Present: Wally Alexander, Mette Brogden, Tom Chilton, Carl Jones, Micaela McGibbon, Elsa Pesqueira, Dan Robinett, Tom Sheridan, and Linda Mayro.

1.Call to Order & Introductions: The meeting room was changed from Room 309 to the conference room of the Southwest Mission Research Center due to a last-minute conflict. The meeting was called to order by Tom Sheridan at 3:05PM. Everyone introduced themselves. Linda Mayro introduced Micaela King McGibbon who would be assisting Pima County and the technical advisory team in the research for this effort.

2.Review of Minutes: Minutes from 8/25/99 meeting were not ready; they will be reviewed at next meeting together with minutes from current meeting.

3.Draft Mission Statement: Linda Mayro presented the draft mission statement for discussion. There was some discussion about what "sustainable ranching" means. Team members agreed that it generally means "ongoing, viable, and productive, with no degradation to the natural environment." Tom Chilton and Linda Mayro discussed how sustainable ranching also implies that good land stewardship is being practiced serving to enhance the environment. Linda also noted that this committee would be considering agricultural lands in its work. Before adoption the following changes were made to the mission statement:

- change second sustainable to healthy

- after traditional, add current

- after uses, add including local food and fiber production

The Mission Statement now reads:

To facilitate the goal of "keeping ranchers ranching" through the preparation of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, which will recognize how sustainable ranching can facilitate healthy and diverse ecosystems,, open space conservation, the preservation of historic, traditional, and current land uses, including food and fiber production and property rights.

All members agreed to accept the Mission Statement. On Committee Objectives, Linda noted that the objectives be considered the "work products" of the Committee and that data layers to inform these objectives needed to be developed for inclusion in the GIS analysis. Tom Sheridan noted that water resources for people and for wildlife was a critical variable and resource and added that data on wildlife ranges would also be important. Linda responded that many of these "environmental layers" are already available in the GIS system or are being constructed by the Science team, and would be available to this committee. Discussion followed that common interests between hunters and ranchers could be identified so that alliances for multiple-use of the land could be formed. Various committee members agreed that two additional objectives needed to be added:

- Define critical elements of ranching industry infrastructure.
- Define the economic impact of ranching in Pima County.

Also under the "adaptive management plan" section, #5, negative was changed to catastrophic. No other changes were made, and a final copy of the final Mission Statement was to be mailed.

4.Ranch Conservation Draft Technical Report

Linda presented a draft outline of a descriptive technical report on Ranching in Pima County, A Conservation Objective of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan for discussion. This report will be largely descriptive and must be produced by November 1999. It is anticipated that additional studies and more specific data will be collected and analyzed after the draft and general technical report is produced. She reiterated that this is a "base-line" report that will characterize ranching in Pima County from a general perspective. Some additional topics that were suggested by members include rancher demographics, professional organizations, industry infrastructure, range land trends/changes, and the regulatory environment. Linda reminded committee members that first draft report can be supplemented by committee members and staff after better information is compiled. A final outline was to be distributed.

5.Identify additional GIS "Covers" and Data Gathering

Committee members discussed existing GIS layers and suggested comparison of past to present ranchlands, the use of valleys (watersheds) as analytical units not individual ranches, Arizona Game & Fish studies, grassland and vegetation distribution, and other environmental variables. Linda added that more specific data would be gathered, but goal of analysis would be to characterize each watershed. Linda added that she would develop a list of GIS covers for discussion at next meeting.

6.Criteria for Evaluating Ranchlands

Only very limited discussion focused on how to define or critically evaluate ranchlands. It was generally agreed that productivity was a key variable. Members indicated the group and its members had significant expertise in this area. Mette added that it will be important to create alliances with other interest groups to preserve ranchlands. This topic will be continued for discussion at next meeting.

7.Next Meeting & Agenda

The next two meetings were set for Wednesday, October 13, 1999 and Wednesday October 27 at 3:00PM at the Arizona State Museum. Linda would finalize other items for the agenda with Tom.

8.Announcements

Linda noted that the Conservation Biology Session would be held on Saturday, September 18, 1999, and that committee members and their guests were welcome to attend.

9.Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 5:20PM.