Board of Supervisors reaffirm support for Ironwood Forest National Monument

Pima County, May 21, 2025 – The Pima County Board of Supervisors at its May 20 meeting voted 4-1 to oppose the reduction of Ironwood Forest National Monument for resource extraction proposed by the Trump Administration. 

Designated as a 100,000-acre national monument by President Bill Clinton in 2000, Ironwood Forest stretches across Pima and Pinal Counties and serves as an integral part of the connected landscape including other protected federal, state, and local lands. 

 “Preserving our sensitive desert lands and protecting critical biodiversity has been a priority of the County and the Board of Supervisors for decades. Changing the designation of the Ironwood Forest National Monument and opening it to mining and other uses that would degrade the monument’s fragile ecosystem is a step backward. And it would be counter to the wishes of the people of Pima County who have voted repeatedly to preserve and protect hundreds of thousands of acres in the County,” said District 3 Supervisor Jennifer Allen. 

Consistent with the objectives of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, the resolution describes the extraordinary ecological and cultural values of the resources within the monument and recognizes the travel and tourism contributions of the national monument. The monument is named for the Ironwood tree, which can live for more than 800 years, and is the dominant nurse plant in the region, providing habitat features for other species from the saguaro cactus to numerous hawks, owls, and for desert bighorn sheep among countless other plants and animals. 

“The Ironwood Forest National Monument is important to Pima County’s conservation goals for natural resources, cultural heritage and landscape connectivity under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan,” said Kris Gade, Director Pima County Conservation Lands & Resources department. “In addition to opposing the reduction of the national monument, all designated National Monuments deserve to be safeguarded and retained as proclaimed under the 1906 Antiquities Act.” 

The resolution continues a long legacy of Pima County prioritizing and preserving open space, directing county administration to take necessary steps to communicate the County’s opposition to resource extraction, mining, and development within the currently established boundaries of the national monument.