert box turtle, needle-spined pineapple
cactus, Abert’s towhee and Swainson’s hawk. The
Photo: Pima County SDCP, Gale Bundrick.
ranch is also listed as a priority historic site in Pima
County’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the
Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan because of its
abundance of historic and prehistoric resources.
Friends of the Sonoran Desert
c/o Arizona Open Land Trust
1915 E. Camino Miraval
Tucson, Arizona 85718
Jacobs Trust Acquisition
Location: Tucson Mountains
Size: 80 acres
Cost: $601,336
Open space sells. It's the sizzle. It's what this
community is all about - the views, the ability
to look out over unspoiled tracts of land.
Bill Arnold, Tucson Realtor
The Jacobs Trust parcel acquired by Pima
County includes 80 acres connecting the
Tucson Mountain Park with the Santa Cruz
River corridor. Situated at the southwestern
base of the Tucson Mountains, the protection of this property preserves a priority
conservation area for the California leafnosed bat. Pima County is currently working to protect additional open space near
this property to enhance a wildlife corridor
from the Tucson Mountains to the Santa
Cruz River.
Photo by Vanessa Bechtol, Arizona Open Land Trust.