In this issue…

_{Land News}
The Chiricahuas just got more biodiverse
Cochise County might get more sonic booms
Huachuca City wants more gardeners
Mc Neal wants less solar farms
_{Water News}
Gov. Hobbs visits Willcox basin to talk groundwater
Even more news about less water

The Chiricahuas just got more biodiverse

In the Sky Islands of southeast Arizona, the sheer number of flora and fauna make biologists weep. Residents wear this biodiversity like a badge of honor, a wild tapestry that sets us apart from the mundane flatlands. Depending on which categories of organism you include in the tally, this region places either first or third in the nation's biodiversity pageant.

And just when we thought this ecological fever dream couldn’t get any woolier, the lab-coated wizards emerge after years hunched over DNA tests. They've confirmed a new species of tarantula — Aphonopelma jacobii. Found skulking in web-less burrows at dizzying elevations between 7,500 and 8,000 feet, this hairy beast marks the ninth known tarantula species to haunt the region and the 31st in the U.S., Shar Porier reports.

Cochise County might get more sonic booms

Hopefully I won’t have to start a new section of this newsletter called “Air News”, but today I’m reporting on the U.S. Department of Airforce’s plan to expand its military training programs throughout southern Arizona, which includes a large section of Cochise County called the Tombstone MOA. They’ve released a draft environmental impact statement which is open for public comment from August 9 through October 9, 2024.

The USDOA will be holding public hearings on the proposal throughout the state but, as shown in the map above, none of them are in Cochise County. The closest was in Animas, NM on September 13. (See more hearing dates and details here.)

Here are the important changes being proposed in the Tombstone MOA:

• The TMOA region is being expanded northward to include Portal and more of Pearce and Sunsites.

• The total number of annual sorties (combat training flights) is increasing from 3,460 to 8,000 flights, including 80 supersonic flights.

• The lowest elevation for flights is being lowered from 500 ft AGL (above ground level) to 100 ft AGL.

• The lowest elevation for supersonic flights is being lowered from 30,000 ft AGL to 5,000 ft AGL (which they say will lead to a 5x increase in sonic boom pressure).

• The F-16 jet fleet is being replaced with a new F-35 fleet which is four times louder, making it the loudest attack jet ever produced.

• The sorties will include drills which release flares up to 30,000 times per year, an 85% increase from current levels.

• The sorties will also begin shooting chaff bundles for the first time, up to 7,000 times a year. Chaff is radar-jamming clouds of aluminum-coated glass fibers.

I attended one of the recent virtual hearings held by USDOA and there was an impressive public turnout, with people doing their best to squeeze their concerns into the 2 minutes allowed for each speaker.

Commenters shared stories about windows being shattered by sonic booms, horses and other livestock being upset by low-altitude jet noise, the risk of fires from flares, the potential environmental and health impacts of chaff, and the general impact of increased noise levels and increased frequency of sorties on residents’ quality of life. One speaker shared that his veteran father has permanent hearing loss and tinnitus from low-altitude military air traffic.

Meanwhile, a few residents on facebook have expressed their support for the proposal, or at least their willingness to deal with the noise, with the slogan: “I love the sound of freedom!”

But a number of people and groups are pursuing legal action, including the Center for Biological Diversity who has sued the USDOA under the Freedom of Information Act for failing to release public records about the proposed expansion.

Peaceful Chiricahua Skies (PCS) is a local coalition of organizations and residents who are helping their neighbors understand and respond to the USDOA’s proposal. Their website has lots (and I mean lots) of information about the proposal, as well as a petition form you can sign.

PCS is hosting a number of workshops for the community to learn about making “substantive” public comments before the deadline:

• PCS workshop – Thurs. Sept. 19, 4pm NM at Rodeo Community Center

• PCS Zoom virtual workshop – Sat. Sept. 21, 10am AZ on Zoom – REGISTER HERE

• PCS workshop – Thurs. Sept. 26, 4pm AZ at Portal Rescue Classroom

• PCS Zoom virtual workshop – Thurs. Oct. 3, 4pm AZ – REGISTER HERE

If you plan to attend the public hearing in Animas and you’re wondering what to wear, PCS is also selling these classy t-shirts.

Shar Porier writes more about the situation for the Herald/Review.

Huachuca City wants more gardeners

Even though Cochise County has plenty of commercial agriculture, most of the county is classified as a “food desert” by the USDA because of the population’s limited access to affordable healthy foods.

East of Sierra Vista, the Huachuca City Community Garden is doing what it can to help locals get food. And they’re looking for more volunteers, Alexis Ramanjulu reports for KGUN9.

Every Wednesday and Saturday morning at 7am, four volunteers harvest vegetables for the 70 to 80 local residents they help feed every week. But they could feed even more people if even just “one person… for one hour” could help with their weekly efforts.

The organization also keeps part of their garden reserved for the Huachuca City School's garden club, which helps students learn about growing their own food. If you’d like to help out or learn more, you can visit their facebook page or website.

As my neighbor Dan Maldonado, who founded the Goar Park Lunches non-profit in Bisbee, once told me — “when you create value for your community, that value comes back to you.”

Mc Neal wants less solar farms

As previously reported, a UK-based company has been seeking approval from the county for a new solar farm in Mc Neal, to the anger, concern, and protest of many residents in the area, including adjacent property owners. The Planning and Zoning Commission held a hearing on the approval last week and unanimously voted against it. You can watch the recording here.

Out of the eight written public comments submitted, only one was in favor of the project. Here are four excerpts from the dissenting public opinions:

And Jeffrey and Angeles Emory submitted submitted 42 scanned pages from a book called “American Chernobyl: Green Energy!”

In these comments, and in facebook discussions of the proposed project, there were both legitimate and not-so-legitimate claims about the impacts of solar farms. But the bigger point being made is: This is my home, it’s literally my back yard, and this project would be the end of the humble life I’ve built and enjoy here.

Of course there is no recompense to neighbors for their loss of property value and the enjoyment of that property — which is the main concern of what is called “common law.”

And the one comment in favor of the project? That came from Mark and Lyny Toenies, Oregon residents who own one of the two parcels the project is sited on. The entirety of their comment was: “Reduced fossil fuel emissions and furtherance of the move to sustainable energy.”

At the hearing, the issue clearly weighed heavily on the P&Z commissioners. Here’s an excerpt from comment made by commissioner Nathan Watkins, a Mc Neal farmer and husband of Jackie Watkins who now sits on the Douglas AMA Advisory Council:

“I'm really conflicted. I'm probably the most pro-solar person on this board, but when I took this position I decided I would listen to my neighbors, and I will not force something on my neighbors. … I've also heard it said that this is not the right place, you know. I've thought for a long time that the (old Bisbee mine) tailings pile dumps, everything where the mines are — what a perfect way for Freeport to say: hey we're helping the environment.”

Watkins is referring to what the government calls “brownfields” — lands such as old mine tailings piles which have been deemed unfit for most kinds of development, but which are often ideal, and subsidized by the government, for projects like solar farms. The other commissioners had similar comments and concerns.

On the other hand, county staff recommended approval, claiming the project met all the required criteria, including consideration of “public input.”

I’m wondering if the staff typically gives approval for most projects as a courtesy to the commissioners, so they can make up their own minds about it. I’ll have to ask about that one day…

Gov. Hobbs visits Willcox basin to talk groundwater

Governor Katie Hobbs visited the Willcox basin last week to discuss groundwater issues with residents, farmers, and city officials. She also saw some the basin’s famous earth fissures first-hand. Clara Migoya was one of the reporters who followed Hobbs on her day trip and reported on it for the Arizona Republic.

Willcox Mayor Mike Laws and city manager Caleb Blaschke discussed the impacts of groundwater declines on their municipal wells. Farmer Ed Curry gave a tour of his farm and vault of chili seeds. Local resident Steve Kisiel of the Cochise Groundwater Stewards hosted a listening session at his home¹ where the governor heard residents share their stories about wells going dry and their deep concerns about the future of water in the area.

Hobbs said she is considering employing executive tools to address the lack of regulations, but for now she’ll keep trying for a solution with legislators to create new groundwater policies that could protect the groundwater and residents in rural areas.

One of her biggest problems with this year’s Farm Bureau-backed SB1221 proposal is it would have required all water users, industrial agriculture, small farms, and residential providers alike, to cutback water use by the same percentages. She realizes, like most everyone else, that when agriculture accounts for over over 90% of the groundwater demand, and the basin needs to cut back by 75% to stabilize their water levels, you can’t expect residents and farmers to cutback by the same amount.

Some residents explained how they started using less water after their neighbors’ wells went dry, hoping to avoid the same fate.

1. Kisiel is also an opt-out builder with one of the most beautiful strawbale homes in the county.

Even more news about less water

Meanwhile, Hobbs is not happy with Attorney General Kris Mayes who recently sent a letter to the AZ Department of Water Resources, challenging their issue of a permit for a new well to Fondomonte, the agriculture operation in La Paz county growing alfalfa for shipment back to their diary cows in Saudi Arabia.

If you’re thinking, “but I thought the state ended Fondomonte’s leases of state land,” they did, but the company owns much more land privately where they continue to grow dairy cow forage.

Mayes raised concerns that the new well was being drilled in a designated “Munitions of Explosive Concern” site and could potentially cause damage to the aquifer, and asked ADWR to revoke the drilling permit. She also took an opportunity to express her impatience with Hobbs’ preference to seek a legislative solution, which Hobbs herself admitted is being slowed down by “stalling tactics” from Farm Bureau-backed legislators.

Hobbs’ spokesperson declared that this was all “political grandstanding” by the attorney general, and made sure to remind everyone that it was Hobbs' office that ended the four Fondomonte state land leases, and that “she puts real solutions over political games.”

But when we look back at how that story played out, it was attorney general Mayes who pushed for the action against Fondomonte, which Hobbs initially resisted. When the attorney general tried to take legal action against the operation, Governor Hobbs said it was “not her job” to do that, and worried that the state could be sued for singling out Fondomonte among other lease holders.

Elsewhere in the state, everyday-citizens are also doing their part to address water problems — and sometimes they get pushback too. Earlier this month, Goodyear resident David Martin continued his four-year tradition of handing out free bottles of cold water from his driveway during the hottest days of summer. But this year his neighborhood HOA decided to issue him a fine for his generosity.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is trying to help mule deer not become road kill on their quest for water at Lake Roosevelt. The deer have to cross State Route 188 to get to the reservoir, so AZGFD set up a wildlife water catchment on the other side of the highway. AZGFD has installed 3,000 such catchments across the state over the last 20 years. Some of them are so remote that water must be delivered by helicopter, during the hot months when animals need water most. And because the department doesn’t receive state tax money, they rely on volunteers and donations. Trilce Estrada Olvera at the Arizona Republic reports.

The Foundation for America’s Public Lands just awarded $1.5 million to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA) as part of their Drought Resilience Fund. The funding will go to a few local organizations over the next three years, including Borderlands Restoration Network² who will help with efforts to “decrease erosion, bolster habitat and improve resilience to drought conditions.” Shar Porier reports.

Cochise County Supervisors approved a grant to the Bowie Water District for $3,194.80 as a pass-through from the Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona. The District has suffered chronic infrastructure problems, including back in July when their well pump failed and residents were without water for days. Residents received emergency shipments of bottled water from elsewhere in the county, portable restrooms were set up outside the fire station, and residents who rely on swamp coolers were without air conditioning.³  

A bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators from Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona have introduced a bill aimed at helping rural and tribal communities get more of the federal grant funds being allocated to water resilience projects. The bill would create new positions in the Bureau of Reclamation called “navigators” who will help local governments pursue those grants.

Four tribal nations, collectively known as the Colorado River Indian Tribes, got a green light to start leasing their water rights to other water users in Arizona and California. This seems to be good news for everyone, as the CRIT has very strong water rights from the Colorado, with higher priority than some lower basin states, and a good amount of water too.

Their 720,000 acrefoot allotment dwarfs Nevada’s 300,000 acrefeet, but is also dwarfed by Arizona’s 2.8 million acrefeet.

Now that they can lease their water to other users, they’ll have more cash on hand to improve their own water systems. Brett Walton reports for Circle of Blue.

2. This month I spent a week working alongside Borderlands Restoration Network in the San Simon basin on various riparian area improvements. Cochise County is lucky to have this team working on local projects.

3. A friend of mine in the Bowie area said that residents are typically without water service a couple days each month.

I had a couple more stories I wanted to share for this edition of the Pulse, but I’ve once again underestimated how long it takes to write this thing, and the sun has come. The neighbor’s roosters are already done crowing.

As some of you know, I’m part of a local community of neighbors throughout the eastern borderlands of Cochise County who regularly get together for “work parties” where we help each other building natural-construction homes and other residential projects. Our parties are every first and third Sunday morning of the month — and it was my bright idea that if I issued this newsletter on the same days, we’d have interesting things to discuss while we work.

But it turns out it’s the worst day to publish this thing, as today’s work party will be the second one I miss because of a late night/morning of writing. So from now on the Ground Party Papers and the Pulse will go out every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month.

Fixed it.

Also — I ran out of my monthly hot spot data while writing this edition, so do me a favor and become a paid supporter today — which gets you the Ground Party Pulse, a longer edition filled with good stuff.

(I’m just 18 paid supporters away from my November goal of 50 … getting close!)

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