Executive Director Diana Freshwater with one of the singing cooks at the 2005 Santa Lucia celebration.

our history
Founded in 1978, the Arizona Open Land Trust has long roots in southern Arizona and is the state’s oldest local land trust.

Since 2000, the Trust has protected over 17,000 acres of Southern Arizona’s finest parkland, streams, and working farms and ranches in three southern Arizona counties.  With broad collaboration and a sound, science-based conservation plan, the Trust’s work enabled the largest expansion of the Tucson Mountain Park since the park’s creation in 1928.

In May 2005, the Trust worked with local landowners and county officials to permanently protect the Santa Lucia Ranch in the Altar Valley – a 10,000 acre working ranch adjoining over 30,000 acres of public land.