Celebrate Earth Night With Us!

The Arizona League of Conservation Voters and Arizona League of Conservation Voters Education Fund will be hosting our 2nd annual Earth Night gala on April 22nd. We invite you to join us and take advantage of this opportunity to get to know AZLCV & AZLCV Ed Fund board and staff, political & environmental leaders, and other members! Last year many came and we had a fantastic time mingling, snacking on tasty hors d’oeuvres and desserts, and enjoying fine beverages from local breweries and wineries. All of the food, fun and entertainment are included in your ticket price.

Visit http://azlcv.org/earthnight2011 or http://azlcvedfund.org/earthnight2011 for more information and to buy tickets.

Silent Auction Information:
We will be holding a silent auction with items to be announced.

Event Details:
When: Friday, April 22, 6-9 pm
(registration begins at 5:30 pm and program starts at 7:15 pm)
Where: Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center* at the
Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area, 3131 S. Central Ave., Phoenix (view map)
Conservation Champion Award: Susan & Peter Culp

Other features:
-Sunset nature walks along the wetlands
-Silent auction
-Business or evening attire
-Networking with members of the state’s conservation community and political supporters

Sponsored by:
SRP Earthwise
Squire Sanders Legal Counsel Worldwide
Blue Global Media
Champion PR & Consulting
Eeko Studio
APS

Saturday’s Tragedy

It has been a difficult few days for all of us in Tucson and in Arizona. The tragedy that unfolded on Saturday morning will be remembered in Tucson for many many years to come. Our hearts go out to all of the victims and their families in this trying time.

Now is a time to pause, put politics aside and to send good feelings, thoughts and prayers to Gabby, her staff and all of the survivors of the attack to wish them swift and full recoveries.

I would like to take a moment to remember those killed on Saturday, I know that each of them were especially loved by many and will be sorely missed.

US District Judge John Roll
Christina Taylor-Green
Dorwan Stoddard
Dorothy Murray
Phyllis Scheck
Gabe Zimmerman

I would also like to send a special remembrance to AZLCV member and friend Gabe Zimmerman. I last saw Gabe a couple of weeks ago at a holiday party hosted at our offices in Tucson. Gabe was in his usual good spirits and was bubbling over with excitement about his engagement and his future. Gabe, you will be missed by so many. Tucson, Arizona and the United States are better places because of you.

Steven Arnquist
Executive Director
AZLCV & AZLCV Education Fund

Two “no” votes send message to lawmakers

Amanda Crawford

It looks like Propositions 301 and 302 are going down by wide margins. That should send a strong message to lawmakers.

For years, lawmakers have ignored the priorities of voters. Arizonans value our environment and open spaces and we want what is best for our children. But at the Capitol they too often spend time on things that don’t matter nearly as much. Guns in bars? Inefficient lightbulbs? Human-animal hybrids? Birther craziness? These are not things that matter to most Arizonans.

Lawmakers are whining now that they can’t balance the budget without sweeping funds set aside for land conservation and kids. But backers of those programs had the guts to go to voters and ask for specific, targeted tax increases. Lawmakers are afraid to ask voters for a tax increase to support their priorities, and they should be. Time and time again we’ve seen they can’t be trusted to do what is right.

Crawford, a former Republic political reporter, is a 2010 Soros Justice Fellow with the Open Society Institute, freelance writer and editor of the drug war blog CrawfordOnDrugs.com. She is also president of the Arizona League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, a non-profit, non-partisan environmental group.

A version of this post appeared on AZCentral.com as part of The Arizona Republic’s 36-hour Election blog.

Arizona voters value environment; most of their lawmakers don’t

Amanda Crawford, AZLCV Ed Fund President

One of the most interesting results of the election was the crushing defeat of Proposition 301, which would have allowed lawmakers to raid the Land Conservation Fund, and the surprising failure of Proposition 109, which would have politicized wildlife management in the state.

Proposition 301′s defeat was decisive, with 74 percent opposing — an even greater defeat than Proposition 302 targeting First Things First, which had a more organized and well-funded opposition campaign.

The message? Arizona voters value the environment and open space. Unfortunately, those values didn’t translate to the election of legislators and Congressional representatives. And, indeed, anti-conservation forces made big gains in yesterday’s election.

If Arizonans really want to protect the environment — and the propositions show they care — they need to recognize that the best way to stop anti-environmental laws is to demand lawmakers share their values.

Amanda Crawford, a former Republic political reporter, is a 2010 Soros Justice Fellow with the Open Society Institute, freelance writer and editor of the drug war blog CrawfordOnDrugs.com. She is also president of the Arizona League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, a non-profit, non-partisan environmental group.

A version of this post appeared on AZCentral.com as part of The Arizona Republic’s 36-hour Election blog.

Proposition 301

In response to the recent opinion piece by Nancy Barto and other state legislators and candidates, the Arizona League of Conservation Votersand the AZLCV Education Fund urge voters to reject proposition 301.  Proposition 301 is bad for public conservation efforts AND it is bad for education funding.  This proposition is a gimmicky band-aid on a hemorrhaging state budget.  What too many people fail to understand is that investments in conservation, open space and livability will help our economy in the long run.

One of the biggest myths about Proposition 301 is that the money in the Land Conservation Fund (LCF) is somehow incompatible with education funding. The money in the conservation fund is used by cities to purchase state trust land for open space. Since the revenue from state trust land sales already goes toward public education, those city dollars are essentially turned into matching funds to support education.  That means that the $123 million in the LCF, if left alone, will turn into $246 million for education!

Proponents would also have you believe that land conservation is a luxury that we can only afford during good economic times.  This short-term way of thinking ignores the reality that in good economic times land is much more expensive than in bad times (just look at the value of your home). The ideal situation would be to put money into the LCF in good economic times and spend it in bad times. That is exactly what has been happening with the LCF: Arizona has been depositing $20 million per year into the fund and now we have the unique opportunity to purchase land at the lowest prices in years while doubling the public investment in education.

The LCF has already made possible popular preserves like Scottsdale’s McDowell-Sonoran Preserve and lands in Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. Money spent to conserve land like this is an investment in the future of our state. People and business move to Arizona to enjoy our natural heritage and our unparalleled quality of life. Irresponsible development still threatens some of our most precious lands. Weunderstand that our state needs to make painful sacrifices in these tough economic times, but Proposition 301 is NOT the answer. Arizona will never turn our economy around without investing in education, conservation, our cities and the people of Arizona. Using these dollars to preserve land as they were intended is the right thing to do.

Arizona’s livability is one of our greatest assets and irresponsible development still threatens some of our most precious lands.  Arizonans have long identified preserving open space as a core value.  Using these dollars to preserve land as they were intended is the right thing to do.

-Steve Arnquist, AZLCV & AZLCV Ed Fund Executive Director

Keep Them Open!

As a native Arizonan who grew up in a rural area surrounded by desert, open land and space was normal for me. It wasn’t until I moved to the city in high school that I realized that open space and protected places are extremely important. Once I was surrounded by developments and structures, I soon utilized my new driving privileges to seek out the gems of land surrounding Tucson.

My land value changed once I wasn’t always surrounded by saguaros, washes, and creosote. I have frequented all types of public land including half of our 31 State Parks. For close to 10 years now I’ve sought out recreational opportunities in our state parks regularly, and now that these places are being threatened by an irresponsible legislature, it’s personal.

I’ve read reports, legislation, opinions, articles, and news coverage on our state parks dilemma. I have watched the proceedings of the Arizona State Parks Board meetings. I have watched hours of the 2010 legislative session. Everything I have seen is a spectacle worthy of ridicule. People who enjoy our parks have spoken up and their emotions have evoked deep sympathy out of me. All of this wears on me particularly since I have seen feasible alternatives, such as HCR 2040 – Sustainable Parks Fund, shot down and blocked by one legislator that didn’t think it was a good idea.

HCR 2040 would have created a $9 fee on our vehicle registrations, and anyone displaying current Arizona tags would get free day use of our state parks. I wouldn’t have minded paying the $9 fee for day use of all of our state parks for a year had HCR 2040 been voted in. Day use to all of our parks for the price of one lunch would have been a deal for me. Unfortunately, the issue is more complicated.

One of the primary issues I see is that there are NO State Parks in Maricopa County; this means that the majority of our representatives have no ties to the preservation of our state parks, which are usually found near rural areas. Some think our parks should be privatized, or leased out, to cities and counties. An example of this was HB 2464 which would have leased Lake Havasu State Park to Lake Havasu City. This would have reduced funding for our already crippled state park system. To have a healthy state park system, the legislature needs to stop sweeping funds that our state parks depend on.

Over the last decade Arizona State Parks funding has been drastically decreased. In January 2009 state parks had only $26 million in funding from the legislature, and now it has been reduced to $7.5 million. This is a problem because our state parks have unmet capital needs of $150 million. The reductions in funding have led to park closures, lay-offs, and a crumbling infrastructure. An economic impact study by Northern Arizona University states that Arizona State Parks attract 2.3 million visitors annually and generate $290 million in direct economic impact, indirect economic impact, and taxes. The cost to operate Arizona’s 31 State Parks is $34 million annually. Defunding our parks hurts tourism and we need to keep these places open if we want the money they create.

Voters want parks and have voted to fund our parks, so our legislators need to start thinking about real solutions and do what the voters expect them to do. Our legislators need to recognize the recreational, aesthetic, and monetary value of our state treasures and maintain a sustainable system. Our future depends on their decisions, and their jobs depend on our decision to keep them there.

-Melissa Ramsey, AZLCV Membership Coordinator

Elections: It’s How We Make a Difference

As Arizona’s midterm elections approach, each of us is faced with prioritizing those issues that we care most about. What will we look for when we vote on ballot measures? Which candidates will we choose and why? With so many important programs at risk from budget cuts at the state and local level, I know I will be prioritizing Arizona’s future in the form of protecting our natural environment, including our state parks, moving away from our addiction to foreign oil (we import significantly more than half of what we use) and building a 21st century green economy for Arizona.

Without clean air, clean water and our natural heritage, the future of Arizona looks grim. Since Arizona became a state 98 years ago, people have visited from around the world; many stayed because of our healthy environment and the natural beauty that Arizona offers. Sadly, we have not been the best stewards of these gifts.

Arizona’s air quality, which was heralded as a cure for respiratory ailments as recently as 30 years ago, continues to violate health-based standards for particulates and ozone pollution. Phoenix was rated the worst city in the US for dust pollution and 11th worst for ozone pollution in 2010 by the American Lung Association. Our state parks system includes some of the most beautiful places in Arizona. Since the Arizona Legislature swept $10 million dollars from the Heritage Fund, took the dollars from park entrance fees, and also swiped State Lake Improvement dollars, counties, cities and parks friends groups have stepped in to raise funds so that a total of 23 of 30 State Parks remain open, at least for the short term. We need a permanent and protected funding source for our parks. The National Park Service (NPS) has warned Governor Brewer that closure of any state park or historic site that has received Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) assistance would be viewed by the NPS as being in noncompliance with Federal requirements, jeopardizing LWCF funding and reimbursements and potentially impacting other Federal grant programs, reinforcing the notion that park closures among other measures are “penny wise, dollar foolish.”

Our state environmental agencies have been decimated. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) have absorbed significant budget cuts (70 percent of ADEQ’s budget has been cut over the last five years, DWR has lost 60 percent of its staff this year) and are barely functioning. They are often unable to process permits in a timely fashion, let alone perform the due diligence to protect our air and water.

In these tough economic times, many claim that our environment is a luxury that must be sacrificed to benefit our economy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Arizona’s environment and our economy are closely linked in ways that politicians sometimes choose to ignore. When choosing places for new or relocated offices or production centers, corporations consider the potential quality of life for their employees, knowing that natural beauty, recreational opportunities, clean air and water contribute greatly to the quality of life of and health and well-being of potential employees. Environmental tourism is one of the major drivers of Arizona’s economy and visitors flock from all over to revel in our state’s beauty. State Parks alone drive $260 million dollars of economic activity and bring in more tax revenue through these activities than they cost to operate. (Parks currently get no general fund appropriation).

We live in a democracy and our responsibility as citizens is to hire and fire our elected representatives and to right the course of our state if we feel it is headed in the wrong direction. With Arizona’s environmental future on the ropes, I hope that all of you will join me in thoroughly researching the voting records of incumbent elected officials and the campaign promises of challengers. I also hope that you will spread the word and share it with your friends, family and co-workers. The 2010 environmental voting record for Arizona politicians is now available from the Arizona League of Conservation Voters at http://www.azlcv.org/scorecards.php.

Arizona is ripe for a more forward thinking style of leadership and I believe that voters are up to the challenge this year. When we make the effort to carefully consider our candidates and ballot measures and vote our values, we improve Arizona both today and for future generations. Please take the time to review p 15 of the July-August 2010 Vermilion Flycatcher to remind yourself about the Propositions before the electorate this November that have implications for our natural environment.

-Steve Arnquist. Executive Director Arizona League of Conservation Voters Education Fund

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