Light rain falls over the Tucson Mountains in this view from Sentinel Peak.
Two properties, between the east face of the Tucson Mountains and the Sweetwater Preserve, were recently acquired by the environmental nonprofit, Trust for Public Land, boosting Saguaro National Park’s total property to more than 92,000 protected acres.
The two parcels amounted to 47 acres.
Michael Patrick is a senior project manager with the organization.
He said that since 2002, the organization and its partners have worked to acquire undeveloped land in Tucson for protection and preservation with the intention of creating a linkage between the park and preserve.
“If you can connect those two units up, then you can almost create a wildlife corridor linkage all the way from the east face of the mountains down to the Santa Cruz River,” Patrick said. “We’re also hopeful that over time, there might also be some recreational trails that can connect Sweetwater Preserve with Saguaro National Park in this area.”
Neither parcel has been developed and will remain open space.
Patrick said the two properties cost a little over $1 million and that the funding came from the Land and Water Conservation Fund through the National Park Service.
“The fund is designed so that it doesn’t use taxpayer dollars but instead, it takes the government share of offshore oil and gas royalties and then reinvest some of that into our natural resources,” he said.
The nonprofit also received financial assistance from Pima County and the Southern Arizona Hiking Club.
“We are hopeful to acquire some more lands for the park over time, we’ve got another few projects identified right here in this area and then some projects over in the Rincon Mountain unit of Saguaro,” Patrick said.
So far, the organization has helped add 2,300 acres of land in and around the park.
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