Deal would protect Grand Canyon land

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 11 a.m.

Two conservation groups announced a deal Tuesday that would make more than 850,000 acres of land on the north rim of the Grand Canyon off limits for development.

The Conservation Fund and the Grand Canyon Trust said the deal would include the purchase of two old ranches on the north rim -- the Kane and Two Mile ranches -- totaling about 1,000 acres. The deal would also bring with it grazing rights to 850,000 acres spanning 100 miles along the north rim.

The deal would connect three national monuments, two national recreation areas and eight wilderness areas. Besides the Grand Canyon, the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument and the Kaibab National Forest would be linked through the acquisition.

Federal agencies with lands next door to the ranches and the associated grazing areas include the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest Service.

Wal-Mart, the retail giant, would provide a $1 million grant to the effort. The grant, part of a much larger effort to aid conservation initiatives coast-to-coast also announced Tuesday, would be matched with other contributions, the organizations said. The purchase price would total $4.5 million.

Larry Selzer, president of the 20-year-old national Conservation Fund, said the deal was complex and would likely wrap up in September and would permanently protect the thousands of acres from development and overgrazing.

"As is typical in many ranching operations in the West, there are significant grazing rights attached to those core properties," Selzer said, referring to the two independent ranch properties.

He called the north rim area "really the hole in the doughnut" that is now unprotected. "The private land could be sold for development, which would diminish the integrity of the ecology of the landscape."

Selzer said the management plan for the ranches and surrounding area is still being developed. Ideally, the plan would keep the ranches as working models of how to blend sustainable ranching, recreation and conservation in the West.

"We plan to maintain the properties as working ranches, but on a much smaller sustainable scale," he said. "What we hope to do is establish a large-scale operation that will serve as a model for other ranching activities ... This project will serve as a model to show the way.

"It does mean for sure the property will be off limits for development."

The conservation groups pledged to work closely with neighboring private property owners, public agencies and tribal groups to develop a long-term management plan for the properties.

Bill Heddon, executive director of the Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Grand Canyon Trust, said his group will work with the Conservation Fund to develop the management plan and find ways to protect sensitive lands, including the highest density of old-growth ponderosa pine forest in the Southwest.

"We look forward to fulfilling our end of the bargain by working with the federal agencies and applying the best available science to restore these lands to their original ecological integrity and preserve their beauty for future generations," Heddon said.

Daniel Patterson, an ecologist for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, said the Grand Canyon Trust has a good record in the Southwest for managing desert areas, but eliminating, not reducing, grazing is needed for the region.

"They can reduce the environmental damage, but they can't make it sustainable," Patterson said. "These are extremely dry, hot places that are not suitable for livestock."

The groups also are not the final say on the grazing permits, called allocations, he noted. The federal government has in some cases turned over grazing permits to other private interests when conservation efforts have led to grazing cutbacks, Patterson said.

"We'd like to see the Bush Interior Department become a full cooperator in these kind of willing-seller arrangements," Patterson said.

A National Park Service representative said the agency would have to study the plan, but gave it a preliminary endorsement.

"We applaud the Grand Canyon Trust's efforts to provide for the management of these lands in a sustainable manner," said Maureen Oltrogge, spokeswoman for the park service at the Grand Canyon. "If successful in this effort, the entire north rim region should be the beneficiary."