Oro Valley Town Talk: Stewardship through partnership

Published on July 19, 2023

Oro Valley Town Talk: Stewardship through partnership

By Mayor Joe Winfield

Since its inception, Oro Valley has been a community that values scenic views, wildlife and environmental stewardship. The past twelve months have shown us that our commitment to stewardship remains strong as ever. Additionally, the accomplishments we’ve seen this past year were the result of collaboration among the Town, its residents and its regional partners, yielding some very gratifying moments for us all. I’m happy to highlight some of those accomplishments in this article.

Exactly one year ago, the Oro Valley community came together to celebrate a ribbon cutting for the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve, and it was an emotional day.

The thoughtful stewardship of this land as open space in perpetuity was only possible because of the collective efforts of Preserve Vistoso and hundreds of generous residents, The Conservation Fund, Ross Rulney, and Town staff. And once the land was acquired, the community continued providing input throughout the master planning process, helping to shape the plan into a vision that reflects the values of all involved.

Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve is a place where residents and visitors from all walks of life can observe, experience, and learn about the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert. It is a space where users can focus on their wellness—both body and mind. Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve is one of our Town’s legacies—something to be cherished for generations to come.

In April, the Town cut the ribbon on the State Route 77 (Oracle Road) Wildlife Protection Gate and Fence Project. Let me explain the importance of this project. As part of the State Route 77 road widening project, wildlife protection fences had been installed on both sides of the road to safely route wildlife to the bridge and underpass wildlife crossings that had been previously constructed. The original plan called for 10-foot-high wire fences to be built on the back side of homes along the Big Wash, which neighbors felt would have been unattractive as well as prevented the wildlife they enjoyed from entering the neighborhood. While safety of the wildlife was paramount, there was great desire to also find a solution that wouldn’t interfere with the quality of life for residents in the area. It took several years of meetings and collaboration to find an agreeable solution that worked for everyone. The Town of Oro Valley and Pima Association of Governments/Regional Transportation Authority worked with neighbors, the Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona Game and Fish and the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection to lower the fence height and develop a gate system across the subdivision roadway entrances, preventing wildlife from dangerous road crossings and keeping them in the Big Wash wildlife corridor.

And most recently, the Town’s partnership with the Pima County Regional Flood Control District has resulted in a new segment of The Chuck Huckelberry Loop that provides safe, non-motorized access to and from the northern portion of Oro Valley. In addition to further enhancing the Town’s extensive trail system, this new segment also improves access to Big Wash for floodplain management. Big Wash is a key wildlife and riparian habitat with hundreds of acres of protected open space. Improved access results in improved stewardship. Pima County staff is now better able to monitor and maintain the area.

Collaborative efforts like this don’t come together over night. As we saw with Vistoso Trails and the wildlife gate, it often takes years of effort and cooperation to bring a major project to fruition. To build the connecting pathway, Town staff had to coordinate with surrounding landowners and HOA to secure public rights-of-way along the proposed trail. Then the Town’s Stormwater Utility worked with Pima County Regional Flood Control District to construct the pathway, which was completed this past May.

In addition to these major efforts, the Town also continues to foster a spirit of environmental stewardship by implementing the SolarAPP+ permitting process that makes it easier than ever for residents to get rooftop solar.

We also continue to invest time and resources in the many facets of Keep OV Beautiful, a volunteer-driven program designed to help preserve the Town’s natural beauty and keep Oro Valley free of litter and debris. For example, the Town celebrated Earth Day this year by providing staff the opportunity to volunteer for a beautification event to remove buffelgrass, an invasive species that threatens the Sonoran Desert ecosystem, from Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve.

Additionally, the Town’s ongoing Adopt-A-Road and Adopt-A-Trail programs won a 2023 Flag Forward Award from Cartegraph for “creating more efficient, responsive and sustainable communities through smart infrastructure management.” It is always exciting to observe volunteers keeping our roadways and trailways free of litter!

Oro Valley is proof that meaningful and lasting stewardship is possible when a community works together. From start to finish, fiscal year 2022/23 has been a year of successful partnerships resulting in bold and creative decisions to ensure the stewardship of this community for generations to come.

As I bring this to a close, I am reminded of remarks I gave one year ago at the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve ribbon cutting. I’d like to leave you with a quote from those comments: Admittedly it’s challenging at times—that tension between wanting to preserve, and then naturally, the growth that occurs within a community. I hope we can just remember that we are a community. That by working together we can accomplish so much more.