Portal, AZ - Rodeo, NM

Serving The Communities Of Portal and Rodeo (www.portal-rodeo.com)

Chiricahua Regional Council

Our Stewardship Program has been one of our greatest successes. We value our collaborations in this area, including those with Wild Arizona, Friends of Cave Creek Canyon, and the US Forest Service. In 2022, we were honored to receive a certificate of appreciation for our work in the Chiricahuas.

WHAT WE DO

Chiricahua Regional Council

The CRC works on issues affecting the Chiricahua and Peloncillo region and focuses on maintaining healthy, intact habitats. We disseminate information about potential threats to the region, as those threats arise. We advocate careful land stewardship and seek to educate the public, as needed, on any aspect of natural history, conservation and land use, including sound grazing practices. Diverse interests from the community––from biologists to ranchers––are represented on our Board of Directors.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Dirk Sigler

Vice President: Curt Bradley
Secretary: Elly van Gelderen

Treasurer: Eskild Petersen

Wynne Brown

Philip Hedrick

David Hodges

Noel Snyder

Helen Snyder

Advisory Council

Amy Amoroso

Josiah Austin

Jim Downer

Diana Hadley

Paul Hirt

Michelle Lanan

Gregg Magee

Narca Moore-Craig

Jonathan Patt

Kim Vacariu

Alice Wakefield

Richard Webster

MEMBERSHIP

A 2-year membership costs $20. When issues arise affecting the Chiricahua-Peloncillo-Dragoon region, we inform our membership of the problem and recommend actions to remedy the situation. These notices come at irregular (and, thankfully, infrequent) intervals––however, when action has been needed, our members have risen to the challenge, and have been very effective at protecting the local biological and cultural values.

For information, email us at chiricahuaregionalcouncil@gmail.com.

Chiricahua Regional Council

PO Box 16480

Portal AZ 85632

CRC WEB SITE

WHO WE ARE

The Council is a citizens’ watchdog group that monitors public agency actions and other issues affecting the Chiricahua, Peloncillo and Dragoon Mountains and nearby areas of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and adjacent northern Mexico.

We protect valuable, intact habitats and champion the region’s natural and cultural integrity. Dark skies, open space, outstanding species diversity, corridors that link habitats, our ranching heritage––all of these values make our region what it is. Together, these treasures draw tens of thousands of visitors annually, all contributing to nature tourism, which underpins our regional economy.

The CRC promotes responsible land use and wise, science-informed stewardship of our unique natural heritage. Our broad constituency includes scientists, ranchers, birders, naturalists, astronomers, artists, residents, visitors, and many others, who value our region’s spectacular qualities.

A major strength of the organization lies in its broad constituency. Our membership includes biologists, ranchers, birders, residents, visitors, and other segments of the general public with a strong interest in the region’s well-being.

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November 2026 Newsletter

Native American Youth Come to the Chiricahuas

Intensive field training and nature immersion in Cave Creek Canyon

It's been years in the making. CRC and Wild Arizona began partnering to build relationships with Native American communities and schools with the creation of the Outdoor Equity Fund in early 2024. This October, that effort bore fruit.

The result was the Chiricahua Field School: a crew of twelve Native American youth, most of them seeing these mountains for the first time, spent four days camped in the heart of Cave Creek Canyon. By day they were learning trail building techniques, rebuilding nearly a half mile of the Snowshed Trail. At night they were picking up camping skills, experiencing and observing the world around them (bats were a highlight) and enjoying the perfect fall weather.

Some of the students came from the Ha:Sañ school in Tucson others from the Brian Brown Youth Academy. This was primarily a group of Tohono Oo’dham young women and men. Sam, who led the project, called the quantity and quality of their work truly impressive. See photos here

CRC was glad to be a pivotal partner. We enlisted Friends of Cave Creek Canyon to help fund the project and secured permission from the Southwestern Research Station to camp right in the canyon. Margaret Wilch, FoCCC’s exceptional education coordinator, taught the students journaling techniques and lent binoculars, so they could slow down and watch the place they were working to care for.

Our thanks to Nico Lorenzen, Wild Arizona’s executive director, and to Sam Woosley, Wild Arizona’s volunteer coordinator, for their vision and commitment. And a shout out to Jasmine Sanchez of the Ha:Sañ School, Julian of the Brian Brown Youth academy and Skylar Begay of Archeology Southwest. This event could not have happened without their participation.

The trail will outlast all of us, built by young people we hope will come back to walk it, and perhaps pursue careers in conservation.

Thanks also to the National Forest Foundation. Photos at @Wild4Arizona on Facebook and @wild_arizona_ on Instagram

Court Action Victory

A Landmark Success after a Two Year Legal Fight

As we celebrate the Chiricahua Field School we’re also taking a victory lap with the outcome of a major legal decision. This is a huge victory in the struggle to preserve the unique wildlife habitat of our region. It’s been a long process. In 2024 the Chiricahua Regional Council partnered with the Center for Biological Diversity and several other organizations in filing a lawsuit against the US Forest Service over proposed new road construction in the Chiricahuas. At issue was the preservation of critical habitat for Jaguar, Northern Spotted Owl, Northern Goshawk and a host of other species of flora and fauna. The Chiricahua Public Access Project, a brainchild of Arizona Game and Fish would have constructed new road segments allowing motorized vehicle access into biologically sensitive areas. CRC opposed this project from its inception. Excerpted from the Oct 1st press release —

“TUCSON, Ariz.— In response to a lawsuit by environmental groups, a federal court has overturned a U.S. Forest Service plan to build new roads and allow increased motorized access through three sensitive canyons in southeastern Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains.

The remote canyons, located in the Coronado National Forest, are known to be used by federally protected jaguars. New roads could put endangered wildlife at risk from noise and other disturbances, increase the threat of wildfires and pollute clean water.

“This ruling is a well-deserved victory for the jaguars that roam southern Arizona and for the species’ recovery,” said Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Jaguar recovery requires protecting the places they live, and this plan would have brought new roads and motorized use in the heart of those remote canyons. With jaguars making headlines week after week, Arizonans are rooting for jaguars to recover but the Forest Service is standing in their way. It’s time for the agency to get with the program and ditch this illegal plan for good.”

In a decision issued late Wednesday, the court ruled that the biological opinion for the Chiricahua Access Project violated the Endangered Species Act’s “best available science” standard by failing to consider research cited in the Jaguar Recovery Plan on the effects of roads on the cats. The court also found the opinion failed to include required measures to minimize harm or sufficient triggers for additional analysis.

The court further ruled that the project violated the National Forest Management Act by failing to account for northern goshawk habitat requirements in the Coronado National Forest’s management plan.

For many years the Chiricahuas has been used by Sombra, a male jaguar whose name means “shadow” in Spanish. Students at the Paulo Freire Freedom School in Tucson gave him the name.

New roads through the Chiricahua Mountains’ remote canyons would make it easier for hunters — including hound hunters — to reach these areas, while also increasing access for destructive off-road vehicles, woodcutting and other noisy activities that could drive jaguars away.

“We commend the court for supporting the protection of jaguar habitat in the Chiricahuas,” said Dirk Sigler of the Chiricahua Regional Council. “Allowing the construction of roads for motorized travel within these uniquely sensitive wild areas is not only unnecessary but irreversibly destructive. The Chiricahua Regional Council celebrates this decision.”

The New York Times recently reported detections of one, or possibly two, female jaguars in Cuenca los Ojos, a Mexican preserve on the U.S.-Mexico border, about 35 miles south of the Chiricahua Mountains. Those detections, now a few years old, raise the possibility that jaguars are breeding in the preserve and that a female could roam into the U.S. in search of a mate. Jaguars once bred in the U.S., with their historic range extending as far north as the Grand Canyon.

In June 2024 the Center for Biological Diversity, Sky Island Alliance and the Chiricahua Regional Council petitioned the Forest Service to designate 5,500 acres in one of these canyons as the Izęę’ Bich’ilwozh (Medicine Canyon) Zoological-Botanical Area. The White Mountain Apache Tribe’s cultural preservation office also urged the Forest Service to protect the proposed zoological-botanical area and to avoid building roads that would increase motorized traffic.

“The legacy of these precious canyons, evolving from an ancestral homeland into a revered icon of conservation and natural wonder, is finally, for now, secure,” said Dr. Aletris Neils, executive director of Conservation CATalyst.

“This was a bad idea from the start — a road project packaged as public access that really serves only the forest users who already have the most access, advanced over the objections of the public, and built on an analysis the Forest Service never actually did,” said David Hodges with Natural Allies. “We’re thrilled the courts saw it for what it was and acted to protect rare and imperiled wildlife.”

The area’s exceptional biodiversity includes bears, coatimundis, bobcats, Mexican spotted owls, golden eagles, jaguars and elegant trogons. This part of the Chiricahuas supports more than 100 species identified as species of concern by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, as well as numerous rare and culturally significant plant species.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Chiricahua Regional Council, Conservation CATalyst, Natural Allies and Wild Arizona were represented in the litigation by Lisa Belenky and Tala DiBenedetto of the Center for Biological Diversity, and Adriane Hofmeyr of Hofmeyr Wang.

Response to the Mining Exploration Threatening Steins Pass

Letter outlining concerns sent to BLM

CRC, partnering with New Mexico Wild, is now actively mounting a campaign to protect the Peloncillos from Open Pit mining. A minerals exploration company affiliated with one of the world's largest mining companies is in the process of further developing their staked claims immediately to the south of Steins Pass. The bulk of the area concerned is on public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

In response we’ve drafted and submitted a letter to the BLM raising concerns with the exploration company’s application. Read the letter to BLM here

The “little bald one” (Peloncillo) mountain range has long been underappreciated by the general public. This is in part because of its geographical isolation. Dwarfed by its impressive sky island neighbors this roughly 100 mile north-south oriented range is unequalled as a biological crossroads and wildlife corridor. Many of the same species we fought to protect in the recent successful effort to stop mining development at Antelope Pass can be found at Steins.

Read more about the range, its significance as a wildlife corridor, and the biological importance of Steins Pass here

Likely to come will be a public meeting for local community input. Our options and next steps will take shape from there.

We thank you for continuing support of our mission to advance conservation advocacy and stewardship across the region.

Dirk Sigler

President Chiricahua Regional Council

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Education:

Backcountry Preparedness Workshop

Following our Heritage Days participation, CRC and FoCCC hosted a backcountry preparedness workshop on September 21st, led by Education Coordinator Margaret Wilch and CRC’s Dirk Sigler this educational initiative attracted 15 participants and provided essential safety training for outdoor enthusiasts. Follow-up workshops are planned for later this fall, demonstrating our commitment to ongoing community education.

Exotic Invasive Species Management

The CRC continued its critical work addressing invasive species threats to our ecosystem. Through our partnership with Wild Arizona these ongoing efforts have successfully treated non-native invasive plants, including Tree of Heaven and other problematic species along Cave Creek. This work is essential for maintaining the ecological integrity of our mountain ecosystems. Planned for November is a workshop open to the public in Paradise, AZ to train in methods of eradicating exotic plant species. Wild Arizona's Jonathan Patt will be the trainer. This is a co-sponsored event with Friends of Cave Creek Canyon

Partnerships and Collaborations

Throughout this period CRC strengthened key partnerships with:
• Friends of Cave Creek Canyon- Joint trail projects and educational initiatives

• Wild Arizona- Multiple project collaboration on the trail system and non-native invasive species removal

• Coronado National Forest- Youth Conservation Corps program- Mentorship and recruitment support

• National Forest Foundation- Partner grant funding for trail development • Local tribal communities- Cultural outreach and collaborative planning Looking Forward

The CRC’s accomplishments during this period demonstrate our multi-faceted approach to conservation through trail stewardship, community education, invasive species management, and collaborative partnerships. Our work continues to build bridges between conservation science, community engagement, and cultural heritage preservation in the Chiricahua Mountains.

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Clear Signs Along The Crest

CRC’s Stewardship Program replaced many of the posts and signs along the Chiricahua Crest Trail this spring. The project grew out of discussions between CRC President Dirk Sigler and Douglas District Ranger Doug Ruppel to develop a plan to renovate the deteriorated signage across the trail system. This long-standing need goes back over a decade. As a practical matter recreation projects of this kind are now carried out in the Chiricahuas through coordination of the Forest Service and participating nonprofits like CRC.

Coronado fire crews cut and dressed juniper logs from fuel reduction projects in the Rucker Canyon area. The Forest Service delivered the wood using mules. Volunteers then stepped in to plant the posts and Dirk made new signs with tools and materials provided by the Douglas Ranger District.

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The Gold Mine Fight

Portal Versus Newmont Mining, Inc.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2010

Coronado Forest Plan Under Major Criticism

by Noel Snyder

Every national forest operates under a forest plan that presents goals and actions to achieve goals. These plans are periodically revised. In March, the U.S. Forest Service released for public comment a Draft Forest Plan for future management of the Coronado National Forest. This is a plan to replace the existing plan of 1986 and is expected to guide policies for the next 20 years. Unfortunately, the new plan is limited largely to broad “feel-good” goals. And because specific actions and their associated costs are mostly not presented, it isn’t possible to evaluate whether the goals are achievable, whether appropriate means will be employed to achieve goals, and how the Forest Service will resolve conflicts among goals. In view of the major budgetary cuts the Forest Service has already experienced and can anticipate, it seems highly unlikely that adequate resources will exist to achieve many of the goals mentioned. If adequate resources are not available which goals will be sacrificed? In essence, the Forest Service seems to be asking the public to endorse its future actions without letting the public know what those actions may be.

For those familiar with the detail of the 1986 Coronado plan, the newly released plan is astonishingly vague and leaves many matters only minimally addressed or simply unaddressed. For example, missing from the plan is any discussion of border problems or how the the Forest Service is planning to address problems anticipated from climate change. Areas of the Coronado close to the border have been under siege from illegal immigrants, who have trampled “highways” across the terrain, left mountains of trash, and repeatedly started major fires that have cost the taxpayer many millions of dollars. Many of the trails on the Coronado are now effectively “owned” by well-armed drug smugglers, at least at night. Yet the new plan says nothing about these problems and how they will be corrected. If left uncorrected, these problems will undermine many other aspects of the plan.

Nevertheless, the aspect of the new plan that is by far the most troubling is the absence of any clear recognition of the overriding importance of what many observers maintain is the defining attribute of the Coronado – its tremendously high level of biodiversity. This biodiversity is unmatched by any other national forest and has been honored nationally and internationally. Protecting biodiversity is an overall national priority, and it is the Coronado’s outstanding biodiversity that supports a thriving ecotourism economy for many local communities. Biodiversity is in fact the economic life blood of the region. This value should be featured in the plan as a central focus around which other goals need to be harmonized. It is not.

Concerns over the Coronado’s biodiversity came into national focus in the 1990s when the Coronado Forest released a proposal to convert several of the Sky Island Units it administers into a National Recreation Area (NRA). This was a proposal resulting not from public demand but from its potential to increase the Coronado’s budget. However, an NRA can only come to pass with public support and Congressional action. In public meetings the proposal was blown away by vigorous and nearly unanimous opposition from people across the social and economic spectrum, who viewed conversion of the forest into a playground for mass recreation as a very bad idea. What emerged instead was overwhelming public endorsement of low-impact quiet recreation on the forest consistent with maintaining the biological riches of the forest. The NRA proposal was quietly dropped, but one wonders if anyone on the current planning staff of the Coronado remembers this embarrassing affair. In the current draft plan, recreation development is mentioned 226 times while biodiversity is mentioned only 6 times.

To be fair, the Forest Service has belatedly announced it will be including a new Cave Creek Zoological and Botanical Area (ZBA) in its revisions to the draft plan, an area protecting a canyon with by far the highest density and diversity of nesting raptors known anywhere in the U.S. But as welcome as the new ZBA is, the increased motorized recreation emphasis across the forest that is allowed in the new plan works directly against maintaining biodiversity values. Under the existing forest plan, the Coronado already has far more roads than are permissible. Biodiversity is not yet receiving the overall recognition and priority it deserves in the new plan.

In February the Forest Service expects to release a revised forest plan and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the plan. It will be crucial for the public to respond with comments on these documents.