Landslide Victory for Open Space Bond
Demonstrates Community Support for Clean Air, Water and Land Protection Issues
Tucson, AZ – Pima County voters demonstrated the strength of their concern about protecting clean air and water and conserving the lands that help preserve water quality by overwhelmingly approving Question #1, a $174.3 million open space and habitat protection bond, in the May 18 special election. Question #1 earned 65.7% of the vote in Tuesday's election.
Passing Question #1 will allow Pima County to begin protecting nearly 186,000 acres of its most ecologically important Sonoran Desert lands--in places like Sabino Canyon, Tanque Verde Valley, Cienega Creek and the San Pedro River Valley. All are private or state lands available for purchase and in the path of development. The Nature Conservancy and its conservation partners, Friends of the Sonoran Desert, worked together for more than two years to identify Pima County's priority conservation lands; encourage the county's Board of Supervisors to include the open space bond measure on the ballot; and plan and carry out the successful campaign.
"With so much at stake, The Nature Conservancy invested more than we’ve ever contributed to any county or municipal election campaign in Arizona—more than $200,000 in addition to in-kind contributions of staff time and donated office space for Friends of the Sonoran Desert," said Pat Graham, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona. "Our conservation mission and our members demanded nothing less. Many organizations and private citizens worked tirelessly on this campaign and many have dug deep into their pockets to fund it.”
“We’re especially grateful to all of our conservation partners in the Friends of the Sonoran Desert coalition —Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, Sonoran Institute, Arizona Open Land Trust, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and The Conservation Campaign,” Graham added. “Established to pass the 1997 open space bond, this campaign proved that Friends of the Sonoran Desert could not only represent the conservation community, put could reach farther to inspire and motivate the community at large—even those who had lost hope and given up on voting."
For more than 37 years, The Nature Conservancy has been bringing people and resources together for the benefit of our land, our water and our way of life in Arizona. For nearly six years, the Conservancy has been working with Pima County staff, ranchers, conservationists, home builders, educators, business-people and many other citizens in our community to provide a sensible and science-based approach to plan for growth and protection of irreplaceable desert lands.
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