On August 15, 1988 the Board of Supervisors appointed an eleven-member citizens' committee to develop policies designed to guide future growth and development in the Fort Valley area. The committee selected the issues of concern which included water, fire protection, solid waste disposal, utilities, environmental quality, roads, and land use. The study area decided upon was that depicted on the Department of Community Development's Fort Valley Zoning Map. This includes all lands outside of the incorporated City Limits of Flagstaff on both sides of Fort Valley Road/Highway 180 out to and including the Fort Valley and Baderville areas. The Committee decided to exclude Hart Prairie and Kendrick Park. Throughout the process, the Committee thought of the study area as being in tow distinct parts. South Fort Valley included the Lockett property, Colton Ranch area, Mount Elden Lookout Road, Schultz Pass Road, the Magdalena/Van Sickle area, Forest Hills and Hidden Hollow. North Fort Valley included Fort Valley Ranch, both sides of Highway 180 in the main valley, and Baderville.

If one species had to be chosen to preserve and restore, perhaps it should be cottonwood. Cottonwood-willow forests, where they exist and are healthy, indicated the presence of a viable riparian area, which is in turn the key to conserving great proportions of our native species. A reflection of the dire status of our riparian systems is that the Sonoran cottonwood-willow and Sonoran mesquite-cottonwood forests.