Thanks to your overwhelming sup-port for open space protection, Pima County is now on track for spending the largest amount of public funds for open space acquisitions in Ari-zona’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-

noran Desert, a committee organized for the purpose of passing Question 1, continues to support the protec-tion of open spaces. The Friends of the Sonoran Desert Open Space Bond Newslet-ter 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 high-lights the first four open space acqui-sitions: Baker, Sweetwater Preserve, the A-7 Ranch, and the Jacobs Trust property.

Volume 1, Issue 1

Thank you for your support to protect open space! 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

Baker Acquisition 2 Oversight Committee 2 Sweetwater Preserve 3 A-7 Ranch Acquisition 3

Jacobs Trust Acquisition 4

Inside this issue:

FRIENDS OF THE SONORAN DESERT Open Space Bond Newsletter

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

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

Sweetwater Preserve Acquisition

Jacobs Trust Acquisition

Baker Acquisition

A-7/Bellota Ranch Acquisition I-10

I-10 I-19

Location: Agua Verde Creek Size: 155 acres Cost: $226,341 The Baker property acquired by Pima County includes a lush, densely vegetated half-mile seg-ment 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 prop-erty 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 wa-ter. The acquisition of this property continues to protect the high quality of water supply from the Cienega Creek Natural Preserve and Agua Verde Creek.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors formed the Conservation Ac-quisition 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 Com-mission holds regular public meetings to discuss potential land pur-chases. Additional information on the Conservation Acquisition Com-mission 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.

Baker Property at Agua Verde Creek

Oversight and the Conservation Acquisition Commission

PAGE 2 FRIENDS OF THE SONORAN DESERT VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Cienega Creek Natural Preserve

Baker Property

Colossal Cave Mountain Park

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

Photo by Linwood Smith.

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 associ-ated with the Agua Caliente Ranch, which is now a Pima County park. The property includes perennial and intermittent streams, springs and shallow ground-water areas, cottonwood-willow forest, and mesquite bosques.

Numerous priority vulnerable species are found on the ranch, including the long-fin dace, lowland leop-ard frog, desert box turtle, needle-spined pineapple cactus, Abert’s towhee and Swainson’s hawk. The

Location: Tucson Mountains Size: 695 acres Cost: $12 million The acquisition of Sweetwater Preserve protects a key segment of the Sweet-water 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 Tuc-son Mountains, which is under growing threat of urbanization. The acquisition and management of Sweetwater Pre-serve as an urban park and open space

preserve protects diverse wildlife habitat from the impacts of ur-ban sprawl. It also ensures that the trails throughout the prop-erty, which have been in use for more than 50 years, remain ac-cessible for horseback riders, hikers, mountain bikers, walkers and runners.

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.

A-7/Bellota Ranch Acquisition

Sweetwater Preserve Acquisition

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.

PAGE 3 FRIENDS OF THE SONORAN DESERT VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

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

Photo: Pima County SDCP, Gale Bundrick.

Friends of the Sonoran Desert c/o Arizona Open Land Trust 1915 E. Camino Miraval Tucson, Arizona 85718

Location: Tucson Mountains Size: 80 acres Cost: $601,336 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 protec-tion of this property preserves a priority conservation area for the California leaf-nosed bat. Pima County is currently work-ing to protect additional open space near this property to enhance a wildlife corridor from the Tucson Mountains to the Santa Cruz River.

Jacobs Trust Acquisition

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

Photo by Vanessa Bechtol, Arizona Open Land Trust.