In the “mutual benefits agreement” signed in 2008 and renewed recently, Superior pledged its support for federal legislation that would make a huge copper mine possible by exchanging protected land in the Tonto National Forest for parcels of comparable value elsewhere in the state. Any official communication opposing the plan to the governor or a member of Arizona’s congressional delegation would void the deal, and the town agreed to provide letters of support to those same officials.

But in promoting its plans Resolution Copper Mining LLC, the company that would set up the new mine, has created similar agreements with groups whose opposition could be detrimental.

Officials with the Coconino National Forest are rewriting a 23-year-old blueprint for the forest and attempting to address some big problems, like climate change and water pollution.

Lobbyists tend to avoid the spotlight, often preferring to moderate their comments on pressing issues if they’re quoted at all. That’s just not how Sandy Bahr operates.

The Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter claims that the rejection of a member who applied to be on a board that recommends Game & Fish Commission nominees is part of a broader effort to keep conservationists from having a say in wildlife policy.

Supporters say a ballot proposition designed to make it easier to swap rather than sell or lease state trust land would help faciliate agreements that preserve military installations.

At Bug Stop Pest Control, a do-it-yourself pesticide store in north Phoenix, owner Jesse Smith includes commonsense advice with each sale: Don’t spray when windy, wash up after, and – most importantly – read the instructions.

Volunteers spend a day every other month wading through one of the state’s few perennial rivers, collecting samples to monitor PH levels, E. coli bacteria, arsenic, nitrogen, phosphorus and water flows.

The Center for Biological Diversity is suing to reinstate protections for bald eagles in Arizona.

Thanks to $23 million from a fund Arizona voters created in 1998 to preserve open spaces, Scottsdale plans to add about 2,000 acres of state trust land here to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. To Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, it’s money well spent.

After 300 vehicles dumped nearly 30 tons of potentially toxic electronics waste in a Wal-Mart parking lot in a northeastern Arizona town last August, Mark Shaffer was hooked. He wanted to collect more electronics waste in more towns across the state.