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If you want to help protect the Colorado Plateau’s clean air, big skies, roaring rivers, spectacular slickrock canyons, and unique array of native plants and animals from degradation by an onslaught of people and industry, please join us now.
Grand Canyon Trust accomplishments in 2012
To see a list of our accomplishments from 1984–2011, click here.
Grand Canyon Program
- Served in a leadership role to secure Interior Secretary Salazar’s decision to issue a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims on more than 1 million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park
- Intervened on an application by a developer to drill new water wells in Tusayan that would further threaten springs in the Grand Canyon
Colorado River Program
- Led efforts to promote the first re-examination of Glen Canyon Dam operations in 15 years, which ultimately led to Interior Secretary Salazar signing the High-Flow Experiment Protocol
- Served in a leadership role to complete the Desired Future Conditions Report, a document that describes goals for every river-related resource in Grand Canyon
Arizona Forests Program
- Served in a leadership role in developing and initiating the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, which led to the award of the largest forest stewardship contract in USFS history (300,000 acres over 10 years) and development of draft planning documents for nearly one million acres of forest restoration activities
- Spearheaded successful campaign effort for passage of a $10M voter-approved municipal bond to support forest restoration activities on state and federal lands in two key Flagstaff watersheds
Utah Forest Program
- Served in a leadership role with 13 philosophically diverse members to develop consensus principles for ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable grazing on the Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti-La Sal National Forests — principles that will provide solid backing for major forest plan amendments in 2013
- Promoted an agreement between the Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti-La Sal National Forests for the first-ever, public process on livestock grazing and the documentation of ecological problems on 19 allotments, prior to issuing the 2013 Annual Operating Instructions for grazing on those allotments
- Live-trapped and translocated nine beaver from a Panguitch irrigation ditch to Dixie National Forest, the first beaver translocated since adoption of the Utah Beaver Management Plan 2010–2020
Kane and Two-Mile Ranch Program
- Formalized the role the ranches play in generating knowledge and building capacity for conservation and stewardship through a signed Memorandum of Understanding with the AFGD, BLM, Northern Arizona University, USFS, USGS, and the University of Arizona to form the Kane and Two Mile Research and Stewardship Partnership
- Completed a collaborative research agenda and experimental infrastructure design for the ranches to guide future allotment management planning efforts and to increase the ability of the ranches to attract science partners
- Reduced cattle grazing by 50 percent in House Rock Valley and 66 percent on the Paria Plateau
Utah Wildlands Program
- Led a broad coalition of conservation and sportsmen’s interest groups in formulating a land exchange proposal for southeast Utah
- Hosted a first-of-its-kind gathering of 21 emerging conservation leaders from rural southern Utah to share ideas, strategies and successes related to dirty energy development, wilderness and wildlands, and water issues
Greater Canyonlands Campaign
- Initiated the Greater Canyonlands Campaign to build support for expanding Canyonlands National Park from its current +/- 337,000 to over 1,000,000 acres, including its entire hydrographic boundary
- Launched the filming of a broadcast quality film to promote the campaign
- Co-sponsored the Women’s Congress for Future Generations in Moab, Utah, to help grow a national and international network of support for the campaign
Clean Energy Program
- Directed more than $2.2 million from a 2005 Springerville Power Plant settlement fund for solar electric, wind, and energy efficiency projects in schools and homes on Native American reservations in Arizona and northern New Mexico
Native America Program
- Facilitated two Intertribal Gatherings, each involving over 80 participants representing the 11 tribes of the Colorado Plateau, to focus attention on issues facing the Grand Canyon and Colorado Rivers
- Funded 14 tribal community projects including traditional farms, greenhouses for elders and schools, spring restoration, sacred water runs, ecological youth camps, summer ecological / cultural knowledge programs, and re-introduction of intertribal traditional games
- Helped launch the Navajo Green Business Incubator Pilot Project, which will leverage a strong team of community partners to mentor fledgling business start-ups
- Helped the 14R Ranch Project secure a pilot purchase contract to sell beef to the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise
- Co-hosted the inaugural Western Navajo-Hopi Fair Sustainability Pavilion, which brought together exhibitors, farming groups, and conservationists to celebrate tribal farming / gardening and renewable energy technologies
- As a member of the Protect the Confluence Coalition,” helped the Bodaway Gap families organize strong opposition to a proposed resort and tramway on the edge of the Grand Canyon
Volunteer Program
- Recruited and trained 350 volunteers who donated 18,000 hours on 25 conservation projects throughout the Colorado Plateau
- Sponsored two AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps teams who contributed 6,000 hours to conservation projects in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and in Southern Utah forests
- Trained 45 new Budding Botanist and Spring Steward volunteers
- Led Budding Botanists in assessing aspen stands and surveyed range cages in the Manti-La Sal National Forest
- Led Spring Stewards in assessing 80 springs and spring-fed wetlands on the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests
Land Conservation Program
- Purchased five commercially zoned parcels of land located in the heart of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near the confluence of Calf Creek and Escalante River with the intent of transferring these to the BLM for inclusion in the monument
- Conveyed eight commercially zoned parcels of land (in this same area) to the BLM for inclusion in the monument
Arizona State Trust Lands
- Served in a leadership role to develop and pass Arizona’s Proposition 119, a constitutional amendment that creates a mechanism for conservation-based land exchanges
- Campaigned against Arizona’s Proposition 120, which would have allowed for a state takeover of numerous federal lands, including Grand Canyon National Park
GIS Program
- Integrated GIS program with organization-wide strategic planning to increase our data storage, analysis, and cartographic outputs
- Completed a viewshed analysis depicting locations where the potential Hatch Point potash development could be seen along Highway 191, Needles Overlook, and Anticline Overlook Road in support of Utah Wildlands efforts
- Completed over 30 mapping projects
- Equipped the Volunteer Program with customized navigational maps, GPS applications, and data analysis and calculations
Your donations and membership dues make our work possible.
