Three miles of land along the Verde River, known as Park Central Farm, has been set aside for preservation by a partnership among Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Nature Conservancy and Hauser & Hauser Farms, a local farm.
The 595-acre property by the spot where West Clear Creek meets with the Verde River, bought by Hauser & Hauser two years ago, will be preserved as farmland in perpetuity. It cannot be used for any other commercial or residential purpose, and if it is sold, it must be sold as one intact parcel, not split up into different properties.
“I’ve seen all these farms subdivided and ruined,” said Kevin Hauser, who owns the farmland with his wife. “We had a loftier goal than that.”
The Hausers will share joint control over the land with the Nature Conservancy, with funding for the preservation coming from the NRCS and AZGFD. The land will remain private, without public access, controlled through the Hausers and the Nature Conservancy. Though the land agreement places strict rules on developing the land, Hauser said he does not see it as onerous to keep up with the standards. The Hausers plan to continue using the land to grow crops for the foreseeable future. At this point, the main plants growing there will be corn and barley.
Hauser said an advantage of the barley crop is that it requires most of its irrigation in the spring, as opposed to many other crops that require water throughout the summer. He said he hopes that this will allow the Verde River to stay a little higher during the summer months.
“It’s the largest remaining farm in the Verde Valley,” said Kim Schonek, Verde River project director for the Nature Conservancy. “This one is one of the last remaining farms where we have about 300 acres of irrigation. It gets water from West Clear Creek and the Verde River. It has this wonderful lush riparian corridor between the farmland and the river that’s important to protect. So I think that’s really what makes this a unique and special place. It’s that intact riparian habitat and being a large contiguous farm.”
“There’s too much demand and draw on the water, and too much demand on turning agricultural land into residential,” Hauser said. “I’ve never liked it. I’ve never thought it’s the right thing to do. Once you take a farm and turn it into a 1-acre subdivision or whatever, it’s gone from agriculture forever. It’s lost.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
