Letter: Palo Verde Regional Park will protect desert lands

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Charlie and Becky Goff

By Charlie and Becky Goff

The Pinal County Open Space And Trails Department is currently in the Master Planning process for the proposed Palo Verde Regional Park, one of seven proposed in the county. Its 23,000 acres would include most of the Palo Verde Mountains and connect to the Table Top Wilderness Area, Sonoran Desert National Monument and Anza National Historic Trail.

The Master Plan for the Regional Park will outline what recreational activities will be available and where they will be located. Four alternatives have been developed: “A” is No Action, while “B” through “D” incorporate increasing levels of recreational opportunities and amenities.

Public comments on the four alternatives will be accepted through Friday, July 15, on the Department’s website at http://www.pinalcountyaz.gov/OpenSpaceTRails/ParkTrailPlanning/Pages/PaloVerdeCommentForm.aspx

The area was first identified as a future regional park in the Pinal County Open Space and Trails Master Plan (OSTMP), adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2007.  It was included in the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2009 and updated in 2014. The City of Maricopa has also named this area as a future regional park in its General Plan.

Throughout the planning process and since, citizens have reinforced their commitment to preservation of open space and access to trails and recreational opportunities. Pinal County residents’ values are documented in the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan (Pinal County Vision page 29) and summarized in Chapter 6 as follows:

Pinal residents emphasized that they value:
Open space
Rural atmosphere and environment
Natural beauty
History and heritage
Night sky and clean air
Diversity

Pinal residents emphasized that they don’t want to lose:
Open space
Diversity
Sense of community
Agriculture
Uniqueness
Clean air, water, environment
Water resources
Wildlife

Pinal County has become the fastest growing county in Arizona. With so many diverse resources and so much opportunity, the Pinal Partnership was formed in 2005 to bring together people and ideas to help it reach its full potential. The mission of the Partnership’s Open Space and Trails Committee is twofold: to promote the value of existing and planned parks, trails, public lands and open space, and to influence stake- and land-holders to plan for and provide them.

As expressed in a letter of support from one of the committee partners, the proposed park would provide protection of significant desert ecosystems, quality recreation options for residents and visitors, connections to adjacent biological communities, linkage to regional trail systems, opportunities for environmental education and scientific study, conservation of critical riparian areas and biological corridors, dust abatement and a chance to restore the integrity of plant and animal communities damaged by unregulated OHV and other activities historically occurring in the area.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the landowner for the proposed regional park. There is no charge for a CRMA (Cooperative Recreation Management Area) agreement, under which Pinal County and the BLM would cooperatively manage the passive and active recreational uses of land. Since the BLM manages land for multiple uses – including commercial development and extractive industries – any of these could be located at the site at some point until the land is protected by some other status such as the CRMA. Beginning this process now allows Pinal County to safeguard its resources and recreational values both today and into the future.

The Committee therefore supports Alternatives B-D, compatible with the Open Space and Trails Department’s mission “to provide outdoor leisure, recreation, environmental, cultural and natural resource management services to Pinal County residents and visitors so they can  have access to, understanding and enjoyment of the natural assets of Pinal County.”


Charlie and Becky Goff are co-chairs of the Pinal Partnership Open Space & Trails Committee.

5 COMMENTS

  1. This "park" is a horrible idea. Basically it is a money grab by the city, county, and state. All of the things included in the park can be done today for free. So there will be a fee to hike at the park or go shooting( if they even allow shooting). Why do so many people feel the need to control everything, can't we just leave the area the way it has been for centuries.

  2. If we left it the way it's been for centuries, you would be asking the Ak-Chin for permission to go there.

    If were the way it was 100 years ago, there wouldn't be old tires, household appliances, furniture, and televisions dumped throughout the landscape.

    If it were the way it was before 1853 and the Gadsden Purchase, you would need a passport to visit the area because it would be in Mexico.

    Calling this a land grab or a money grab is a scare tactic by those who want to see things made cheap and easy for them. without regard for anyone else.

    Let's develop this land as a regional park and protect it for future generations.

  3. Are none of you looking at the cost associated with this park? The pro-park are acting like Pinal tax payers have money to burn! Pinal doesn't own or operate SanTan park in Pinal, they would owe Maricopa county who BTW manages the park, $7.5 million. Open spaces even admitted they have not secured funding for this project.

    I'm all for protecting land, but there are better options then allowing the county to grab nearly every sq mile of BLM land in Pinal, because that is what is happening?

    BLM does not historically sell of land to developers, they do allow grazing rights which is why the BLM was started in 1934.

    So whats to stop Pinal from shutting the gate on this so-called park when they run out of money to keep it open? Where are the guarantee's that will not happen? What are the guarantee's that littering will stop? You really think the illegals are gonna stop using it all of a sudden when a park shows up? Who is going to run emergency services? PCSO is under staffed now, don't believe me just make an emergency call and wait? Who's going to run medical emergencies out there? MFD, nope guess again! AMR ambulance, you may get an ambulance at some point?

    Calling this a "land grab" is not a scare tactic, it's fact. The county is trying to snatch up BLM land across the county. It's not about cheap and easy, it's about whats fair and affordable.

    Yeah it sucks that there are a handful of jerks that litter, but pound for pound the illegals have dumped more trash then anyone out there. Don't believe me, lets meet up and go for a drive and have a look see?

    A park would be fine but within a reasonable area, taking ALL the land from 238 to I-8 is greedy! The 4 so-called park designs are ridiculous when you take an area that pretty much ALL outdoor activities can be enjoyed on(within reason) and then you offer plans that will shut off an entire demographic of users is not right by any means! I saw rock climbing on one of the plans, laughable at best! I spent 15+ yrs as a professional climber and yes I got paid to do it. There isn't any rock faces to support ANY climbing worth driving out there for. The rock is a high desert de-composing granite and is some of the worst in the state, you wouldn't want to climb it. It is a crumbling pile of choss! I also asked Kent who was going to build the OHV trails? He stated they would hire a company. I know for a fact that is false, I have built miles of single-track trails and they are 99.9% done by volunteers from local riding groups(and the riding club I'm in has never been approached yet for this task). On forest land the forest employees help with this. This open spaces is out of touch with the citizens it serves, this is a group of people who are narrow minded about other users of public lands