Tortolita Alliance (TA) attended the Tucson/Santa Cruz River Region Wildlife Partnership Workshop (Workshop) on September 24 and 25, 2024 at Pima College-Desert Vista Campus. The Workshop was sponsored by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and attendees included approximately 70 individuals representing 30 local environmental organizations, Tohono O'Odham Nation, University of Arizona, Pima County Flood Control District (PCFCD), FWS and more.
Please see our previous blog Tucson Urban Wildlife Conservation Program for the Wildlife Refuge, Partnership and Bird Treaty background information.
This serves as a summary of the Workshop and an important announcement. Workshop and other important references are available for download at the Reference Section at the end this blog.
Day One-Partnership Action Planning
FWS provided a overview of the Urban Wildlife Conservation Partnership Program (Partnership) inlcuding key components, processes and values/benefits. Examples of Partnerships in other parts of the US were included.
The participants broke out into groups and analyzed and developed strategic needs in the following areas: Wildlife & Habitat, Community Engagement & Stewardship, Environmental Justice and Urban Greenspace.
Day Two-Land Protection
The Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge (Wildlife Refuge) Landscape Conservation Plan (LSP) has already been submitted and approved by FWS. It includes the following four initial specific land protection areas. They are described in more detail at the links in the Reference section below and you can see their location on the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge map (left).
Tortolita Lands
FWS also appealed to the attendees to identify other lands that should be incorporated into the Wildlife Refuge. TA requested that all the state trust land in the Tortolita Mountains and Tortolita Fan (Tortolita Lands) be included. This is a total of 25,600 acres (40 square miles) of beautiful Sonoran Desert within the watershed of the Santa Cruz River. This is a very small fraction (0.3 %) of the 9.2 million acres of state trust land in Arizona. The Tortolita Lands would be all the state trust land shown within the shaded oval in the map below. TA followed up with a written Letter Request which is available in the Reference section.
Conserving the Tortolita Lands is not a new concept.
In 1996, House Bill 2555 was enacted creating the Arizona Preserve Initiative (API). API was "designed to encourage the preservation of select parcels of state trust land in and around urban areas for open space to benefit future generations". In 1997, that bill was amended by House Bill 2303 which added the Tortolita Lands to list of select parcels. See Effects of Urbanization Symposium-API Presentation to learn more about API.
In 2012, the Sonoran Institute assembled a database of state trust lands suitable for conservation and prepared a very nice pamphlet, Arizona State Trust Lands Conservation Profile: The Tortolitas.
TA's intent is to resurrect these previous efforts in conjunction with the Wildlife Refuge, Partnership and Bird Treaty.
We are not naive and realize this will take considerable collobaration from federal, state, and local government and the tribes. And most importantly it will require tremendous support and volunteers from the public. We feel this is our best chance to save and protect these beautiful lands and the wildlife, plants and cultural history they support for future generations and at the same time protect the Santa Cruz River.
TA will be reaching out to its members and other citizens in the weeks and months ahead to learn how you can support the Tortolita Lands and Wildlife Refuge initiative.