The Nature Conservancy gave the Morris K. Udall Outstanding Conservation Achievement Award in the public sector to both the agencies for their work in conserving more than 1,400 acres and 4.6 miles of river to the east of Fort Huachuca.
The land is a part of the Babocomari Ranch, nearly 28,000 acres between the Mustang and Huachuca mountains, owned and operated by the Brophy family since 1935.
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The Babocomari River, one of the San Pedro River’s largest tributaries, flows through the property and provides an estimated 5,200 acre-feet per year to the San Pedro groundwater system.
In what was dubbed an “unlikely coalition of partners,” the conservation group, Fort Huachuca, the BLM and Department of Defense contributed to the purchase of four conservation easements, or voluntary land protection agreements, this year.
In January, Fort Huachuca purchased the first two easements for $830,000 to prevent development along the fort’s East Range. In March, the BLM purchased an easement for $2.7 million, and in July, The Nature Conservancy purchased the fourth easement for nearly $2 million. Fort Huachuca will reimburse The Nature Conservancy over time with funds from the Army Compatible Use Buffer program.
The agreements protect wetland and grasslands on the ranch, which is a corridor for migrating wildlife, said Pat Graham, state director for The Nature Conservancy. It also prevents depletion of the river and encroachment issues for Fort Hucahuca.
Usually the organization chooses one state agency with conservation achievement but the award was given to two agencies for the first time this year for their equally deserving efforts, he said.
“It’s always a great motivator when a group can celebrate their accomplishments,” said Tom Runyon, an environmental engineer for Fort Huachuca and one of the representatives accepting the award.
The Nature Conservancy also has been thankful to the Brophy family for their efforts in the past as well as with the agreements, Graham said.
“The alternative was for it to be split up and become rows and rows of subdivisions and they chose a different course,” he said.
The conservation easements were the products of work since 2002, Ben Brophy said. The Brophy family has and still receives requests to purchase the ranch from developers but they felt a responsibility to keep the land intact.
“We didn’t want to see the land developed,” he said.
The Brophy family and The Nature Conservancy are hoping for continued partnerships to conserving other parts of the ranch.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Laura Ory can be reached at 515-4683.
