Arizona Issues
What Can You Do?
Tell your state representative to support efforts to conserve the state trust lands identified in Proposition 103. In northern Arizona, express support for the Open Spaces and Greenways Plan and the Regional Plan. Both plans protect lands in the Flagstaff area that were listed in Prop 103.
Share this page
Signatures for the 2008 Proposition 103 initiative come up short.
Grand Canyon Trust participated in a 2008 statewide initiative effort that proposed amending the Arizona state constitution so that trust lands could be managed and sold for conservation purposes. The initiative would have protected 570,000 acres of state trust lands.
Proposition 103, also known as “Conserving Arizona’s Lands and Waters Act,” targeted for protection valuable open space lands throughout the state. These included those adjacent to major natural landmarks such as the Grand Canyon, Superstition Mountains, Picacho Peak, McDowell Mountains, and San Pedro River. Identified conservation lands also included significant acreage in northern Arizona: sections near Grand Canyon National Park, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, Observatory Mesa, Dry Lake, and Rogers Lake among them.
The amendment also would have validated the Arizona Preserve Initiative (API), which the Trust helped draft. The API outlines a process for protecting lands even if they are not immediately identified for conservation protection.
Proposition 103 was endorsed by many individuals and organizations, including (former) Governor Janet Napolitano, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Sonoran Institute, Arizona Education Association, Arizona League of Conservation Voters, Audubon Arizona, Center for Biological Diversity, and Trust for Public Lands.
Unfortunately Prop 103 never reached the November 2008 ballot. Signatures were filed on July 3, 2008 to qualify for the ballot, but problems with signature validity led to a decision by the Arizona Secretary of State, Jan Brewer, that it had insufficient signatures to qualify.
Although 370,000 signatures were turned in, more than 33,000 were rejected by Brewer’s office. The result is that the measure came up 20,000 signatures short of the 230,047 required to be on the ballot.
Backers of Proposition 103 filed a lawsuit to get a judge to restore at least some of the signatures. However, a trial judge ruled in mid-August that supporters missed a deadline to challenge petition checks by Secretary of State Jan Brewer’s office.
Your donations and membership dues make our research, monitoring, and restoration work in Arizona possible.
