Following a 5-year capital campaign, the Arizona Land and Water Trust (Trust) successfully completed the final purchase of the 1,257-acre Sopori Creek and Farm in February 2025. When the Trust undertook the campaign this keystone landscape was owned by Phoenix-based land brokers and subject to the potential for intensive development due to its prime location ~40 miles south of Tucson and ~8 miles north of Tubac along the I-19 corridor. The property sits at a squeeze point along the Sopori Creek connecting to a network of already conserved lands including the 2,500-acre Sopori Ranch, protected by the Trust, and nearly 25,000 additional acres protected by Pima County as part of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. Protection of the Sopori Creek and Farm has significant consequences for land, water and, wildlife resources in the region and provides a permanent link between these already conserved lands to the west, across to the Santa Cruz River and open land to the east.
Sitting within the lower boundary of the Sopori watershed near its confluence with the Santa Cruz River, Sopori Creek and Farm carries some of the last major shallow groundwater into the Santa Cruz before it reaches Tucson. This portion of the Sopori is one of the few riparian-dominated, shallow-groundwater areas left in this region. Keeping this vital waterway and groundwater system intact helps slow potential floodwaters as they drain the larger watershed and protects against potentially severe drops to the water table that would have resulted with the intensive development previously proposed on the property.
The seasonally flowing waters of Sopori Creek also provide an ecologically rich riparian ecosystem and a natural wildlife corridor between the surrounding mountain ranges. Because of these natural characteristics, the Sopori Creek and Farm provides a vital passage in the wildlife corridor extending from the Sierrita Mountains to the north across to the Atascosa Mountain ranges to the south, as well as from the Cerro Colorado Mountains to the west across to the Santa Cruz River and the Santa Rita Mountains to the east. In conjunction with the portions of the Sopori Ranch that the Trust and Pima County protected in 2009 and 2018, this linkage helps assure the continued health of a rich biotic community and relic cottonwood gallery forest that is home for several special-status species, including the Ocelot, Lesser Long-nosed Bat, Jaguar and, Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
The protection of the Sopori Creek and Farm along with its vital shallow groundwater protects the ranching and farming communities near it from water table degradation that results from intensive resource-depleting residential build outs. As has become widely recognized, the continuation of ranching and farming operations, especially on larger intact landscapes, is one of the most important ways to protect a region’s land and water conservation and quality of life goals.
Acres: 1,257
Type: Currently held by Arizona Land and Water Trust