A Diverse Bunch on Mountains’ Side: 10 Conservation Groups Form Coalition to Save the Santa Ritas
By Tim Ellis, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
Feb. 28–The Santa Rita Mountains provide a paradise for hikers, bicyclists and bird-watchers — and a home for wildlife that is being squeezed on all sides by a growing human population.
But the Santa Ritas and surrounding areas are under threat, mainly by mining and development, according to a new coalition of 10 local conservation groups trying to sound the alarm and save the mountains.
The diverse groups that have formed the Santa Rita Mountains Conservation Coalition will share their concerns in a public forum to be held Saturday in Green Valley.
“We’re all interested in the same thing: trying to preserve the beauty and ecology of the mountains and the (Santa Cruz) valley,” said Thomas Purdon, a member of Friends of Madera Canyon.
Members of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas will outline their case against a proposed mile-wide, open-pit copper mine that mainly would affect the other side of the mountains.
The Rosemont Mine not only would devastate the scenery and ecology of the eastern slopes of the Santa Ritas, but it also could hurt water quality and quantity on both sides of the mountains, said Gayle Hartmann, the group’s president.
“We’re coming together as a sort of umbrella organization to have a forum, to show people what’s happening all around the mountains,” she said.
A third group involved in organizing the forum, the Green Valley-based Committee to Save the West Desert Preserve, will make the case for preserving a 2,000-acre swath of land west of Green Valley.
“There are quite a few different groups in the region interested in conservation, and the thought was that we should get together and support each other, because there’s a lot of overlap in our interests,” said Bill Adamson, committee president.
Mountain bikers to attend
Martha Lemen, president of the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists, said her group will be at the forum to emphasize the mountain bikers’ perspective.
“Outdoor spaces should be important for all of us,” Lemen said. “We’re interested in working with other user groups to highlight the responsible use of places like the Santa Ritas.”
Paul Green, executive director of the Tucson Audubon Society, said his group’s role in the forum will be to outline small- and large-scale impacts of developments in the area to accommodate a growing population.
The smaller-scale concerns involve two proposed high-density developments south of Green Valley: the 2,600-home Las Mesas, near Tubac, and the 6,800-home Sopori Ranch, near Amado.
The developments, which the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved in December, are contrary to the principles of smart growth that state and Pima County officials have been trying to establish, Green said. The developments violate the principles that promote regional planning and discourage developing rural areas far away from workplaces, Green said.
“Most of the people in those developments will have to travel by car to go to work, adding extra traffic to I-19 and more carbon to our atmosphere,” he said.
The bigger concern is over the impact of these and other developments on wildlife habitat, especially critical habitat linkages — large, contiguous areas where animals live and roam.
Such developments fragment habitat, which is one of the biggest concerns over another development — Cielo Madera Estates, a 180-home subdivision that has been proposed for an area at the foot of Madera Canyon.
Watershed concerns
Purdon said he will outline those concerns at the forum, and others — including effects on water resources and night-sky brightness — that he said would be caused by the development.
Likewise, he said, the Rosemont Mine would negatively affect an area beyond the eastern slopes of the Santa Rita, where a Canadian-based company wants to develop the mile-wide open-pit mine.
Purdon echoes concerns expressed by county officials that the mine could diminish, and possibly contaminate, the Cienega watershed, which feeds Cienega Creek, a source of water for Tucson.
A more immediate concern is the mine’s potential impact on water on the west side of the Santa Ritas, in the Santa Cruz basin, he said. Hundreds of Sahuarita Heights residents have expressed alarm over several wells being drilled in their area east of Sahuarita by Augusta Resource Corp. and its Phoenix-based subsidiary, Rosemont Copper Co.
If the federal government gives the go-ahead for the mine, the companies intend to pump at least 100,000 acre-feet of water over 20 years from that area just east of Sahuarita and send it by pipeline to the mine on the other side of the Santa Rita Mountains.
Mining company officials say they will replace the groundwater with Central Arizona Project canal water, even though they are not legally required to do so. But the company has not provided details on the so-called recharge facilities, and it only recently began a detailed hydrological study of the mine wells’ impact.
A guide to the Santa Rita Conservation Coalition
Major forum issues
–Cielo Madera Estates, a 180-home subdivision proposed for an area at the foot of Madera Canyon, west of Green Valley. Concerns: The development could fragment wildlife habitat; overburden roads, other infrastructure and emergency services; create light pollution, interfering with operations at Whipple Observatory atop Mount Hopkins; and affect groundwater quality and quantity.
–The Rosemont Mine, an open-pit copper mine on the eastern slopes of Santa Ritas, south of Corona de Tucson. Concerns: The operation could destroy and disrupt wildlife habitat; harm scenic views; congest Arizona 83 with a large increase of heavy truck traffic; and affect groundwater quality and quantity.
–West Desert Preserve, a 2,000-acre swath of land west of Green Valley. Concerns: Backers of an effort to create the preserve say it’s one of the few undeveloped patches of desert that is home to more than 100 Pima pineapple cacti, an endangered species. It’s also a popular hiking area that’s readily accessible to Green Valley residents.
Coalition members
Members of the Santa Rita Mountains Conservation Coalition, an ad-hoc group formed to call attention to threats to the Santa Ritas, include:
–Friends and Defenders of Madera Canyon; for more information, go online to www.friendsofmaderacanyon.org or write to P.O. Box 1203, Green Valley, AZ 85622-1203.
–Save the Scenic Santa Ritas: www. scenicsantaritas.org, 495-4339.
–Save the West Desert Preserve: savethewestdesertpreserve.org, 648-7352.
–Tucson Audubon Society: www. tucsonaudubon.org, 622-5622.
–Sky Island Alliance: www.skyisland alliance.org, 624-7080.
–Committee for Responsible Growth: P.O. Box 4761, Tubac, AZ 85646, 237-9794.
–Friends of Tumacacori Highlands: www.tumacacoriwild.org, 624-7080.
–Cactus Huggers: www.cactushuggers.com, 207-8452.
–Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists: www.sdmb.org, 290-0002.
–Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project: www.swjag.org, 883-4029.
Saturday forum on threats to the Santa Rita Mountains
The Santa Rita Mountains Conservation Coalition’s public forum will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Green Valley Community Church, 300 W. Esperanza Blvd.
The church is at the corner of Esperanza and La Canada Drive, about a half-mile west of Interstate 19 off Exit 65.
Members of three groups — Defenders Committee of the Friends of Madera Canyon, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas and the Committee to Save the West Desert Preserve — will speak and answer questions.
Members of at least seven other groups will provide information about their organizations and their concerns about the Santa Ritas.
Local officials and representatives from community groups also will attend.
For more information, call Thomas Purdon at 648-7080, e-mail info@friendsofmadera canyon.org, or go online to www. friendsofmaderacanyon.org.
–Contact reporter Tim Ellis at 807-8414 or tellis@azstarnet.com.
—–
To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azstarnet.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
AMEX:AZC,