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- All Subjects: Desert conservation
- Creators: Muro, Mark
- Creators: Jones, Cory
This report examines how effectively Pima County’s natural open-space acquisitions have addressed priorities for conserving species’ habitats and landscape features identified in the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. The scope of this study is beyond the County's Multi-Species Conservation Plan, which is a subset of the overall Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.
A number of significant positive and negative economic impacts could result from Pima County's SDCP and related programs, according to an analysis of existing research on large-scale conservation planning undertaken to provide a framework for community decision-making. This report offers no final verdict on the net economic impact of Pima County's current, ambitious initiatives in habitat conservation and growth management. However, it does provide a framework for future assessment and decision-making.
A series of 51 individual stakeholder interviews and two focus groups conducted with members of the Pima County business community in fall, 2001, documented significantly divided opinion about the likely economic impacts of the county's SDCP. Only one major finding reflected consensus, while several others revealed sharp differences of opinion.