This may still be news to some. Thought it deserved a headline here.
Arizona Trail, spanning 817 miles, gets federal status
By Doug Kreutz
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.31.2009
The Arizona Trail — spanning 817 miles of desert, canyon and mountain terrain from Mexico to Utah — has been designated as a National Scenic Trail.
The trail designation was part of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act signed Monday by President Obama.
“Scenic is such a fitting description,” said Dave Hicks, executive director of the Arizona Trail Association. “The trail displays the diverse and spectacular beauty of our state. The scenic views are just magnificent.”
The designation makes the Arizona Trail one of 11 routes with National Scenic Trail status, Hicks said.
“This recognition will help protect the trail in the future,” he said.
Segments of the trail pass through the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson and the Catalina Mountains north of the city.
First proposed in the mid-1980s by Flagstaff school teacher Dale Shewalter, the route includes previously existing trail segments and about 300 miles of new trails, Hicks said.
“This is the result of a great effort by many people in Arizona — individuals, people in public agencies and people in businesses all working together,” he said. “It’s a pretty amazing feat.”
Although many people have trekked all or parts of the trail route on foot, bikes or horseback, it’s not quite officially finished.
“It’s 95 percent complete,” Hicks said. “We still have about 40 miles to go.”
Terri Gay, a Tucson hiker who has trekked nearly the entire trail in segments over several years, said she is “so pleased that the trail has finally been recognized as the amazing treasure it is.”
“So many Tucsonans have helped build it and now enjoy biking, riding and hiking it,” Gay said. “We should all celebrate this milestone. We’re now up there with the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, only better."
The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act will protect 2 million acres of wilderness and preserve monuments, trails and rivers across the country.
In addition to expanding the scenic trail system, the measure combines in 1,294 pages more than 150 individual environmental bills to conserve water and protect 1,000 miles of scenic rivers. It also blocks mining and drilling on millions of acres of federal land.
The new law authorizes as much as $10 billion in spending for wildlife and land protection. It also adds 2 million acres in nine states to the National Wilderness Preservation System. That system currently consists of 10 million acres in 44 states.
blisterfree