Ranchers motivated by the desire to return fire to the landscape and keep the valley open as a working landscape convene as an alliance, with an eye toward the Malpai Borderlands Group as a model.

The Alliance becomes a formal 501(c)3 organization. In the same year, the Altar Valley Watershed Resource Management Plan is completed.  This project is funded by a grant from the Arizona Water Protection Fund.

Alliance members serve on the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan Steering Committee.

The Alliance hosts the first of many arroyo restoration and road maintenance workshops with Bill Zeedyk and Steve Carson.

The Alliance develops staff!

The Altar Valley Fire Management Plan is completed via a collaborative partner effort. Additionally, the Alliance receives a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to prepare burn plans for five sites throughout the Altar Valley.

The Alliance receives the Quivira Coalition’s Clarence Burch award for collaborative conservation.

The Altar Valley Science Advisory Board is formed, and shortly after, the first Altar Valley Research Fellowship is awarded.

The Elkhorn/Las Delicias Watershed Restoration Demonstration project is installed with support from the Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Foundation and many partners. The Alliance initiates a 10-year monitoring and community outreach program using the project as an outdoor classroom.

The Alliance receives a second grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to conduct prescribed fires and erosion control methods at each of the original sites.

The first prescribed burn is completed on the Las Delicias Ranch and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge via cross-boundary efforts by the Alliance and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge staff.

The Alliance reaches a settlement agreement with Kinder-Morgan regarding the Sierrita Pipeline, which creates an endowment that the Alliance uses to fund work in the valley.

The Altar Valley Watershed Retreat is held to talk about the Altar Wash. This lays the groundwork for what will become the Altar Valley Watershed Working Group.

The Alliance holds three brush management workshops with the University of Arizona to facilitate the sharing of lessons learned about brush management.

The Alliance’s first Executive Director, Mary Miller, wins 2018 Non-Profit Champion at the Inside Tucson Business Women of Influence awards.

The Alliance launches a collaborative, valley-wide planning process funded by the Bureau of Reclamation that will result in the Altar Valley Watershed Plan. This plan continues the planning started by the Altar Valley Watershed Framework in 2014.

The Alliance completes a 2000-acre grassland enhancement project involving mesquite treatment, funded by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and establishes a monitoring program to track progress.

The Alliance and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge sign a cooperative agreement to facilitate watershed work throughout the Altar Valley.

The twenty-fifth year of collaborative conservation led by ranchers in the Altar Valley.