The Southeast Arizona Land Trust is dedicated to conserving private land in a three county area -- Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Graham Counties. 

Arizona is now the fastest growing state in the nation.  Growth patterns here indicate an urgent need for protecting land from urban encroachment, subdivision of rural parcels, and from destruction of watersheds and wildlife habitat and corridors.  Though meaningful accomplishments have been made, thousands of significant acres remain vulnerable to the rapid development occurring throughout southeast Arizona.

Southeast Arizona is rich in history, culture, regional character, natural resources and biodiversity, all of which contribute greatly to our collective heritage and community identity.  For many of us, saving the places that enrich our lives is reason enough to support conservation.  But much more is at stake.  Ensuring that our natural areas are preserved is critical to the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.  Conservation is essential to healthy, prosperous communities.

Way of Life at Stake
Ranches and the natural landscapes they protect are increasingly threatened with urban encroachment and fragmentation as a consequence of the conversion of ranch lands to real estate development.  According to USDA reports, annual rangeland loss in the 11 western states may be as high as 2 – 3 million acres.  Grazing lands provide many benefits to people, including clean air and water, forage for livestock, and wildlife habitat. Keeping these lands in working agriculture is critical to maintaining local and regional agricultural economies, plant and wildlife habitat and the integrity of natural areas.

Ranchers are some of the best stewards around.   Most ranches are family-owned enterprises, often representing the descendants of original homesteaders who established ranching operations in the late 1800’s. By virtue of the ongoing land stewardship and management provided by ranchers, ranch lands preserve vast landscapes of open space, maintain natural connectivity, and preserve our rural heritage and culture. 

Conservation Values at Stake
Places like the undeveloped San Rafael Valley are one of the last places left in the West where the eye can roam free across scenic vistas with no electric wires or paved highways to bring you back into the 21st century.

Southeastern Arizona enjoys some of the most biologically diverse habitat in North America, including flowing streams; important desert, riparian, and grassland habitat; sky island mountain ranges with multiple life zones; unfragmented corridors for wildlife movement and migration; and diverse plant and animal communities, including many endemic and tropical species not found in other regions of the United States.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates that the “Madrean Sky Island” bioregion, of which the San Rafael Valley is part, harbors the greatest diversity of mammal species in all of North America.  Big game species are abundant in the valley – white-tailed deer, mule deer, javelina, and pronghorn.  Many of these species use the valley as a migration corridor to travel between ranges, while other species inhabit the grasslands valley floor. 

Sixty to seventy-five percent of all species in Arizona rely on a riparian environment at some point during their life cycle. Sadly, native fish like the endangered Gila chub are now restricted to a few springs and relatively short Santa Cruz river and stream segments in southern Arizona.

Southeastern Arizona is unsurpassed among North American bird watchers. The Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers represent two of the four major north-south migratory bird corridors on the southwestern United States.  The San Pedro alone is home to more than 100 species of breeding birds and provides invaluable habitat for up to four million migratory birds each year.  The river also supports 80+ species of mammals, two native and several introduced species of fish, and more than 40 species of amphibians and reptiles.

Cultural Resources
This part of Arizona is one of America’s longest inhabited regions, with traces of human occupation extending back more than 12,000 years.  The Santa Cruz Valley is the homeland of the Tohono O’odham – a Native American tribe that has lived here since very ancient times.  The region is also home to numerous ghost towns, historically significant trails, and historic communities. 

On this page...

What's at stake

Sense of urgency and threats

Map