What Public Lands Are at Risk in Arizona?
Saguaro stands in Ironwood Forest National Monument. National Monumentsplaces like Arizonas Grand Canyon-Parashant, Agua Fria, and Ironwood Forest–are vulnerable to a recent Department of the Interior attack on land management agency procedures for protecting public lands as wilderness. In just the five national monuments in Arizona alone, citizens and the Bureau of Land Management have identified at least 1.1 million acres of untrammeled land that warrant wilderness designationyet these special landscapes may never be permanently protected. A common misperception is that National Monument status confers complete protection against development. In fact, a number of new monuments remain threatened by energy exploitation, habitat fragmentation, off-road vehicles, encroaching urbanization, and potential boundary reductions. Wilderness or WSA status would afford strong protections for the wildest parts of these places. Look over our list and see which places you have been to and enjoyed t
