Free Republic

SIERRA VISTA - Arizona voters may be asked next year to approve an Active Management Area in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed to protect the San Pedro River by controlling growth. The Save the San Pedro Ballot Initiative supporters are preparing petition language in an effort to force a statewide vote. To get the measure on the 2006 ballot, the group would have to obtain 200,000 valid signatures of registered voters. Bruce Babbitt, --- Strain said he is convinced the guiding hand of the initiative is Phoenix physician Dr. Robin Silver, board chairman of the Center for Biological Diversity and vice...

Say post's growth threatens San Pedro Environmentalists worried about the fate of the San Pedro River filed papers Thursday in anticipation of another lawsuit against Fort Huachuca. The fort's "incremental, piecemeal expansion" - and Sierra Vista's accompanying growth - are threatening one of the continent's hot spots for species diversity, according to activists' notice of intent to sue the military and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If the fort doesn't do something about the area's declining water table, the post must downsize so the river and its endangered species can survive, says the 83-page notice filed by the Tucson-based...