Conservation Practices
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Educational Workshops & Projects Demos
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Monitoring
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Participation Local Area Impact Assessment
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Bank Stabilization/Dams
Primary Resource Concerns
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Noxious & Invasive Plants
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Water Quality & Quantity
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Natural Resource Conservation Education
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Resource Planning
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Erosion Control/ Flood Mitigation
District Contact Information
District Meeting information
Meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of Feb, April, June, Aug, and Oct
Location: Wild Horse Restaurant @12:00 p.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for: TBD
Scroll to the bottom of the page to download agenda and minutes
About the District
The Santa Cruz Natural Resource Conservation District (NRCD) is located in Santa Cruz County on the upper reaches of the Santa Cruz River. The District area is mainly rangeland, characterized by desert grassland, oak woodland, and some pine forests at higher elevation. Most of the land is used for ranching, wildlife recreation, and watershed protection, while there are limited areas of farmland.
Land ownership in the Santa Cruz NRCD is a mix of private, state, and federal lands. The District is committed to supporting policies and practices that are economically feasible, socially acceptable, and environmentally responsible. The NRCD is also dedicated to helping provide financial and technical assistance to cooperators through collaboration with other agencies and organizations.
The District's key resource concerns are addressed through a variety of programs in cooperation with other agencies or groups such as the University of Arizona Extension Service, NRCS, US Forest Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Department of Water Resources, Arizona State Land Department, Santa Cruz County, and numerous landowners and cooperators.
Physical Features
Terrain: Desert grassland, oak woodland, and some pine forest at higher elevations.
Board of Directors
- Steven Williams, Chairman
- Bill Schock, Vice-Chairman
- Dan Bell, Treasurer
- Fox Neville-Johnson, Supervisor
- Dean Fish, Ed Center Director
Mission Statement
Supporting practices and policies that are economically feasible, socially acceptable and environmentally responsible; and helping to provide nancial and technical assistance to cooperators through collaboration with others.
District Highlights
The District is involved in various activities throughout the year including range management workshops, range monitoring workshops, display and demonstration projects, drought preparedness through the Local Area Impact Assessment Group, involvement as a cooperating agency in the land use planning process for federal lands, and more.
Locally-led projects for bank stabilization, erosion control, and check dams
One Rock Dams (ORD) stabilize the channel bed, slowing water fow, increasing roughness, recruiting vegetation, and capturing sediment. ORDs are also passive water harvesting structures.
Rangeland monitoring
The Santa Cruz NRCD provides monitoring on 20 vegetative transects yearly on district ranches. The focus is on National Forest grazing permits and the data gathered can be used by the USFS to evaluate trend on key areas for livestock grazing. The data gathered can be used to defend renewal of grazing permits against actions of litigious environment groups.
