NEWSLETTER OF THE ARIZONA WILDERNESS COALITION ARIZONA WILDWILD Growing Pains East Clear Creek Selling Green Amid the Glitz The Greatest Job in the World Don’t Move a Mussel SUMMER 2008 Arizona Wilderness Coalition Main Office THOUGHTS FROM THE KGB 520-326-4300 P.O. Box 40340, Tucson, AZ 85717 Growing Stronger and Smarter Phoenix Office 602-252-5530 P.O. Box 13524 by Kevin Gaither-Banchoff Phoenix, AZ 85002 Central Arizona Field Office rizona’s last wild public lands remain at risk. result of political and social pressures. 928-717-6076 They continue to be threatened by myriad Alone, many of us think we don’t have the power P.O. Box 2741 pressures – some that are unique to our to affect change or make our voices heard. When many Prescott, AZ 86302 Asouthwestern desert home and some that diverse individuals, business, and organizations speak are common to wild places across the west. Almost all up with a similar preservation/protection message, we Grand Canyon Field Office are threats that we--as individuals, businesses, and have the power to make positive changes and combat 928-638-2304 conservation organizations--can work to eliminate or the threats facing Arizona’s wild places. As we move P.O. Box 1033 minimize through education, constant engagement through 2008, we hope to permanently protect the Grand Canyon, AZ 86203 with allied stakeholders and our elected officials, and Tumacacori Highlands as Arizona’s first wilderness in cultivating a sense of land and water stewardship 17 years, see Fossil Creek become Arizona’s second Sky Islands Field Office amongst the public. Our feature permanently protected Wild & 520-624-7080 article in this issue of Arizona Scenic River, and set the stage for P.O. Box 41165 Wild, “Growing Pains,” (p.3) protecting other priority wild Tucson, AZ 85717 touches on ways we are working lands and waters across the state. to save the amazing Sonoran These are tasks we can only AWC Staff desert lands between Phoenix accomplish with you standing Kevin Gaither-Banchoff, Executive Director, and the Kofa National Wildlife with us. [email protected] Refuge, northward to the Verde I thank you again for being a Katurah Mackay, Communications Director, Valley, and between Phoenix and part of the Arizona Wilderness [email protected] Tucson. Coalition as we work to educate Sam Frank, Central Arizona Director, An increasing demand for and engage a broad Arizona con- [email protected] minerals has put an extra burden stituency about our valuable wild Alison Iaso Isenberg, Membership Coordinator, on our public lands for extrac- lands. If you are not yet a mem- [email protected] tion, as the price for copper and ber, I invite you to join us and be Danica Norris, Community Organizer, uranium skyrockets. For exam- part of our work (on page 15). [email protected] ple, in the last eight years, feder- al lands immediately south of the . Grand Canyon have faced almost AWC Board of Directors 1,600 uranium claims, five ura- President: Matt Skroch, Tucson nium exploration projects, and Vice-President: Brian Segee, Washington, D.C. the possible opening of one mine – exposing this Secretary: Don Hoffman, Alpine remote region and its wildlife to incredible noise, Treasurer: Kelly Burke, Flagstaff heavy equipment traffic, drilling, and much more. Curt Bradley, Tucson Another serious threat is the growth in off-road-vehi- Kim Crumbo, Flagstaff cle use and sales, which is too often matched with Trica Oshant Hawkins, Tucson owners who are either uneducated about how to ride Douglas Hulmes, Prescott in balance with a natural landscape, or who don’t care Bart Koehler, Durango and revel in carving new, illegal routes that fragment WE ARE PROUD TO CONTINUE Michael Quinlan, Tempe the landscape and drive away wildlife. THE CHALLENGE GRANT PARTNERSHIP Rob Smith, Phoenix We all know that Arizona has become one of the BETWEEN fastest growing states in the nation and that infrastruc- Mission Statement ture needs to be improved to meet expanding needs. The Arizona Wilderness Coalition’s mission is to The Arizona Wilderness Coalition brings tough ques- permanently protect and restore Wilderness and tions to the table about the actual need for potential other wild lands and waters in Arizona for the enjoy- new routes/roads and how to minimize impacts on ment of all citizens and to ensure that Arizona’s native Arizona’s untrammeled natural areas. The ecologically plants and animals have a lasting home in wild sensitive San Pedro River Valley was recently removed nature. We do this by coordinating and conducting from consideration as a route for a new I-10 bypass, inventories, educating citizens about these lands, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of concerned citi- AND enlisting community support, and advocating for zens, businesses, and organizations across southern their lasting protection. Arizona. Climate change, greenhouse gas pollution, and rising oil prices also require us to push elected officials for better solutions, including fresh ideas for building local light rail and expanded rail lines between Phoenix and Tucson. We are the only statewide organization focused pri- PLEASE HELP US MATCH THIS marily on protecting and restoring Arizona’s wilder- SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE GRANT OF ness, wild lands, and waters. Not only is it our job to $125,000 SUPPORTING THE CRITICAL ensure that our shared voice is heard when we defend WORK OF and advocate for existing and potential new wilderness areas: we must also take a landscape-level view that Arizona Wilderness Coalition Cover Photo: “Days End on the Sonoran Desert National allows us to address critical wildlife linkages. It will do Monument” © Mark Miller. us little good to protect Arizona’s most pristine wilder- PLEASE MAKE A GIFT BEFORE ness and roadless areas (such as East Clear Creek, in Inset Photo: Abandoned tire and other trash is common at DECEMBER 31, 2008 the monument. Photo: Danica Norris. our Wilderness to Watch on p. 7) if in the end, the ecosystems of which they are a part collapse because Design by Mary Williams/marywilliamsdesign.com they are fragmented, isolated, and/or mismanaged as a 2 ARIZONAWILD www.azwild.org Growing Pains: Our most treasured wild places face dramatic pressures that threaten to alter them forever by Kevin Gaither-Banchoff and Danica Norris ost people across Arizona know little As Arizona about the beautiful, wild Sonoran Desert goes through lands west of metro-Phoenix, a land- inevitable growing Mscape that includes a mix of private, pains and chal- state, and Bureau of Land Management lands. These lenges associated lands are home to many magnificent animal and plant with an exploding species, scattered protected places, and hundreds of population, we thousands of acres of unprotected and potential new must be vigilant in wilderness. A decade ago this region was known to our role as stew- few—adventurous hikers, biologists and amateur ards for Arizona’s archeologists, backcountry hunters, ranchers and big wild places. horn sheep advocates, folks who preferred living in Stewardship smaller, more remote towns, and other hardy individ- requires each of us uals happy to be far from Phoenix. to look out for the But not for long: new people and developments are natural places we The Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and its designated wilderness lies at the far western edge of the public racing outward from metro-Phoenix and continue to hold dear and lands “crescent” AWC is working to protect from future growth pressures. Photo: Danica Norris move westward every day. The Sonoran Desert, the ensure that their backdrop for Phoenix’s growth, is one of the most bio- integrity remains intact as wildlife habitat, open space, through Saddle Mountain and the Signal Mountain logically diverse deserts on the planet. Many of these and protection for our clean air and water. These val- and Woolsey Peak Wilderness Areas, all the way out to prized Sonoran Desert lands are coming under ues are critical to human quality of life, regardless of the Little Horn Mountains and the Kofa National increasing pressure and danger. Along with more peo- whether we’re hikers, hunters, off-road vehicle riders, Wildlife Refuge. The land then curls northward ple come heightened demands for expanded roads and birders, or arm chair travelers. through Big Horn Mountains and Hummingbird larger highways, new energy corridors and transmis- We often take the familiar Sonoran Desert and Springs Wilderness Areas up to the Harquahala and sion lines, more water needs, and more homes and other wild places around us for granted: forests of cen- Harcuvar Mountains and then back east jumping over retail areas. To some, these open expanses of undevel- tury old saguaros, the year-round green of the palo Wickenburg to the Hassayampa River Canyon oped public wild land are also seen as a playground verde trees, beautiful flowering barrel cacti, fair-weath- Wilderness, the Bradshaw Mountains, and the Agua for off-road vehicles, an open target range on saguaros, er ocotillos sprouting leaves when there’s enough water, Fria National Monument. desert trees and rare archeological sites, and a dump- mesquite trees dropping their pea pods as food for all, Scattered across the landscape of these public ing ground for unwanted household trash and haz- and the origin of that “desert rain” smell—the creosote lands are wilderness areas that have already been des- ardous waste. bush. Our wildlife is world-renowned: raptors like the ignated, protected forever by an act of Congress. These According to future growth projections, metropol- golden eagle and the great horned owl and other well- protected lands are almost all at higher elevations: in itan Phoenix and surrounding suburbs are part of the known birds like Gambel’s quail and the cactus wren, other words, mostly the peaks of the mountain ranges future “Sun Corridor,” an area stretching from Tucson coyote and bighorn sheep, kit fox and Sonoran out there, like the Eagletail Mountains and Woolsey all the way to Prescott and Flagstaff that will house sidewinders, tarantula and the Gila monster.