The fate of a state rock-climbing park has been lost in the swirl of revelations about Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi’s role in a land-swap.
The park’s creation had been tied to identical bills introduced in Congress two years ago by Renzi of District 1, and Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, both Republicans. The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act would, among other things, set aside land for the climbing park.
In the deal, Resolution Copper Co. would acquire Oak Flat, now part of the Tonto National Forest and a popular bouldering area east of Superior. Resolution has designs on an enormous body of copper ore believed to lie some 7,000 feet beneath Oak Flat.
Rock climbers have complained about the possible loss of Oak Flat.
To help make up for it, the Legislature last session gave its blessing to the creation of the Copper State Rock Climbing Park (S1550). But — tied to a now-shaky land-swap bill before Congress — that park’s future appears a bit more cloudy.
Without the land-exchange, there will be no state climbing park, said Jay Ziemann, assistant director for the Arizona State Parks Department.
“There’s one plan,” Ziemann said. That plan includes land for the park and money for a road leading to it.
The plan goes something like this. In the trade, Resolution would give the Bureau of Land Management roughly 2,000 acres of a mountain range near Kearny. The BLM, in turn, would deed the land over to the state for the climbing park.
But the bill in Congress has been bruised by a probe over whether Renzi sought to steer Resolution, as part of the swap, into buying land owned by a former business partner. The Wall Street Journal said Renzi wanted Resolution to buy a 480-acre alfalfa field in southern Arizona.
Resolution turned down the proposal
The alfalfa field was sold to another group for $4 million as part of a separate deal that didn’t involve Resolution, the Journal reported. That group, the Petrified Forest group, included former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt.
A business owned by Renzi received money from the former business partner, James Sandlin at the same time Sandlin received payment from the Petrified Forest group, the Journal reported.
The article said the Petrified Forest group, was not being investigated for any wrongdoing.
Resolution’s general counsel Craig Johnson also said neither Resolution nor anybody in the company is under investigation.
Otherwise, Johnson said he couldn’t comment on any investigation involving Renzi.
“Basically, we’re very limited in what we can say,” Johnson said by phone from Superior.
Copper firm is not giving up on bill
Despite Renzi’s troubles, Resolution is pressing ahead with the land-exchange bill, Johnson said. But with Democrats now in control of Congress, Renzi’s name on a bill would likely not win many votes.
So Resolution is turning to Democrats, Johnson said.
“We hope to have the land-exchange reintroduced in the next two or three weeks,” Johnson said.
On one hand, the bill could fare no worse — as it languished under Republican leadership. On other hand, the House subcommittee that the bill must clear is headed by Congressman Raul Grijalva, a District 7 Democrat. And Grijalva refused to support the earlier land swap bill because of opposition by the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache tribes. They regard Oak Flat as an important place to gather traditional foods, including wild acorns.
Unless the bill is rewritten to satisfy the tribes’ objections, Grijalva will not support it, said Natalie Luna, his Tucson press aide. Without his support, the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands subcommittee he chairs would likely be the bill’s first and last stop.
As for the Parks Department, it can do little more than sit by the sidelines and watch, said assistant director Ziemann.
“The state Legislature has limited our travel budget to $5,000 a year,” Ziemann said. “A member of our executive staff hasn’t been back to Washington, D.C., for several years.”
The Parks Department has been talking to others, including Resolution officials, about the bill’s progress through Congress.
“We’re hopeful, maybe not holding our breath… that the park will become a reality,” Ziemann said.