Land conservation, Landscape-scale management, Working lands
Strategic Upland Conservation Easements to Support Watershed Connectivity for Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge
Case Study by the Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox
Status
Completed

Location

States

Arizona

Ecosystem

River/stream, Wetland

Subject

Aquatic environment
At-risk species
Connectivity
Endangered and/or Threatened species
Fishes
Grasslands
Outreach
Riparian areas
Rivers and streams
Watershed
Wetlands
Wildlife refuges
Working lands

Introduction

Protecting the Watershed: The portion of Leslie Creek on LCNWR is supported by the watershed encompassing two ranches and provides perennial aquatic habitat for breeding Mexican Longfin Dace, Yaqui Topminnow, and Yaqui Chub.

The Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge (LCNWR) is a 2,765-acre Refuge in the Rio Yaqui Basin, a binational watershed recognized for its high level of biodiversity. The Refuge was established to preserve the rare wetland habitats which are home to six endemic fish species. Managers recognized early the need to work with others across the watershed because conservation success depends on the condition of the surrounding landscape. Refuge managers have employed a suite of strategies to conserve natural resources, promote partnerships, and enhance collaborative conservation across the landscape. 

Leslie Canyon was acquired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in 1988 as part of the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge and was designated as an independently managed refuge in 1993. 

Conservation easements are a unique tool to provide environmental protection on private lands, with the goal of tying together existing protected areas, grasslands and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.

Learn more about riparian
areas within a broader working landscape. In exchange for giving up certain development rights, the landowner receives a cash payment that reflects the property’s appraised development value, which is a significant part of the land’s overall value. Conservation easements are legally-binding in perpetuity, and transfer with the land when it is sold or inherited.

Key Issues Addressed

The Rio Yaqui Basin has been severely affected by human activities, including vegetation clearing, unsustainable historic grazing practices, and groundwater pumping. Riparian wetlands are rare habitats that harbor significant portions of the regional biodiversity, and their maintenance necessitates protection from further degradation. The condition of riparian habitats depends on the health of uplands--for example, higher vegetation cover in uplands can slow the flow of water during flood events and reduce in-channel erosion. Extending protection and rehabilitation efforts to upland habitats is therefore essential for riparian conservation. This is true for LCNWR, where the refuge and riparian area are supported by a much larger watershed with approximately 53% public and 47% private ownership. Conservation easements restrict subdivision, building development, and other land uses that would potentially harm the property’s value as fish and wildlife habitat. 

Project Goals

  • Purchase conservation easements to protect water resources and increase connectivity of riparian and upland habitats

Project Highlights

  • Forward-Thinking Boundary: The 2,765-acre Refuge occupies a small portion of the 25,000-acre refuge acquisition boundary--the designated area in which the Service can acquire land. This relatively large boundary area was essential to provide opportunities to pursue habitat protection and conservation of fish and wildlife in a broader watershed using a variety of methods, including purchase through fee title and purchase of conservation easements within the established boundary.
  • Building Relationships: The Service built trust with the Malpai Borderlands Group, a local coalition of conservation-minded ranchers who support protecting private land adjacent to LCNWR. The group’s support for the proposed Refuge acquisition boundary positively influenced local opinion and public acceptance of Service involvement.
  • A Tale of Two Easements: Two conservation easements were purchased on ranches within the acquisition boundary to help ensure survival of native fish and wildlife on a landscape scale while providing for normal livestock ranching operations and watershed restoration activities to continue on the ranches. Both ranches are dedicated to livestock production, yet they also inherently support a variety of substantial conservation values.
    • 99-Bar Ranch: This easement includes over 7,000 acres immediately upstream from LCNWR and was purchased in 2001.
    • Bar Boot Ranch: This 13,713-acre easement was purchased in increments as federal funding became available, with acquisition of the final tract occurring during 2011. The ranch was owned by conservation-minded philanthropists, whose efforts at ecosystem restoration utilizing headwater erosion control are well known in the Southwest.
  • Building on Success: The acquisition of the two easements helped set the stage for private-federal conservation collaboration in the Leslie Creek watershed including ongoing endangered species Safe Harbor Agreements and habitat restoration projects. 

Lessons Learned

  • The acquisition of conservation easements, combined with a suite of other conservation strategies, has helped prevent landscape fragmentation and has protected fish and wildlife habitat from potentially detrimental human disturbances such as concentrated housing and agricultural development, mineral exploration, and harmful water diversion.
  • Conditions surrounding land ownership, personal interest, and financial security can change conservation partnerships and management cooperation. For example, the 99-Bar Ranch sold during 2014. While the conservation easement conservation easement
    A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified conservation organization that restricts the type and amount of development that may take place on a property in the future. Conservation easements aim to protect habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife by limiting residential, industrial or commercial development. Contracts may prohibit alteration of the natural topography, conversion of native grassland to cropland, drainage of wetland and establishment of game farms. Easement land remains in private ownership.

    Learn more about conservation easement
    remains in place, the new owners do not appear to be actively interested in collaborating on further landscape-scale conservation.
  • Ranching and conservation missions share many values, and ranchers and wildlife managers can therefore find common ground in their management approaches. To be successful, both are often dependent upon maintaining open space on a landscape scale; both require habitat that includes water as an important component; and both require maintaining travel corridors for animal movement across the landscape. 

Next Steps

  • Continue working with private landowners to encourage the continuity of landscape scale conservation activities within the watershed  

Resources

Contacts

Case Study Lead Author

  • Ashlee Simpson, CART Graduate Research Assistant, University of Arizona

Suggested Citation

Simpson, A. C. (2018). “Strategic Upland Conservation Easements to Support Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge.” CART. Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/project/strategic-upland-conservation-easements-watershed-connectivity.

Library

Strategic Upland Conservation Easements to Support Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge

The Rio Yaqui Basin has been severely affected by human activities, including vegetation clearing, unsustainable historic grazing practices, and groundwater pumping. Riparian wetlands are rare habitats that harbor significant portions of the regional biodiversity, and their maintenance...

Facilities

mountain desert landscape speckled with green vegetation
The 2,765-acre refuge was established in 1988 to protect two of the eight native fish species of the Río Yaqui watershed: the Yaqui chub (Gila purpurea) and the Yaqui topminnow (Poeciliopsis sonoriensis).

Programs

The Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox logo which includes a butterfly flying over a stream with a fish in it. On the stream bank there are two trees and a windmill.
CART is a platform that enhances collaborative conservation efforts at all scales by facilitating issue-based, not geography-based, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. By connecting hundreds of individuals from dozens of organizations across North America, CART helps bridge the gaps between work at...