Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection

The Coalition is a regional leader in Sonoran Desert conservation. Through dedication and hard work, we have created tangible and long-lasting positive change for the Sonoran Desert and are on our way to fully implementing the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, including the best regional Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan in the nation. Below is a list of some of our major achievements.

Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan

In 1998, the Coalition persuaded Pima County to adopt the far reaching Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) planning process. Since then, the Coalition has remained a key player in that process with direct influence on county staff and elected officials. The SDCP has gained national media attention, awards, and is on its way to becoming the standard for other communities to follow. Here, in Pima County, we have a chance to permanently protect large areas of the Sonoran Desert and show other communities how to effectively plan and implement a Habitat Conservation Plan.

• Through education, outreach, and close work with various stakeholders and county staff, Coalition-proposed interim conservation measures were created and approved by the Pima County Board of Supervisors. These conservation measures include the Conservation Lands System, a science-based land classification system that directs development to less biologically-sensitive areas in Pima County.
• Defeated numerous state legislative bills that would have undermined local decision-making regarding the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.
• Through efforts on the SDCP Steering Committee, achieved common ground with various stakeholder groups traditionally at odds with conservationists, including ranchers, developers, property rights advocates, realtors, and others.
• Created a public forum series to direct public input into the development of the SDCP. The forums’ topics have included “Livestock Grazing and the SDCP,” “Natural Resource Based Outdoor Recreation and the SDCP,” “Endangered Species Act & Habitat Conservation Plans,” “Economic Benefits of Conservation,” and others.
• Created a “Community Vision“ for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. The community vision outlines important next steps to achieve species and habitat conservation goals under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. This Vision reflects and builds upon recommendations of the SDCP Citizen’s Steering Committee.

Ironwood Forest National Monument

The Coalition was a key leader in the movement for the conception, promotion, design, and designation of the Ironwood Forest National Monument, which was established in June 2000. Managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, the monument is located 25 miles northwest of Tucson and protects over 129,000 acres of beautiful and rugged Sonoran Desert habitat.

Within the Monument over 470 species and subspecies of plants thrive. The monument is also home to up to 177 vertebrates and 821 invertebrates, which include the last remaining heard of desert bighorn sheep in eastern Pima County. For up-to-date information about the Ironwood Forest National Monument, visit our member group, Friends of Ironwood Forest.

2004 Open Space Bond

As a member of the “Friends of the Sonoran Desert” campaign committee, the Coalition facilitated a grassroots campaign to convince the Pima County Board of Supervisors to hold an open space bond election in May 2004. The bond, which passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote, has provided $174.3 million to fund protection of lands identified under the SDCP. To date, the 2004 Open Space Bond has been used to purchase over 71,000 acres of fee-owned lands and over 130,000 acres of leased state trust lands. All but a small amount of jurisdictionally-allocated funds have been spent. The Pima County Bond Advisory Committee is considering a new Open Space Bond for the November 2012 election.

Arizona State Trust Land Reform

The Coalition has been involved with many efforts to reform the State Trust Land system in Arizona. We have been most successful working with the State Land Department and local jurisdictions on the design of conceptual plans for State Trust Land parcels.

In 2008 and 2009, a successful collaborative process between the Coalition, Oro Valley, Pima County, and the Arizona State Land Department resulted in a planned wildlife linkage between the Tortolita and Catalina Mountains that runs through the proposed 9000-acre “Arroyo Grande” development just south of the Pima-Pinal County line. In tandem with this process, the Oro Valley Mayor and Council adopted the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan’s development guidelines for future annexations, which will help ensure that important biological resources within the Arroyo Grande planning area will be protected. Natural undisturbed open space, including a kilometer-wide wildlife linkage, will be located in contiguous common areas rather than in backyards, and provides a buffer to the already protected Tortolita Mountain Park. While Arroyo Grande has yet to be sold by the State Land Department, we will remain involved with land -use planning for this area until the wildlife linkage is permanently protected.

Regional Transportation Authority – Wildlife Linkages

While the County was developing the 2004 Open Space bond, local citizens began investigating the feasibility of forming a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) to address comprehensive transportation funding across the region. The nine-member RTA Board, representing local, state and tribal governments in the region, met for the first time in September 2004. During the ten-month planning process, the Coalition presented information about the effect of transportation infrastructure on wildlife habitat and linkages to the RTA Board and RTA advisory committees. The RTA was approved by Pima County voters in 2006, funded by a 1/2-cent sales tax over 20 years. Included in the package was $45 million of dedicated funding to protect and enhance wildlife linkages, the first time nationwide that such dedicated funding was including in a regional transportation program.

The Coalition, Arizona Department of Transportation, and other partners submitted a joint proposal to the Regional Transportation Authority Wildlife Linkages Sub-committee in September 2009 to construct wildlife crossing structures over and under State Route 77 / Oracle Road near Arroyo Grande. This project was approved for $8.2 million in funding in December 2009. These wildlife crossing structures will be installed during the Oracle Road widening project, currently scheduled to begin in 2013, and include two underpasses and one vegetated wildlife bridge. These structures will be built solely for the purpose of facilitating wildlife movement between vast preserve lands and will be the first of their kind in Pima County. Design of the SR77 wildlife crossings commenced in April 2011, with the Coalition’s Executive Director chairing the project’s Technical Advisory Committee.