We regularly attend Pinal County’s Board of Supervisor meetings to monitor for proposed local code changes and intervention opportunities. This is done in order to prevent surprises like the 2020 proposed Rivian project.

We stay connected to various regional conservation-related groups to keep informed about policy changes and the need for action. Our networking groups include the Superstition Area Land Trust (SALT), the Central Arizona Conservation Alliance (CAZCA), the Pinal Partnership Open Space Committee, the Superstition Region Public Land Managers group, Pinal County’s Open Space and Trails Department, and others.

We wrote a conservation-centered Gold Canyon Community Plan (draft in circulation for review in the fall/winter of 2023) to serve as a basis for a “special area plan” around Gold Canyon. Using base information from SALT’s 2001 Superstition Area Land Plan and Pinal County’s Open Space and Trails Master Plan, the Conservation chapter of the Gold Canyon Community Plan is supplemented with a localized list of special status wildlife species that are in need of conservation and contains eight concrete goals for conservation, each supported by specific policy recommendations.

These recommendations include establishing a set of ordinances for environmentally sensitive lands with natural open space requirements, similar to the Scottsdale “Hillside Ordinance.” The Hillside Ordinance eventually led to the creation of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which encompasses more than 30,000 acres of protected land. We are advocating a similar process in Gold Canyon to protect the 12,000 acres of state trust land north of US 60.

We helped organize and participated in the successful concerted effort to relocate hundreds of cacti before they were destroyed by a new development in Entrada del Oro.

We entered a volunteer agreement with the newly established Peralta Regional Park.