Jim Crosswhite

“While implementing a Safe Harbor Agreement to restore habitat for the Little Colorado River spinedace, a threatened fish, and the southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered bird, I was inspired to donate the EC Bar Ranch Conservation Easement to permanently protect 94 acres, including 3-miles of Nutrioso Creek,” said Jim Crosswhite, a rancher in Apache County, Arizona.

Crosswhite is the developer of the EC Bar Ranch Estates subdivision near Nutrioso and the EC Bar Ranch, a working cattle ranch.

The Arizona Partners for Fish and Wildlife program helped implement the Agreement through controlled grazing, vegetative plantings, and improved management. “The conservation easement will protect those practices in perpetuity,” Crosswhite said.

More information, including the Safe Harbor Agreement, is posted at the United States Fish & Wildlife Service website.

A series of winter storm systems over the past week brought near record levels of rain and snow to Arizona’s White Mountains.
Beginning on Monday, storms moved from California toward the east and by Friday, there were blizzard conditions.  At least 4 feet of snow has fallen in Nutrioso over the past week.