September 20, 2000

Have you ever had this experience? You wanted to get something done. It was important to you. Someone said they were doing it for you. You believed them. And, you were wrong!

Unfortunately, the Arizonans who believe that the Legislature’s Proposition 100 will help them preserve land and reduce sprawl are also wrong. Here are some of the reasons why virtually every conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife organization in Arizona opposes Proposition 100.

• First, Prop 100 changes the Arizona Constitution to permanently limit preservation of state lands to only 3% of the total acreage - 279,000 acres of 9.3 million acres across Arizona. That is not enough land to meet the preservation needs of all Arizona’s communities.
• Second, most of the acres identified for "preservation" is located on top of mountains and at the bottom of washes. This will not protect wildlife habitat. And, it’s not saving land from development since most of the designated land is already undevelopable.
• Third, it diminishes local control of community preservation programs by changing our Constitution so that only 279,000 state land acres can be preserved despite community planning goals. Why should the amount of land that can be preserved be arbitrarily limited by the state? Who benefits? The answer, developers.

If preserving as much as possible Arizona’s land and wildlife habitat is important to you, vote "NO" on Proposition 100. The Legislature is not getting your job done. Proposition 100 is a SHAM "conservation" measure. It was written with the help of lobbyists who work – not for your community – but the development community.