The Arizona Parks and Recreation Association, Arizona State University (ASU), and Arizona State Parks co-hosted the May 9, 2007 Conference on Open Space: “Growing Greener: Sustaining Arizona’s Natural and Cultural Landscape” at Arizona State University-West campus to an audience of over 100 attendees. Shannon Scutari, from the Governor’s Policy Office, opened the conference and Ed Fox, Vice President of Arizona Public Service, delivered the keynote address.

Sessions included:

• Arizona’s Cultural Heritage and Open Space
  • Archaeological Parks as Open Space: The Importance of Preserving Ancient Landscapes
  • Civic Tourism: The Poetry and Politics of Place
  • From Agriculture to Suburbia: Cultivating the Oasis
• What to Save? Science that Shapes Choices for Open Space
  • On the Importance of Open Space: Desert Rangelands
  • Open Space: Resource Identification Inventory
  • GIS Approaches to Wildlife Linkage Design in Arizona
  • Hip Bone Connected to the Thigh Bone
• Policies for Protecting and Funding Parks and Open Space
  • Challenges to Managing Arizona’s Growth
  • Trust for Public Lands
  • Arizona State Parks: Growing Smarter State Trust Land Acquisition Grant Program FY 2007
• Making it Happen: Planning and Implementation for Open Space
  • Arizona’s Wildlife Linkages
  • Desert Foothills Natural Resource Initiative
  • Air Quality and Open Space
  • Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
• Development Challenges and Solutions: Open Space and Habitat
  • Route Inventory and Designation in Travel Management Planning
  • Equestrian Guidelines for Trails, Trailheads, and Campgrounds
  • Planning Strategies for Bikes and Open Space

The conference concluded with a spirited panel discussion featuring Jim Holway of ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability; Sandy Bahr of the Sierra Club; Jeff Williamson of the Phoenix Zoo and Arizona Zoological Society; and moderator Grady Gammage of Gammage and Burnham Law Offices and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at ASU.