On April 17, 2024, Tortolita Alliance (TA) filed a Public Records Request (PRR) with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) for "all ASLD internal and external communications with the Town of Marana (including ASLD full-time and part-time employees & consultants) from 1/1/20 to 4/17/24. This would include all emails, letters, meeting notes, maps, studies and reports related to the Tortolita Preserve and surrounding lands."
After many follow-up requests and assistance from the Arizona Ombudsman, TA finally received a records production from ASLD on 9/5/24 that contained most of the requested information. Additional records related to this PRR are expected from ASLD but not sure when it will arrive. In any event, TA can now provide an update based on the PRR records production and follow-up communication with consultants and Marana.
Please see Tangerine Road Corridor-Part I for a referesher.
In this Part II we provide an update on ASLD and the Tangerine Road Improvements-Archeological & Cultural Investigations and Wildlife Crossings.
Arizona State Land Department (ASLD)
ASLD owns 9.2 million acres of land in Arizona and 33,428 acres in Marana which is about 43% of Marana's total land acreage. So the chances of something happening with ASLD land in Marana is high. However, getting that information is quite difficult.
The PRR records production referenced above contained 557 documents including emails, letters, reports and publications. Many of the documents were heavily redacted. However, some very interesting information was gleaned.
Most of the records received dealt with Marana's application to obtain additional right-of-way for the Tangerine Road Improvement Project (discussed below). However, there were some additional records that standout---with one in particular.
Project Tera
One interesting potential project discovered in records production was Project Tera. The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) proposed in 2021 to utilize close to 2,000 acres of ASLD land within the Tangerine Road Corridor for an apparent very large commercial project. See location map below. We reached out to ACA to found out more but they never returned emails or calls. Marana provided ACA/ASLD basic information on sewer, water, fees, etc. but ultimately Marana officials indicated to TA that they decided not to particpate in Project Tera and it apparently died.
This is a perfect example of what could happen with ASLD land in Marana or anywhere in Arizona and why TA and other organizations need to keep careful watch so we can weigh in at the very beginning to ensure community engagement and provide early project review.
Tangerine Road Improvements-Phase 2A and 2B
Archeological & Cultural Investigations
Tangerine Road Improvements Phase 2A is currently under construction. Phase 2B is on-hold pending archeological and cultural investigations. Please see map above.
There have been multiple archeological and cultural studies performed along the entire Tangerine Road Project (Phase 1 and Phase 2) dating back to 1987. The most recent study/report is entitled, A Cultural Resources Inventory of Approximately 10 Mile of Tangerine Road, Pima County, Arizona, August 24, 2010 by Westland Resources, Inc. Several archeological/cultural sites are identified in this report including four significant sites.
One of these sites is located within the proposed Phase 2B right-of way (ROW) area to be acquired by Marana from the ASLD for the road improvement project. Initial data recovery at this site resulted in "the identification of substantial intact subsurface cultural remains, including architectural and non-architectural features, artifacts, and ancestral human remains." Accordingly, Westland recommended that a second phase of data recovery be conducted which is currently underway.
Discussions with Westland personnel indicate that the second phase excavation/recovery has identified significant architectural features and cultural remains dating back about 1,000 years. They also indicated that this archeological/cultural site is expansive and extends well beyond the ROW towards the Tortolita Preserve.
Phase 2B road improvements cannot proceed until the excavation/recovery work and report is complete. It has already been determined that the site within the proposed ROW will be mitigated, i.e. documention and artifacts collected so that construction can continue.
Note the information presented here is intended to be informative to provide a general awareness of the rich historic culture of our area but kept generic out of respect for the indigenous people and the tribes.
Wildlife Crossings
Good news! The map above shows that three wildlife crossings were proposed for Phase 2B---one medium and two large. This will help tremendously with the movement of wildlife between the Tortolita Mountains and the Tucson Mountains.
The large wildlife crossings are proposed to be bridge spans over Tangerine Road as show in the 60% design drawing (page 30) to the right.
TA has requested, but not received, a final drawing set and hopefully the proposed wildlife crossings make it into the final plans.
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