Christmas came a little early for Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona, where The Trust for Public Land transferred 40 acres to the park to help preserve the look of  its entrance corridor.

TLP transferred the land to the National Park Service on December 17. The land is located along Pinery Canyon Road, less than 500 feet from the park entrance station. This acquisition will allow the monument to preserve undeveloped more of the gateway viewshed. The land includes part of Erickson Ridge, a prominent topographical feature. Historically, the property lies in an area crossed by Buffalo Soldiers in the 19th century as they patrolled Pinery Canyon. 

For years, longtime landowner Dan Fischer had hoped his property eventually would be protected as part of Chiricahua National Monument. Out of concern for a more speedy transaction after health concerns forced Fischer to move to Tucson, TPL purchased and held the land earlier this year. That gave the Park Service time to complete a necessary technical step before the addition of land to a national park unit: a minor but formal adjustment of the park’s legal boundary to include the parcel. Once that was completed, the Park Service purchased the property for $375,000, the same price the TPL paid Fischer. The Park Service bought the acreage with funds from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program supported with royalties from offshore oil and gas production.

“We are so grateful that The Trust for Public Land worked with us and Mr. Fischer to acquire this property and thus protect it as part of Chiricahua National Monument,” said H. Lane Baker, superintendent of the Park Service's Southeast Arizona Group (Chiricahua NM, Coronado National Memorial and Fort Bowie National Historic Site).

“Mr. Fischer wished to see his land protected as part of the national monument and it was a pleasure to work with him and the National Park Service to make this a reality,” said Michael Patrick, project manager for The Trust for Public Land.

Fischer, an author, naturalist and bird photographer, once lived in a historic stone house on the property with his late wife. The house, which has been rented to employees of the park for the past five years, will continue as employee housing while the park conducts a housing assessment in 2015.