Make a Difference in Arizona
For more than 50 years, The Nature Conservancy in Arizona has partnered with communities, businesses and state leadership to achieve conservation solutions that sustain Arizona’s freshwater, forests, grasslands, wildlife and rich biodiversity. From the high mountain forests, down our flowing rivers, to our booming cities, we continue to innovate and address new challenges.
![](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/AZ240420_D104.jpg?crop=959%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&wid=640&hei=640&scl=8.6)
Summer Nature Walks at Hart Prairie Preserve
Join us in Northern Arizona for guided nature walks on 7/14, 7/28 or 8/18 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Registration required.
![A woman standing by a fence talks to a group of three kids, one woman, and a man holding a potted plant.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/Phx_tree_planting.jpg?crop=474%2C0%2C1888%2C1888&wid=640&hei=640&scl=2.95)
Building Healthy Cities
To find solutions to extreme Arizona temperatures, our Healthy Cities Program has not just done the collective research but also implemented programs that empower local communities.
![A line of blue solar panels in a field during daylight with a raptor upon one of them.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/solar-panels-David-Sanders.jpg?crop=1597%2C0%2C2003%2C2003&wid=640&hei=640&scl=3.1296875)
Taking Climate Action
Our Climate Program seeks to put Arizona on a path to net zero by 2050—in a way that benefits people and nature.
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Read this issue of Field Notes to learn about how water connects us all and get a closer look at our water work throughout the state.
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Discover how our 2023 accomplishments serve as a strong foundation for the audacious and necessary goals we have set for the years to come.
DOWNLOADWins for Arizona, Wins for Earth
2023-2020
With the new decade, we're expanding our urban program and our clean air/clean energy work while continuing to restore our rivers, lands and forests. This work—so vital to this great state we call home—could not have been possible without our many supporters.
![Closeup of a small bird sitting on a cactus.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/a/z/AZ181213_D003_Full.jpg?crop=0%2C0%2C2136%2C2670&wid=480&hei=600&scl=4.45)
![Three volunteers with wet-dry mapping gear stand on dry ground on a sunny day.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/a/z/AZ160225_D002.jpg?crop=480%2C0%2C2880%2C2160&wid=400&hei=300&scl=7.2)
With more than 100 volunteers, staff and partners in Arizona and Mexico, we celebrated 25 years of wet-dry mapping the San Pedro River.
View the Trends![A tree on-fire lays across the forest ground with smoke and trees in the distance.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/NCM130715_D208.jpg?crop=341%2C0%2C5461%2C4096&wid=400&hei=300&scl=13.653333333333334)
Led a regional study that identified “opportunity hot spots” in the western U.S. for using proactive forest management to reduce the risk of losing carbon to future wildfires.
Read the Study![President Biden sits at a wooden desk with individuals standing around him, clapping.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/1691617266716.jpg?crop=0%2C373%2C1280%2C960&wid=400&hei=300&scl=3.2)
Witnessed President Biden’s designation ceremony for the “Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument." It was an honor to support Arizona’s Indigenous Peoples.
![Three individuals stand posing for a photo while holding awards.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/AZ_Forward_awards.jpg?crop=0%2C0%2C2844%2C2133&wid=400&hei=300&scl=7.11)
Healthy Cities team and Phoenix Revitalization Corporation’s Urban Heat Leadership Academy won three Arizona Forward Environmental Excellence Awards.
![Landscape of a mountain with hundreds of ponderosa pine trees and a blue sky with little white clouds above.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/tnc_64180443_1640x1230.jpg?crop=0%2C0%2C4000%2C3000&wid=400&hei=300&scl=10.0)
Our science team led a comprehensive study on the fate of Western forests after wildfires and the importance of forest regeneration.
Read the Study![Ariel view of a forest on a sunny day.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/AZ210216_D002.jpg?crop=304%2C0%2C4864%2C3648&wid=400&hei=300&scl=12.16)
The Future Forests project’s Clover Supplemental Project Agreement marked the completion of critical vegetation management around Bill Williams Mountain and the City of Williams.
Partnered with 11 Western states on Power of Place—West, a study that identifies the optimal pathway to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Power of Place—West![Ariel view of Aravaipa Canyon on a cloudy day.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/AZ_NCM150309_D157.jpg?crop=0%2C750%2C1000%2C750&wid=400&hei=300&scl=2.5)
Provided assistance to complete a highly significant land and water conservation project to protect the Cross F Ranch and the greater Aravaipa ecosystem.
2019–2010
This decade saw our work expanding along the Verde River, our ponderosa pine forests and our largest city, Phoenix, to make it greener and more liveable.
![Closeup of purple wildflowers shaped like bells.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/WOPA061011_D025.jpg?crop=937%2C0%2C2125%2C2657&wid=480&hei=600&scl=4.428333333333334)
![Ground-level view of a selectively thinned forest.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/w/o/WOPA130520_D144.jpg?crop=95%2C0%2C3809%2C2857&wid=400&hei=300&scl=9.523333333333333)
Led a major TNC study which found that large-scale thinning of Arizona’s overgrown forests will lead to increased carbon storage. The quicker the thinning, the more carbon stored.
![Farmer Kevin Hauser squats down on an agricultural field and holds soil in his fingers.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/a/r/arizona_37163212_Full.jpg?crop=222%2C0%2C3556%2C2667&wid=400&hei=300&scl=8.89)
Celebrated the Park Central Farm project, in which TNC worked with Hauser and Hauser Farms to purchase and protect 1,000 acres of farmland and open space and a valuable streamside forest for native fish and wildlife.
Worked with a Verde Valley farm family to grow a low-water-use crop—barley—in place of high-water-use crops. Invested in Sinagua Malt to purchase the barley to sell to brewpubs to make a “water-friendly” beer.
![View looking across a vibrant green prairie with mountains in the background.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/f/o/Forest_larkspur.jpg?crop=228%2C0%2C3542%2C2657&wid=400&hei=300&scl=8.856666666666667)
Launched the Future Forest Project to restore forest health in Arizona’s forests, benefitting communities, clean water and wildlife.
As a partner in the Cochise Conservation and Recharge Network, ramped up water recharge efforts to capture 1 billion gallons of water and save 1 billion gallons from future pumping. Result: 2 billion gallons yearly to replenish groundwater and add to San Pedro River flows.
![View of a river on a sunny day with yellow and green trees on either side.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/t/n/TNC_cover_landscape.jpg?crop=222%2C0%2C3556%2C2667&wid=400&hei=300&scl=8.89)
With partners, developed the Verde River Exchange Water Offset Program that allows a surface water user to be compensated for using less water in a given year without giving up the rights to that water in following years.
![Landscape view of a green mountain in the distance, and big green trees in the foreground.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/w/o/WOPA051102_D144.jpg?crop=166%2C0%2C2666%2C2000&wid=400&hei=300&scl=6.666666666666667)
TNC celebrated 50 years of collaborative conservation in Arizona. TNC’s first project, the purchase of the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, has some of the oldest and tallest Fremont cottonwood trees in the Southwest, and is considered one of the premier bird-watching sites in the United States.
With partners, built a first-of-its-kind system to funnel stormwater underground to replenish the aquifer and the San Pedro River, one of the last remaining flowing rivers in the desert Southwest and a critically important wildlife migration corridor.
![Landscape view of a mountain range with grass and trees in the foreground.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/w/o/WOPA061004_D007.jpg?crop=228%2C0%2C3542%2C2657&wid=400&hei=300&scl=8.856666666666667)
Worked with Arizona State Parks to purchase and protect the 22,000-acre San Rafael Ranch, a scenic southern Arizona grassland where the movie “Oklahoma” was filmed.
1989–1980
In the ‘80s, TNC purchased two lands that would become the Muleshoe Ranch and Hassayampa River preserves and acquired two properties that became national wildlife refuges.
![Landscape of yellows trees and green vegetation with a blue sky and clouds above.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/a/z/AZ181213_D308_Full.jpg?crop=0%2C0%2C2125%2C2657&wid=480&hei=600&scl=4.428333333333334)
![A person in a kayak sits on a river with vegetation on each side of it.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/a/r/arizona_51905302.jpg?crop=184%2C0%2C2848%2C2136&wid=400&hei=300&scl=7.12)
Purchased three properties along the Verde River to help create the Verde River Greenway, now managed by Arizona State Parks.
![Eight bighorn sheep stand together on a large rock formation during the day.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/b/i/Bighorn_Sheep-Muleshoe.jpg?crop=127%2C0%2C2050%2C1538&wid=400&hei=300&scl=5.126666666666667)
Purchased the Muleshoe Ranch, and signed a Cooperative Management Agreement with the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service covering the ranch’s 55,000 acres. Muleshoe has some of the finest native fish streams in Arizona.
1979–1970
During the ’70s, TNC protected some of southern Arizona’s iconic lands and waters, from properties along the San Pedro River to the Phoenix area, where we helped secure Squaw Peak as part of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.
![A close-up of green grass and a blue sky with clouds is above.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/a/z/AZ160317_D314_Full.jpg?crop=0%2C337%2C2660%2C3325&wid=480&hei=600&scl=5.541666666666667)
The Arizona Department of Water Resources grants the Conservancy the first in-stream flow water rights permits in the state—at Ramsey and O’Donnell (Canelo Hills Cienega) creeks, meaning that the water can stay in the stream to benefit fish and wildlife.
![A flowing stream between a rock formation during the daytime, with three hikers walking on the left side.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/n/c/NCM150309_D105.jpg?crop=222%2C0%2C3556%2C2667&wid=400&hei=300&scl=8.89)
Worked with the Defenders of Wildlife and the George Whittell Trust to purchase Aravaipa Canyon Preserve. One of the Southwest’s natural wonders, Aravaipa Canyon and the creek running through it cuts a jagged 11-mile gash through the Sonoran Desert uplands.
Our Beginnings
Since 1966, The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 1.5 million acres of Arizona lands important to people and wildlife. We’ve harnessed science and partnerships to keep our rivers flowing and our forests and grasslands healthy.
Volunteer for Nature
Volunteers allow us to increase our effectiveness and complete more critically important.
![Three people hike through a sunlit canyon.](https://natureconservancy-h.assetsadobe.com/is/image/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/photos/NCM150309_D115.jpg?crop=960%2C0%2C3840%2C3840&wid=640&hei=640&scl=6.0)
See the Places We Protect in Your Community
From ponderosa pine forests to desert grasslands, explore our preserves across the state of Arizona.
We Can’t Save Nature Without You
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