Winkelman Natural Resource Conservation District: Preserving the Copper Corridor’s Agricultural Heritage
CopperArea.com
Land in Dudleyville donated to the Winkelman Natural Resource Conservation District by the Nature Conservancy. Photos courtesy TNC
Winkelman Natural Resource Conservation District (WNRCD) has helped maintain agriculture as an economic powerhouse in our region for nearly 70 years. While not every agricultural operation can be seen from our picturesque highways, there lies along our dirt roads and near our rivers and creeks a beating heart from which flows sustenance and the financial support for ranching families in the region.
Economic Impacts
According to Tim Kanavel, Pinal County’s Economic Development Director, the aggregate agriculture economic impact amount in Pinal County is $2.6 billion annually. Attempts to ascertain an economic figure for the just WNRCD were strangely difficult to locate. With some educated guesses and looking at the WNRCD’s footprint in Pinal County (see map), perhaps half of the $2.6 billion of economic impact can be attributed to the WNRCD. That is $1.3 billion of economic impact. Please note, unless better figures can be found, it is only a guess. Let put this into some context, mining represents $1.3 billion of economic impact to Pinal County according to the Arizona Mining Association. It seems clear that outside of Florence Copper near Florence, most of Pinal County’s active mining would be within the WNRCD footprint.
