Public Lands in the Sky Islands

The Sky Island Region is rich in lands managed by government agencies. In both Mexico and the United States, federal and state lands cover large areas in the region and are central to maintaining the character and integrity of its major ecosystems. Native American tribes manage many wildlands within their governmental jurisdictions. County and local governments also are responsible for significant portions of the landscape in the USA. Units within these land holdings range from those strictly protected to those managed for resource extraction. Protected areas are strong contributors to the quality of life of all Sky Island inhabitants, both nonhuman and human. Click here for a PDF version of “Prosperity in the 21st Century West: The Role of Protected Public Lands,” published by the Sonoran Institute.

In the USA, most people are familiar with the term “public lands,” but not all agree on its interpretation. Conflicts often arise when individuals or groups think of public lands as places where they have the right to use the land as they see fit, because the land “belongs to them.” In truth, public lands are a form of commons, entrusted to governmental bodies to manage for the good of all users—not only present-day dwellers in the Sky Islands, but also the generations waiting in the wings. A major challenge for conservation in the Sky Island Region is to resolve these conflicts, as well as to make a place at the table for the quietest users—the wild animals and plants that, like us, cannot exist without healthy landscapes.

In Mexico, the term “public lands” often draws puzzled looks, even among land managers and conservationists. On federal and state lands in the Mexican Sky Islands, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations face challenges that are often very different from those addressed by their counterparts in the USA. Unmanaged recreation is a much less significant threat in Mexican protected areas. On the other hand, many protected areas in the Mexican portion of the region have human settlements within their boundaries. Some of these settlements are communally governed ejidos . Human populations within these landscapes are both a challenge and an asset for conservation.

Mexico

Land ownership in the Sonora-Chihuahua portion of the Sky Island Region is complex. Both private landowners and ejidos often have tenure within areas that are managed by local, state, or federal governments.

For a map that gives a sample of this complexity of land tenure (in this case, in north central Sonora), click here (PDF).

COMING SOON: More information on government-managed lands in the Mexican Sky Islands.

USA

Public lands in the Arizona-New Mexico portion of the Sky Island Region include

•  Lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
    BLM Arizona
    BLM New Mexico

•  National Parks and Monuments, managed by the U.S. National Park Service

•  National Forests and Grasslands, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, Region 3

•  National Wildlife Refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

•  Military reservations, managed by the U.S. Department of Defense

•  State Parks, Monuments, and other lands, managed by Arizona State Parks and the New Mexico State Parks Division

•  State Wildlife Areas, managed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish

•  Wilderness Areas, managed, in the Sky Island Region, by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management within the lands under their care

•  County parks and other lands (for example, in Pima and Cochise Counties in Arizona and Hidalgo County in New Mexico)

This list is by no means exhaustive. Click here to visit the Public Lands Information Center, which provides detailed maps and descriptions of the outstanding government-managed wildlands of the U.S. Sky Islands.

Tribal lands include those governed by the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, and the Chiricahua Apache Tribes. The Yavapai-Apache Nation, the Gila River Tribe, The Hopi Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe maintain cultural ties to the land.

Click here for a map of and information on tribal lands in Arizona, from the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs.

Click here to reach the website of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Click here for a perspective on the complex issues facing one tribal group—the Tohono O'odham—that spans the USA-Mexico border.