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SIERRA VISTA — In November 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, the first ever such federal designation to protect an environmentally sensitive area.
Although it is six months early, the 20th anniversary of the conservation area will be celebrated today in conjunction with the annual International Migratory Bird Day at the San Pedro House.
One of the midwives in seeing to the birth of the riparian area was Erick Campbell, who was the Bureau of Land Management’s project manager for the San Pedro River.
Without the creation of the SPRNCA, the 50,000 acres along miles of the river would possibly be the home to 2,500 20-acre ranchettes, said the now retired Campbell during a telephone interview from California.
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Much of the property that became the protected San Pedro wildlife refugee was owned by Tenneco Realty Development Corp., he said.
Tenneco had many visions for that land and other property it owned in and around Sierra Vista, which included subdivisions and a golf courses, according to news articles from issues of the Sierra Vista Daily Dispatch, the former name of the Sierra Vista Herald. Tenneco even leased some acreage to another company to grow sugar beets along the river.
But many residents and government officials were interested in seeing the river protected as a refuge for wildlife, Campbell said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initially expressed a desire to be the lead agency in creating the refuge, but it eventually backed out because of the millions of dollars Tenneco was seeking for the land, according to past newspaper articles.
Campbell said the BLM had a state director named D. Dean Bibles who had previous success in land exchanges with private companies. Bibles also saw the potential for doing something similar with the property along the San Pedro River.
That would mean obtaining congressional approval and having congressional leaders from Arizona committed to the idea, Campbell said.
The late Democratic congressman Mo Udall and now retired Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, along with Democrat U.S. Sen. Dennis Deconcini, stepped up.
They were the godparents of the SPRNCA, and Bibles was the father, Campbell said.
Once a decision was made to see if a land exchange could be done, a piece of property in the Phoenix area that was offered was attractive because it had infrastructure already linked to it, Campbell said.
Saving the San Pedro was important because “it was the last free-flowing river in the Southwest,” he said.
“It’s the most studied area in the United States,” Campbell added.
Before being named the project manager for the San Pedro River, Campbell was the BLM’s wildlife biologist at the Safford District. As such, he understood the importance of creating a refuge of wildlife.
The river has been designated a globally important bird flyway and has numerous species of mammals and reptiles that depend upon it for their existence.
Once the portion of the river was established as a riparian area, livestock was removed from the area and it was shut down as a place for people to party along the river. Campbell said many teens from Sierra Vista would go to the Charleston Bridge area and party to the detriment of the environment.
Even though the SPRNCA was approved, money was in short supply and for many years there wasn’t enough to do what he and future managers wanted to accomplish. Campbell oversaw the project for four years.
As part of establishing the area, Campbell was part of creating the Friends of the San Pedro, a group he said continued to keep the interest of the river and its environment alive.
For local residents Jim Horton and Tricia Gerrodette, the riparian area is critical to ensuring the area’s wildlife environment is saved.
Both are still concerned about what they see as developmental stress on the waterway, something Campbell also is concerned about.
The three praise Fort Huachuca for being a leader in conserving water.
“Fort Huachuca deserves the most accolades,” Campbell said.
And Gerrodette and Horton also say Sierra Vista and Cochise County leaders have recently stepped up as well, although not as much as the post.
Pressure has been put on local elected leaders and military officials due to lawsuits filed by environmentalists. Because the riparian area is a federal entity, it is open to lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act, and this has been used against the fort and has led to the development of biological opinions. The argument made by environmental groups is that the fort’s existence leads to growth and continued excessive pumping of groundwater to the detriment of the San Pedro River.
Gerrodette, a member of the Audubon Society, said there have been ups and downs when it comes to the river.
The Upper San Pedro Partnership has been instrumental in bringing together a number of federal state and local agencies, as well as conservation groups and some business leaders, although it overly emphasizes studies instead of solutions, she said.
In the future, residents of the Sierra Vista Subwatershed will eventually vote to establish a water district to ensure the river continues to flow.
Last spring, the Arizona Legislature approved the formation of a water district governing board that would take a proposal on a water district to the public for a vote. The water district’s organizing board started work last fall.
For Campbell, what he helped bring to life nearly two decades ago is still an infant in concept. While many miles away from the San Pedro, he still thinks about the importance of the river to humans and wildlife.
So as the SPRNCA closes in on its 20th year — the official dedication was in May 1989 — he said he hopes there will be many more years of celebration. That, he said, will only happen if ways are found to reduce human development along near the waterway.
In the late 1980s, 20-acre ranchettes were stopped. Now, Campbell said, it is up to local leaders and residents to decide the river’s future and that of the wildlife that depend on it.
“There are no freebies here,” he said.
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
FESTIVAL EVENTS
From bird walks to beginning birding class to authors signing their books, there is a day filled with events at the San Pedro House on Highway 90 today starting at 7 a.m. and lasting through the afternoon.
From 11 a.m. to noon, there will be a ceremony to celebrate the 20th anniversary of San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area by the Bureau of Land Management and the Friends of the San Pedro River. SPRNCA was the first riparian national conservation area in the United States.
Observer wrote on May 10, 2008 7:50 AM:
Ah, greed is good even in the high desert.
What next? "