Growth nears Petrified Forest
Subdivisions imperil park expansion plan, ranchers say
by Mark Shaffer, Republic Flagstaff Bureau

For nearly a decade, some of the state’s largest ranchers have waited patiently to strike a deal with the federal government to enlarge Petrified Forest National Park and protect the area’s geological and archaeological treasures.

But time appears to be running out as development pressures increase and the ongoing drought makes the cattle industry less viable.

Meanwhile, bills seeking the park’s expansion by 97,000 acres, doubling its size, languish in U.S. House and Senate subcommittees with no hearing dates scheduled. And the state, which has been a latecomer in endorsing the expansion, still faces a laborious process in determining the value of State Land Department property that would be involved in the process.

Holbrook rancher Mike Fitzgerald, owner of the huge Twin Buttes Ranch, which borders the west side of the Petrified Forest, says he’s had enough waiting.

”The fact of the matter is that I’m droughted out,” Fitzgerald said. ”This thing has to happen soon if it’s going to happen. I’ve been waiting 10 years for it, so let’s get it done.”

Fitzgerald said a number of 40-acre subdivisions have sprouted adjoining his ranch.

”I grew up here and have ranched all my life, and I’m simply not going to subdivide it myself,” Fitzgerald said. ”But I might have to sell it, and the next person would subdivide it like many of the other landowners around here.”

[Thanks, NewMexiKen!]