Monday, December 22, 2008

Pima County's new jewel is a grasslands bonanza

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Desert grasslands that are Pima County's richest, biologically, are about to be bought and preserved. By the end of this month, the county will close on the first installment of its purchase of the Sands Ranch, a collection of thick, lush and tall grasslands near where Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise counties come together. It's a 5,040-acre parcel located in Pima County's southeast corner, between the Santa Rita and Whetstone mountains, complete with landscapes that could have been taken right out of cowboy movies. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last week to buy the ranch for $21 million. The property has been owned by the same family, of ranching pioneer Louis Sands, since 1920. This will be the 11th time that Pima County has dipped into open-space bonds to buy a ranch in the past decade. When the Sands Ranch is acquired, the county will have spent $95 million on ranches, out of about $140 million spent of $201 million in bonds that voters approved for open space in 1997 and 2004....

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