Conservation of Desert Grassland Habitat

The editorial published in the January 3, 2007 edition of the Green Valley News and Sun, the Public Forum held at the Santa Rita Springs Recreation Center on January 4, and numerous articles in the Green Valley News and Tucson papers have raised an acute awareness of the rarity and fragility of undisturbed desert grassland ecosystems in Pima County. The Friends has formed a new committee to study the best way to protect this ecosystem at the mouth of renowned Madera Canyon from fragmentation and loss of unique habitat to development. The committee is The Defenders of Madera Canyon that consists of members of the Friends, residents of Madera Canyon and adjacent areas, and interested people who wish to keep the habitat around the Santa Rita sky island as natural as possible.

The impetus for the formation of the committee came from the recent proposal from Mike Kettenbach, a Massachusetts developer, to build a cluster development of 288 houses on the grasslands about one mile north of the canyon entrance. In the hearing before the Pima County Board of Adjustment on January 9, after much discussion, Mr. Kettenbach withdrew his application for a variance that would have allowed more houses than the open space rules would permit. This still leaves him with an option to propose a plan for a development with about 280 housing units. Even though over 80 percent of the area would not be developed (at this time), the Friends are hoping to work with Mr. Kettenbach to find a way to acquire the property that would be satisfactory to both Pima County and to Mr. Kettenbach. There are funds still available from the 2004 open space bond issue to pay for the land.

Mike Kettenbach joined the Friends of Madera Canyon as a Life Member in 1999 and by so doing should be committed to protecting the canyon in particular and the habitat at the base of the canyon so that the web of life that exists in this sky island ecosystem is not disturbed. Education is a prime goal of the Friends. We bring 4th grade students on field trips each spring and fall for a nature walk in the canyon to teach them about the sky island ecosystem and the life that exists there, how to protect and preserve the ecosystem, and keep it as a prime research and educational laboratory as well as a recreational area for local residents and visiting tourists. The Friends are instituting a scholarship program to encourage high school students to continue studies in some phase of natural history that might lead to a better understanding of how the nature of the canyon has developed and continues to evolve.

Mr. Kettenbach is working with Dale Faulkner, a local developer, to continue planning for the development, but at a recent meeting with the Defenders committee, he took an application that he can submit to indicate that he would be a willing seller of the land to the county. Working with the committee are representatives of the Tucson Audubon Society, the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, the Smithsonian Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, a hydrologist, Ben Lomeli, and other expert consultants. If the development proceeds, the committee and its experts will examine every step in the planning and development process to make sure all aspects are within current rules and regulations.

Should the Kettenbach family decide to allow the county to acquire the property and place it in a conservation easement, we may consider using part of it as an educational resource. Our current major project in the canyon is the construction of the Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail that explores the habitats of the canyon from the Proctor parking area upward in the canyon. It would add to the overall educational potential of the canyon to add a Kettenbach Grasslands exhibit and trail to the Nature Trail system.  The Defenders of Madera Canyon are meeting on a regular basis. Public forums will be announced in the Green Valley News and on the Friends web site (www.friendsofmaderacanyon.org). You can contact the committee by writing an email to: info@friendsofmaderacanyon.org. The work of the Defenders will cost the Friends for attorney fees and expert consultants. Your donation can help the Friends. Send a check made out to: Friends of Madera Canyon, P.O. Box 1203, Green Valley, AZ 85622 and note that it is for: Defenders of Madera Canyon.

-George C. West, For the Friends of Madera Canyon

 

Desert Grasslands that extend from the mouth of Madera Canyon northwest towards Green Valley. Photo by George West .