Vital wildlife and bird migration corridors along the San Pedro River east of Tucson will get protection as part of a partnership involving landowners, The Nature Conservancy and government agencies.
Owners of four private properties — totaling 613 acres — along the river signed conservation easements that will protect the land from development, said Tana Kappel, spokeswoman for The Nature Conservancy.
“These were among some of the last private properties in the area that weren’t protected,” Kappel said. “The agreements closed in mid-October. They will protect the cottonwood-willow bosques (forests) that are very important to migrating birds and wildlife.”
She said the landowners received financial payments for giving up their development rights to the land.
The Nature Conservancy served as a “sort of facilitator and negotiated between landowners and the government agencies” including the U.S. Forest Service, Arizona State Forestry Division and Arizona Game and Fish Department, Kappel said.
Lynda Lambert, spokeswoman for the Game and Fish Department, said the agreements are very beneficial because they “help preserve the habitat — important riparian habitat that isn’t found in many places in Arizona. The San Pedro is one of the last flowing rivers, and that’s very important for a lot of wildlife species.”
Among the birds likely to benefit is the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. Other wildlife species that frequent the river valley include beavers, coatimundis, javelinas, foxes, bobcats, bears and mountain lions.
In addition to preventing development, the agreements will also prevent pumping of water, which could harm the river.
The San Pedro ecosystem was selected in 2010 as the top national priority for protection through the Forest Legacy Program, which funds conservation easements on private forest lands that provide important benefits like water and wildlife habitat and have a high potential for being developed.
