Small Town News

7B Ranch among land proposed for Resolution Copper exchange

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If a land exchange sought by Resolution Copper succeeds, 3,073 acres of private land east of Mammoth will become public land. The parcel, known as the 7B Ranch, includes seven miles of San Pedro River, noted bird habitat, and archeological sites.

The parcel is one of many Resolution has proposed to exchange for about 2,406 acres of National Forest Land surrounding and including the Oak Flat Campground near Superior.

Resolution purchased 7B from BHP in 2007 with the intention of including it in an eventual land exchange.

If the land exchange goes through 7B will go to the Department of Inte-

rior (DOI). It's slated to be managed by the Bureau of Land Management with the possibility of a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

David Salisbury, Resolution Copper CEO, .said that the company spoke to organizations such as Arizona Audubon and The Nature Conservancy to determine conservation targets that a number of agencies might be interested in.

"We asked for their opinions about properties'that had high conservation value and we went out and bought those," he said.

The 7B's high conservation value comes from its important bird habitat, large mesquite bosque, and

significant archeological sites.

Tice Supplee, Audubon Arizona director of bird conservation, said that the mesquite bosque on 7B was a very productive habitat for a few bird species. Bell's Vireo and Lucy's Warbler are particularly abundant.

These species may not be rare here but that's not the case elsewhere. Bell's Vireo, for example, has become quite rare in California because the state has lost much of its riparian habitat.

"We're a steward for the species," Supplee said. "If we don't take care of them here there aren't other opportunities for them to be taken care of."

Other bird species she spotted at 7B on a recent survey included a nesting

Gray Hawk, Vermillion Flycatchers, Northern Cardinals, Bewick's Wrens, and Summer Tanagers. In total she documented 40 species of birds.

"Quite frankly I think the birding there is even more spectacular than it is on the riparian conservation area near Sierra Vista," she said.

Although Audubon hasn't taken a position on the proposed land exchange, they have been on record since 2005 saying that 7B is an ecologically important piece of property.

7B is important not just because of the birds there but because of the mesquite bosque itself. It is known for being one of the largest uncut bosques in the southwest.

An artesian well nestled in the property also contributes to its habitat value. A small wetland surrounds the well.

The Nature Conservancy has been managing the property for Resolution for about four years. Besides extensive cleanup, the Conservancy has also-removed invasive bullfrogs and mosquitofish from the wetland area.

Once the bullfrogs were removed, they put a small fence around the well to give native frogs a chance to recover. Ken Wiley, a director of stewardship for The Nature

Conservancy, said that the bullfrogs are unbelievable predators.

"They are almost entirely responsible for the decimation of native populations. They're big and aggressive," he said. Fencing them out was one of the improvement projects on7B.

They've also repaired and replaced other fencing, and are trying to stop historic abuses of the property. Wiley said it was difficult since the property is long and narrow with many access points.

"It's been a slow process of trying to slowly take it back, to stop some of the things like firewood cutting, wildcat dumping, and ATV use," he said.

"I think without any shadow of a doubt it's going to be an asset for the town of Mammoth." Even though some uses will be restricted, other more compatible uses like hiking or bird watching may be allowed.

"It's just a trade," he said. "It's not that it's going to have a big wall around it so that no one can use it."

Resolution is currently working with multiple agencies on a management plan for the 7B. "We're now working toward a longer-term goal of it fitting

into a public conservation area," Salisbury said.

He said that additional work is also planned there like fencing and firebreaks. "There are some archeologi-cal sites that we're going to be able to fence off as well and protect those for longer term," said Salisbury.

Andy Laurenzi, field representative for the Center for Desert Archeology in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said that there were significant cultural resources on the 7B similar to those found all along the Lower San Pedro River.

"Much of that cultural landscape still remains intact, although it has been subject to damage by looting, erosion and sometimes outright destruction," he said.

The new management plan is'scheduled for completion by the end of the summer. With the plan in * place, Resolution and its conservation partners hope to make 7B a . ready-to-use asset for the DOI and the public.



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