Vail, Arizona

The Cienega Corridor, just east of the city of Tucson, covers approximately 93,000 acres and provides both diverse cultural history and a natural wildlife corridor.

The corridor links Las Cienegas National Conservation Area and Sonoita Valley Acquisition Planning District in the south to Saguaro National Park East and Coronado National Forest's Rincon Wilderness in the north. The corridor is located in a major watershed formed by the Rincon, Whetstone, Santa Rita, and Empire Mountain ranges and is home to rural communities in the Rincon and Vail Valleys. The watershed feeds the Cienega Creek and Pantano Wash, supporting critically important wildlife habitat and corridors, open space, economic resources, and groundwater recharge.

As open space, the Cienega Corridor provides multiple recreation opportunities for the rapidly growing Tucson population, as well as a regional identity strongly based on Western rural lifestyle values. In addition, the area is biologically and geologically significant. It serves as a critical habitat to endangered plant and animal species; a wildlife movement corridor, specifically in a 'biological core area'; and a key watershed providing the City of Tucson with 20% of its groundwater recharge system. The corridor also has twenty one distinct soil and rare soil types, as well as numerous and unique limestone caves, known for endangered bat and rare invertebrates habitats.

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