Last month The Arizona Chapter gathered volunteers for a clean up on the Perrin Ranch in Northern Arizona. The 2 day project had volunteers spread out across the ranch to clean up campgrounds, illegal dump sites, and the ranch’s original ranch house that was formerly used by sheep herders.
Trailers full of tires, wire fencing, trash, old camper shells, and even an abandoned boat were hauled off the landscape. The Arizona Chapter was able to organize this event with the help of the Arizona Game and Fish Department and their Adopt-A-Ranch program.
The Adopt-A-Ranch Program focuses on enhancing habitat and securing public recreational access throughout the state. These improvement projects illustrate how various groups can come together in a win-win for private landowners, the recreating public, and wildlife conservation. The Adopt-A-Ranch Program is a cooperative effort between Game and Fish, landowners, and volunteers across the state to complete projects that improve ranch land while enhancing wildlife habitat or recreational access for the public. The program has helped relations between landowners and people who wish to recreate on those lands. By participating in this program, the ranch opens up land that would otherwise be off limits to hunting and recreation to the public.
The Perrin Ranch is checkerboarded state and private land and lies within Game Management Unit 10. The AZGFD has been working cooperatively with the Perrin Ranch for many years to maintain the public access on this ranch. The chapter plans on organizing more projects on the ranch, so if you are interested in helping out, be sure to follow on Instagram @arizona_bha, or send an email to [email protected].
About Justin Nelson
“We have not inherited the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.” - Lester Brown.