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- All Subjects: Ranches
- All Subjects: Wildlife conservation
- Creators: Pima County (Ariz.). County Administrator's Office
Through the conservation of ranchland in eastern Pima County, the metropolitan urban boundary is better defined, vast landscapes of open space retain their integrity and the heritage and culture of the West is preserved.
To prevent unwanted urban sprawl and unregulated development, it is most important that Pima County encourage and retain viable ranches. Ranching is a significant land use that has served to protect our natural open space, and it continues to be an important traditional industry that has shaped the rural landscape.
Demonstrates that an effort to protect only listed species would lead to a reserve that was closer to the urbanizing areas of Tucson, and therefore more expensive. The Listed Species Reserve is also one that makes a call on more non-federal land. By limiting the focus of the reserve to listed species, the broader and long term benefits are lost, and trade-offs of high potential habitat are not based on such comprehensive biological principles.
A companion to the Preliminary Ranch Conservation Element, this report brings together leaders in the area of ranch conservation and compiles their expert writings on ecological and economic sustainability in ranching.
Drafted to facilitate discussion of implementation options. The concepts will assist in future planning and implementation discussions that take place as the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan is finalized. A purchase of development rights program could assist in the funding of open space lands that contribute to the overall conservation reserve.
The author takes issue with the statement, "Only three percent of the cows are from the West" and discusses all that is involved in raising cows that are then shipped east to graze before slaughter. They forget that they were born and raised out here. The Altar Valley alone produces millions of pounds of beef a year.
We need to look at what is management and how it has changed. What was once considered good practice in farming in some areas is no longer considered good practice because you are losing soil. The same thing is happening in ranching and as we look at the way range management has changed in the last 30 years, it is really dramatic in what the goals and objectives are of those people that are on the land is to stay on the land.
The Santa Rita Ranches operate in cooperation with the Santa Rita Experimental Range located to the west of the Santa Rita Mountains, in the upper Santa Cruz Valley. It was established in 1903 and is recognized as a principal site for research on the improvement and management of semiarid grasslands in the Southwest.
On the County's behalf, the Arizona Open Land Trust has entered into two purchase agreements for the Buckelew Farms property. Under this conservation acquisition proposal, farming would continue in the areas currently farmed, grazing would continue on a seasonal basis, and the popular annual pumpkin festival would continue. However, the County and the Buckelew's would work together to enhance opportunities for wildlife habitat on the farm and grazing lands.