The Coronado Planning Partnership

How Did the Partnership Come About?

The challenge of revising the Land and Resource Management Plan (PDF) for the Coronado National Forest has been on the horizon since at least the year 2000. This Forest Plan was last revised in 1986 and was due for revision in 2001. Individuals and groups who care about the future integrity of the Coronado have seen the process of plan revision as an exceptional opportunity to call for changes that will strengthen the conservation content of Forest management.

In response to this challenge, Sky Island Alliance launched Conserving the Sky Islands: A Bridge for Biodiversity —an umbrella project that has become the Coronado Planning Campaign. One of the central elements of this campaign is the Coronado Planning Partnership.

This coalition is devoted to influencing and overseeing the new Forest Plan for the Coronado. In April 2006, Sky Island Alliance convened the inaugural meeting of the Partnership in Tucson. There, representatives of 23 organizations and landowners began work on a core statement of principles, as well as the Sky Island Action Center. Since then, more than 20 other organizations have been involved in shaping the statement of principles.

What Guides the Partnership's Work?

The people behind the Partnership—from ranchers to scientists, from CEOs to field volunteers—are as diverse as the wild landscapes of the Coronado. What brings them together is their common concern for the natural and cultural wealth of this gem of the Southwest. The embodiment of this common ground is the Partnership's statement of principles.

This document has been in development since February 2006. The Partnership has focused on management recommendations for many issues, threats, and assets on the Coronado National Forest:

•  Adaptive management
•  Adjacent land uses
•  Cultural resources
•  Drought
•  Ecological restoration
•  Economic/ecological compatibility
•  Fire and fuels management
•  Land exchanges
•  Livestock grazing
•  Management capacity
•  Mexico-USA border
•  Mining
•  Motorized recreation
•  Quiet recreation
•  Research, inventory, monitoring, and education
•  Roadless areas
•  Special management areas
•  Technology installations on high-elevation sites
•  Transportation system
•  Utility corridors
•  Viewsheds
•  Visitation management
•  Volunteers and site stewards
•  Wildlife corridors
•  Wild species and habitats
•  Wilderness suitability

In December 2006 this working document will be the basis of comments that the Partnership will submit to the Forest Service for its Comprehensive Evaluation Report (PDF) on the Coronado. These recommendations will become the core of the Partnership's ultimate statement of principles.

What Are the Current Goals and Strategies of the Partnership?

Goal:
Consolidate the Coronado Planning Partnership as a central force for the conservation of biodiversity, as well as cultural and historical values, in the Forest Plan.

Strategies:
•  Convene Partnership meetings that target specific tasks (such as the statement of principles).
•  Increase the number and diversity of participating organizations through phone calls, face-to-face meetings, etc.
•  Increase contributions from Partnership members by spinning off subprojects from Sky Island Alliance.
•  Submit comments and recommendations to the Forest Service at strategic points in the planning process (for example, before the first iteration of the Forest Plan is developed).

As a result of these strategies, the Coronado Planning Partnership expects that
•  The Forest Service will adopt conservation-based management principles that it recommends, and
•  Diverse collaborators beyond the initial core group will take responsibility for action that it advocates.

The Partnership has been active in the Forest Service's public workshops for Forest planning (June and September 2006) and in promoting participation in the planning process throughout southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, especially in rural areas. In November 2006 the Partnership itself organized a well-attended symposium, Planning the Future, with ten speakers who addressed a broad range of topics related to the plan revision.

What Lies Ahead for the Partnership?

In the short term, the Partnership will submit comments on the first round of Forest planning to the Forest Service and will post the statement of principles on the Sky Island Action Center website.

In the medium term, the Partnership will accelerate its participation in the Action Center, in Status Review and Management Recommendation reports, in statewide extension of best practices, and in outreach to members and allies of the Partnership's participating organizations.

In the long term, the Partnership will take an active role in private-sector oversight of the Forest Plan.