Trust buys farm south of Tucson to protect 'vanishing western landscapes'

The Arizona Land and Water Trust has completed its purchase of the Sopori Farm, a historic spread in Amado once targeted for development as part of a 6,800-home, master-planned community.

The Tucson-based nonprofit closed on the final 886 acres of the farm along Sopori Creek late last month for an undisclosed amount.

Cameron Becker, conservation director for the trust, said they plan to place a protective easement on the property to permanently preserve it as farmland and wildlife habitat, as they search for a conservation-minded buyer interested in maintaining it as a working, ecologically friendly agricultural operation.

He said the farm has a lot to offer, with 327 acres of irrigated farmland adjacent to the frontage road on the west side of Interstate 19 and sitting atop one of the few shallow groundwater aquifers left within 40 miles of Tucson.

Assuming the property is eventually sold, the trust will remain involved in its protection by retaining ownership of the conservation easement placed on the land.

“We are excited to continue our collaborative work to protect this vital landscape for future generations,” Michael McDonald, the trust’s executive director, said in a written statement.

The group is still looking for someone to buy its other major acquisition in the same area: a 2,550-acre portion of the nearby Sopori Ranch it purchased in 2018 from the developer behind the proposed master-planned community.

That residential project was abandoned after Santa Cruz County voters overwhelmingly rejected it in 2008. A month later, Pima County swooped in and paid the developer $18.6 million for 4,135 acres of the old ranch and 10,000 acres of surrounding state agricultural leases to add to the county’s open-space program.

According to the trust, Sopori Creek is part of one of the oldest continuously occupied areas in the United States, with evidence of humans dating back almost 12,000 years.

Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza grazed livestock on the land during his time at the Tubac presidio, south of Tucson, in the latter half of the 18th century.

Hollywood movie mogul Jack Warner and his family owned the ranch from 1950 to 1993.

The trust purchased the first 371 acres of Sopori Farm in May of 2021.

Since 1978, the group has helped preserve more than 67,000 acres of what it calls “vanishing western landscapes” through purchases, donations and the designation of conservation easements across Arizona.

Becker said they are currently working to protect another 10,000 acres near the Chiricahua Mountains and in the Sonoita area.

The trust’s acquisitions in the Sopori area include habitat for listed species such as the endangered Pima pineapple cactus and the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo and part of a vital riparian wildlife corridor connecting the surrounding sky island mountain ranges to Sopori Creek and the Santa Cruz River.

Becker said native animals such as deer, javelina, coati, skunks and badgers have been photographed on the properties by a series of trail cameras operated by the trust in partnership with the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection.

The land is not currently open to the public, but the conservation easement would not prevent a future owner from allowing access some day for “low-impact activities” such as hiking or birdwatching, Becker said.

The trust’s Sopori properties fall within the proposed boundaries of the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge, a federal designation now being sought by local governments and conservationists for a 90-mile swath of the river valley from Mexico to Marana.

The prospects for the new refuge remain uncertain during the second Trump administration, especially with the president threatening to rescind or reduce the size of national monuments approved by his predecessors in the White House.

Becker said the trust hasn’t had any discussions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about incorporating its holdings into the proposed refuge. “However, the protection of Sopori builds upon all of the collaborative conservation efforts that have been accomplished within the area of focus,” he said.

The trust most recently put its Sopori Ranch property up for sale about a year ago and got “a couple a strong bites,” Becker said, but they ultimately withdrew the listing after failing to find a good fit for the land’s overarching conservation mission.

He said the trust can afford to be patient.

“We’re not in the business of owning and managing land. But as a nonprofit, if we need to hold onto it for a while, that’s OK,” Becker said. “Ideally, we’d love for the right person to walk in the door tomorrow, but to us, having the right person is more important.”