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Billy Cordasco

Managing for Renewable Energy and Wildlife

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Wildlife managers and researchers highlight Babbitt Ranch Energy Center.

Wildlife managers and researchers from across the country gathered in Flagstaff last month for the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) conference to discuss deer and elk movement and the latest technology being used to track the ungulates as projects are planned for land uses such as public recreation and renewable energy. The conference at Northern Arizona University included a field trip to the Babbitt Ranch Energy Center north of Flagstaff.

“There were overwhelmingly positive comments about the conference and especially the field trip,” said Flagstaff-area Terrestrial Wildlife Program Manager Rob Nelson with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “The Babbitt Ranch Energy Center is certainly a project we can highlight broadly. Babbitt Ranches is a champion for planning renewable energy projects while maintaining deer and elk corridors. That sweet spot of coexistence is what we are trying to find in changing landscapes – landscapes that are impacted by drought, fire, recreation, climate and renewable energy projects. Workshop participants were really receptive to the strategies offered and the pathways Babbitt Ranches has spearheaded by working with various renewable energy companies and folding in the wildlife components.”

Construction began for a substation and wind turbines at the Babbitt Ranch Energy Center site for NextEra Energy in January. “After we had record snow in January, February and March, we were extremely satisfied to have drier weather in April and May. Everybody’s moods lifted,” said Prairie Handyside of Blattner Energy, who is overseeing the construction project.

NextEra officials said the 161-megawatt (MW) wind project featuring 50 wind turbines is on schedule. It is expected to begin delivering clean energy to SRP customers in early 2024.

Babbitt Ranches is known for its landscape-scale conservation practices and many projects conducted through the years with organizations such as the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Arizona Mule Deer Foundation, Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona State Land Department, the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Arizona University and many others.

Speaking at the WAFWA conference, Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco shared the land company’s philosophy. “For us, relationships are everything; it’s the meaning behind our actions that’s important; and what we do is bigger than ourselves. All of us in this room share that privilege and responsibility to be involved in projects that are bigger than ourselves.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Photo by Bonnie Stevens: During a field trip to the construction site of the Babbitt Ranch Energy Center north of Flagstaff, Babbitt Ranches, Arizona Game and Fish Department, NextEra Energy and Blattner Energy representatives visited with wildlife managers and researchers on May 17. 

Construction Underway on Babbitt Ranch Energy Center North of Flagstaff

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NextEra, SRP, Babbitt Ranches, Arizona State Land Department collaborating on wind power project for renewable energy future.

With a passion to move the state forward with renewable energy while protecting open space, creating jobs, boosting the Northern Arizona economy and planning for generations of Arizonans to come, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, SRP, Babbitt Ranches and the Arizona State Land Department have announced that construction is underway for the Babbitt Ranch Energy Center. The 161-megawatt (MW) wind project, featuring 50 wind turbines across 669 acres on the CO Bar Ranch about 25 miles north of Flagstaff, is scheduled to begin delivering clean energy to SRP customers by early 2024.

“In our efforts to support the delivery of renewable energy, we acknowledge the terrific and wonderful participation of so many businesses and government entities involved in the process to make this happen,” said Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco. “We appreciate the valuable input from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Arizona State Land Department, Coconino County and everyone involved in the Western CO Bar Legacy Conservation Community for the benefit of future generations.”

A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources will build, own and operate the project, expected to generate enough power to support nearly 40,000 average-sized homes annually during the next 30 years and bring about $9.5 million in tax revenue to the region. The construction phase will provide a significant economic boost to Coconino County and the state, creating up to 250 construction jobs and stimulating the purchase of regional goods and services from local vendors.

“This wind energy project will generate low-cost, homegrown energy and provide millions of dollars in additional tax revenue to Coconino County over the life of the project,” said JD Rulien, director of development at NextEra Energy Resources. “We are pleased to work with SRP, Babbitt Ranches and the Arizona State Land Department on Arizona’s newest wind energy center.”

“SRP is proud of the diversity of our resource mix, especially among our growing portfolio of zero-carbon, clean energy resources,” said SRP Resource Planning Director Grant Smedley. “Utility-scale wind power at Babbitt Ranch Energy Center will complement solar resources by providing energy during evening and nighttime hours when solar energy is not available.”

Babbitt Ranches, one of the West’s longest running ranching operations, has been exploring renewable energy viability in Northern Arizona since 2005, measuring wind speeds and conducting solar power evaluations. In 2010, the land company signed agreements with NextEra, the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage, to explore locations on the ranch. A decade of environmental studies followed. The project proved to be viable and operational in the timeframe needed to help meet SRP’s growing customer demand by 2024.

The Babbitt Ranch Energy Center will co-exist with current land uses, including conservation projects, ranching, scientific research and recreation.

“Our relatives believed in a land-use ethic from the beginning, a forged ethic that continues to be at the heart of the Babbitt family and the family business owners’ decisions regarding Babbitt Ranches operations,” said Cordasco, a fourth generation Babbitt. “We are thrilled to be combining forces with others who share a strong commitment to the land, the environment and the future as we work together to generate renewable energy for generations to come.”

SRP was the first utility in Arizona to add wind power to its energy resource mix and continues to receive all energy output from the 127-MW Dry Lake Wind Power Project in Northeastern Arizona, the first large-scale wind power facility in the state. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Photo courtesy of Chad de Alva of LightForce Media: Babbitt Ranches became part of Arizona’s agriculture industry with 860 head of cattle 137 years ago and remains one of the West’s longest-running ranching operations. It began exploring Northern Arizona’s renewable energy viability in 2005. Today, it is the site of diverse and co-existing efforts, including renewable energy generation, landscape-scale conservation, recreation and space exploration, along with ranching. 

Babbitt Ranches Supporting Artemis Missions, Promoting Land-Use Ethic on Other Worlds

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Dark moon walks and ‘Lunar Gateway’ planned.

On land commonly occupied by Hereford cattle, pronghorn antelope and mule deer, a moon rover prototype cruises at a top speed of eight miles per hour near Black Point Lava Flow. It is here on Babbitt Ranches that NASA, Japan’s space program, JAXA, U.S. Geological Survey scientists, along with engineers and technicians, set up a space camp of sorts. They have been preparing for a series of Artemis Missions to enable human exploration of the moon and Mars. The first, the uncrewed Artemis 1, launched Nov. 16.

“The next one [Artemis 2] will have crew on it orbiting around the moon and then Artemis 3 will bring humans back to the surface,” said USGS geologist and astronaut trainer Lauren Edgar. “But there are many more Artemis Missions that are planned, including having a ‘Lunar Gateway,’ a space station that will be in orbit around the moon, and a pressurized rover that will enable the crew to go much further from the lander.

That pressurized rover is about the size of a tank or small RV. The cockpit has two pilot seats, where each astronaut can control the vehicle using a joystick device. Benches behind the seats fold down into beds with a toilet located between them. The 12 wheels underneath can turn 90 degrees to make the rover go sideways. The rover takes on rocks and small boulders with ease, climbs up and down hills and can turn in a complete circle. Last month, astronauts from NASA and JAXA spent two and a half days at a time inside the vehicle.

“They were having dehydrated food, which would be equivalent to a lot of the dehydrated food being used on the Space Station right now,” said Edgar. “Everyone said it worked out pretty well. They were very comfortable for the time that they spent in there and I’m glad we had the chance to test it out.”

“It’s really exciting to be back out here on the Babbitt property,” said Desert RATS Mission Manager Barbara Janoiko. “The last time we were here for a Desert RATS mission was in 2011. They’ve been real supporters of our testing this year as well as in the past. It’s also really exciting that what we’re doing out here – developing the pressurized rover requirements – plays a small piece in the Artemis Missions.”

The Artemis 3 Mission is being planned for 2025 or 2026, with a landing at the lunar South Pole where the sun shines at a very low angle and creates long shadows. To simulate the conditions, the Babbitt land provides the rocky lunar-like terrain while the Desert RATS team has brought in a big spotlight, or “portable sun,” to practice drills with at night. “The biggest challenge,” said Janoiko, “is trying to understand how to operate in this low-lighting condition with these different natural conditions and what you can see and explore in that type of environment.”

“There’s a lot of great science that can be done at the lunar South Pole,” said Edgar. “We expect there to be volatiles, potentially water ice, in some of the permanently shadowed regions there and that could be a really good resource for future exploration. It’s also a good chance to go to this part of the moon that we’ve never explored before to better understand the moon’s formation and evolution and to sample some geologic units that are really old and reveal information about the impact-cratering history. One of the really cool things about the moon is it’s really been this witness plate to everything that we’ve experienced here on the Earth, but maybe we don’t have a record of that anymore because of plate tectonics on Earth that have actively destroyed some of those earlier records.”

Although the specific landing site has not been identified yet, NASA recently announced 13 different regions of interest at the lunar South Pole. “Right now the planetary science community is working to understand those areas in more detail including the geology and minerology, the potential hazards that might exist and the challenging lighting conditions. In terms of what the terrain might look like, there are some really big old impact craters in that area. We don’t necessarily intend to see lava flows because that terrain has just been pummeled over and over again by impact craters over time, so it’s going to be a lot of loose fluffy regolith probably.”

As a scientist inspired by the Apollo Missions, Edgar calls it a huge honor to be part of the process. “It is a privilege to be at this point in human history. And it’s even more special to be connected to some of those who might be making those first steps. I can just say from the astronauts I’ve worked with, the future of space exploration is in great hands.”

Also inspiring, says Cordasco, is a land stewardship philosophy intended to travel with the astronauts. “Together with the USGS and NASA, we want to promote the idea that the land-use ethic we practice here on Babbitt Ranches be extended to form our ideals in space,” he said.

“We have land ethics here on the Babbitt property that we maintain and then we’re going to carry that forward as we explore future destinations in our solar system,” said Janoiko.

USGS geologist Jim Skinner is one of the key forces behind developing a statement that honors the use of land wherever humans travel. “It’s a way to have everyone understand that we are taking care of the land, whether we are on private land, like Babbitt Ranches, or on the moon or other worlds,” he said. “We want to always be respectful and that goes beyond the ground itself, it includes the critters and the biota. That’s something we will be working on over the next year.”

A draft statement suggests a personal and professional commitment “to help maintain the integrity of the land as we take this next step off of our world and onto another.”

“We want to ensure that those who follow will have the same lands here and beyond available to them for their own stewardship, use and exploration,” said Cordasco. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

For drone video of the moon rover rolling across Babbitt Ranches north of Flagstaff by LightForce Media and a more in-depth interview with astronaut trainer Lauren Edgar, go to Zonie Living at
StarWorldWideNetworks.com.

Eaglet Success on Babbitt Ranches Provides Evidence that Conservation Measures Work

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“On behalf of the broader Babbitt Ranches Community, we are so thrilled to be a part of this wildlife success!”

Following unprecedented action taken by Babbitt Ranches, the Arizona State Land Department and the Arizona Game and Fish Department to protect a two-mile radius around a golden eagle nest, wildlife biologists report double success. Twin eaglets have been observed by a helicopter crew in what has become known as the SP Crater Golden Eagle Conservation Complex north of Flagstaff.

“This is very exciting,” said Kenneth “Tuk” Jacobson, AZGFD raptor management coordinator. “Seeing that the pair produced two eaglets after a handful of measures were implemented to try to help them out is very gratifying.”

Through a unique conservation agreement with Babbitt Ranches, the State Land Department and AZGFD, a closure went into effect during the eagle nesting season from January through May. Special rules strictly banned target shooting, hunting, trapping and any other method of taking small game animals. Recreation such as hiking, hunting and riding UTVs was also off limits during the closure period. And, the use of lead bullets is forbidden.

“The extraordinary conservation framework that was put together to test in the SP Crater Golden Eagle Conservation Complex was designed to improve productivity, but there was no documentation, no direct observable proof available to show that this approach would work,” said Jacobson.

AZGFD research findings reveal that golden eagle pairs will abandon their eggs if they feel threatened. “Productivity rates are definitely low in Arizona. We are still crunching the numbers from last season, but there weren’t a lot of active, successful breeding areas this year because of factors such as the prolonged drought, rabbit hemorrhagic disease and limited prey resources,” said Jacobson.

In all of the breeding areas across Arizona that have been tracked by AZGFD, only about a quarter of them produced two eaglets. “Nine percent produced three, which is exceedingly rare,” he said.

Babbitt Ranches has been monitoring golden eagles across the 750,000-acre ranch for more than a decade and has been concerned about impacts on the nest at SP Crater. The eagle pair in that territory has produced only one eaglet in at least 10 years.

The SP Crater Golden Eagle Conservation Complex rules will remain in effect from January through May for at least the next two years, as researchers continue to monitor and study the raptors and their nesting success.

“On behalf of the broader Babbitt Ranches Community, we are so thrilled to be a part of this wildlife success!” said Billy Cordasco of Babbitt Ranches. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Testing a Smarter Planetary Rover on Babbitt Ranches

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Next generation rovers will be able to learn, decide, think.

Scientists like David Wettergreen and Eldar Noe Dobrea are making robots smarter. Zoë (a Greek word that means “life”) is a planetary rover prototype. As expected with next generations, she and future rover robots will be more intelligent than their predecessors who have journeyed to Mars.

On Babbitt Ranches north of Flagstaff, scientists, engineers and geologists have been testing instruments on Zoë that are enabling her to make decisions, explore rocks that catch her attention and actually learn from past information. Essentially, Zoë is becoming more like robots in science fiction movies.

“When we see Hollywood movies, we actually see a rover that gets sent out to explore and once in a while reports to the team and says, ‘Hey guys, I’m up here and I discovered this,’” said Noe Dobrea, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. “In reality, that’s not how rovers work on other planets. Right now, we are basically joy-sticking rovers. We tell them, ‘OK, we want you to move 10 feet forward.’ It moves 10 feet forward. On the next uplink or the next day, we tell it, ‘OK, that rock is interesting. Rover, we want you to move two meters to that rock.’ The next uplink, we tell it, ‘Rover, we want you to extend your arm and place this instrument on that rock.’ And this goes on and on. Every single action of the rover is commanded from Earth.”

Mars rover “Opportunity,” for example, conducted science for 17 years on Mars and accomplished what could have been done by humans in two weeks, says Noe Dobrea. “Plus, additional discoveries could have been made if the rover was smarter because, as human beings walk around, they are seeing different things that are of interest. The rover doesn’t.”

But that is about to change with software developed by Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Geological Survey with funding provided by NASA. “We’re trying to advance now to the point where the robot explores on its own, so it decides where to go based on what it’s seeing and based on the geology of the site,” said David Wettergreen, Zoë’s creator, of Carnegie Mellon. “We have machine intelligence software that learns from prior examples that can interpret that data and determine what kind of rock it’s looking at, so [identifying] the mineralogy of the different rocks.”

Zoë’s primary instrument is the near infrared spectrometer, which measures wavelengths of minerals. “It’s like having thousands of pixels, each measuring a different color all the way out into the infrared,” said Wettergreen.

“Our eyes see three colors: red, green and blue,” said Planetary Science Institute Lab Technician Neil Pearson. “With this instrument, we can see a lot more colors and it gives us a lot more information about the mineralogy that we’re seeing in rocks – how different elements are bonded with them. That tells us how they are formed and processes that they’ve been through.”

For example, on Babbitt Ranches, the spectrometer is telling scientists that there’s a lot of limestone and dolomite. “That’s calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate and so it was basically an ancient shallow sea, probably warmer at one period where you a had a lot of evaporation. And then more recently, we had lava flows cover it.”

“Some of the instruments are capable of detecting water, which is a component of rocks that were formed in the presence of water,” said Noe Dobrea. “You can actually identify water and you can identify what kind of minerals or types or rocks the water is trapped in. We can tell the rover we would like to find the places where we have these types of minerals because this may be where we can find life or evidence for past life.”

A laser scanner on Zoë calculates the distance to points in the field. “It kind of works like a smart bumper on your car that warns you when you get too close to things,” said Wettergreen.

“As the rover drives, it takes measurement after measurement and builds a three-dimensional model of the topography. That’s what it can use to navigate autonomously.”

Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco thanked the scientists for the work they are doing and compared their pioneering spirit with the early groups of American settlers from England. “In 1639, you have Ed Babbitt in England hopping on a little boat like the Mayflower crossing the Atlantic to the New World with a few instruments and the stars. And today, almost 400 years later, here we are in front of this rover that is learning how to explore other planets. It’s just so inspiring to be with these folks who have the same ‘Go West’ kind of attitude as Ed did so long ago!”

“We are very grateful to Babbitt Ranches for making it so easy for us to access this site to drive our rover around and perform our investigations,” said Noe Dobrea. “It’s been quite an honor and this kind of work is incredible – it’s a childhood dream.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Babbitt Ranches Being Inducted into Hall of Fame

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David and Billy had nearly $20,000 to spend and they were ready to go all in.

Marking 136 years in operation this spring, Babbitt Ranches is being celebrated by the Arizona agricultural community and inducted into the Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame.

“Babbitt Ranches is legendary in Arizona ranching history,” said Historian Janice Bryson, who nominated the pioneering land company. “Their story follows our state’s history from Territorial days to the present. They have been leaders and innovators in conservation on their ranches.”

“This acknowledgement of leadership and commitment to the agriculture industry is so very meaningful to the Babbitt family, the Babbitt Ranches board of directors, owners and employees,” said Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco. “There have been many herculean efforts by visionaries and determined individuals who persevered through difficult conditions, market swings, disappointments and hard work to keep the business going through now six generations. In all these years, the support and participation from the broader community has always been key to Babbitts’ longevity and success.”

“If you look back historically through Coconino Sun clippings and NAU’s Cline Library, you’ll find that the Babbitts were always very ecologically responsible, especially when it came to wildlife populations. And that continued through the more than 100 years of their presence,” said retired Arizona Game and Fish Department Region 2 Supervisor Tom Britt, who worked with both John Babbitt and then Billy Cordasco. “In terms of the amount of country that they had an impact on, the Babbitts were and still are extremely responsible for taking care of the land. I remember John Babbitt said he always managed for drought. I was impressed by that.”

“Babbitt Ranches is an Arizona icon,” said Steve Brophy of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, in support of the nomination. “Over the generations since its founding, its standing and achievements in the cattle industry, the horse business, in land management and conservation, in the examples of the Western way of life set by its leadership and cowboys, are second to no other ranching outfit in the state, nor for that matter, the West.”

The Babbitt story began in Arizona in 1886 when five brothers from Cincinnati, Ohio, took the daring action to risk everything and move across the country to become cattle ranchers. After hearing stories of wide-open spaces, adventure and opportunity out West, two of the brothers, David and Billy, were sent to scout potential locations. When they stepped off the train in Flagstaff on the chilly morning of April 7, they nearly turned around because the little town had recently burned to the ground.

“That’s when they noticed a sign with the name ‘Brannen’ on it. The young men had letters of introduction with them, written on their behalf to the town doctor,” said Cordasco, a fourth generation Arizona Babbitt. Reading from a passage in Dean Smith’s 1964 book, “Babbitt History,” Cordasco continued: “’If Doc Brannen had not been in his tent office behind the temporary headquarters of the Brannen Mercantile Company on that morning, there very probably would have been no Babbitt saga to tell.’”

“David and Billy had nearly $20,000 to spend and they were ready to go all in. That must have impressed the doctor, who then introduced them to ranchers in the area,” said Cordasco. “Turns out there had just been a large herd of cattle brought in from Kansas just east of Flagstaff, a place known as Canyon Diablo.”

For $17,640, they bought 860 head of cattle, which they mortgaged to purchase land near Lake Mary. They settled amidst ponderosa pines and clear mountain springs and branded the cattle with the CO Bar brand – a sentimental reminder of their hometown, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Equipped with business experience from running the family grocery store in Ohio and financial backing from Gerhard Verkamp, the wealthy father of three daughters who married three of the brothers, the enterprising young men began a business model of forming partnerships with other cattle ranches, starting with the A-1 Cattle Company north of the San Francisco Peaks and the Hashknife outfit to the southeast.

“They would partner with these other ranches all the way to New Mexico. Whatever happened, the Babbitts could always be counted on to support and even buy out the partner,” said Cordasco. “Through this process of acquiring ranches, the Babbitts ended up with millions of acres from Laguna Beach, California, to Dodge City, Kansas, from Mile City, Montana, to the Arizona/New Mexico state line. “The number of cattle was just staggering.”

Meanwhile, the Babbitts were helping to grow the town of Flagstaff, enhancing the education and arts communities, and being involved in politics and a great number of businesses. One observer stated, “Whether a man needed a house, paint, automobile, perfume, a post-hole digger, crushed ice or a Christian burial, the Babbitts stood by ready to help,” according to Smith’s book.

“Through the years, the Babbitts diversified their holdings to include a network of trading posts on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. They also owned a bank, ice plant, livery stable, slaughterhouse, opera house and even a mortuary,” said State Historian Marshall Trimble. “During these years, Flagstaff became the cultural and mercantile center of Northern Arizona. Today, the CO Bar Ranch is still one of the state’s largest cow ranches. I can’t think of another ranch or farm more deserving.”

“Babbitt Ranches is well known for producing honorable, hardworking cowboys and horses,” said Judy Prosser of the Bar T Bar Ranch. “They take pride in exemplifying their core values, or ‘Cowboy Essence,’ a code of conduct outlined in The Constitution of Babbitt Ranches. They have definitely  stood the test of time in the harsh environment of the Colorado Plateau in Northern Arizona.”

“We are so deeply honored to be acknowledged in this way,” said Cordasco. “With the Babbitt family, owners, ranch families and the hundreds and hundreds, perhaps thousands and thousands, of people associated with Babbitts through the years, our success has always been and always will be in the strength of our relationships.”

“Babbitt Ranches has compassion for cattle, people, ranching heritage and open spaces,” said Jim O’Haco of the O’Haco Cattle Company. “To this day, they practice conservation, research projects, renewable energy and provide recreational access for the public and community outreach.”

Looking to the next 136 years, Cordasco says decisions made today are on behalf of generations to come. “And that is our motivation as we create a forged ethic in meaningful new business, environmental and community opportunities.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Babbitt Ranches Forges Ahead with Clēnera and SRP on Solar Project

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This new frontier in renewable energy is truly bigger than ourselves.

CO Bar Solar is gaining energy with the recent purchase power agreement between renewable resources developer Clēnera, owned by Enlight Renewable Energy, and Arizona utility company Salt River Project (SRP).

“Where we are today, as we embark on renewable energy endeavors, is truly inspirational for the Babbitt family,” said Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco. “We are talking about what matters most for future generations. And, what we have all worked toward is not just a shift for Babbitt Ranches, but a regional and statewide shift involving landowners, city and county entities, power companies and really all of us as we help Arizona reach its clean energy goals.”

The solar panel development proposed for Babbitt Ranches’ land, northwest of Flagstaff and east of Valle, is scheduled to be in operation in 2024 and expected to deliver between 440 and 480 megawatts of renewable energy to SRP customers, enough to serve 80,000 homes, while offsetting 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

“Clēnera has historically paved the way for renewable energy in the state, and CO Bar Solar is yet another example of progress being made in Arizona’s clean energy sector,” said Clēnera Vice President of Business Development Jared McKee.

“Babbitt Ranches has been navigating how to best participate in these renewable energy efforts for some time, especially when it comes to considering future generations,” said Cordasco. “Not only are we talking about the development of renewable energy, we are considering the ripple effect, which includes maintaining open space across Arizona’s landscape, creating conservation programs that support the sustainability of golden eagle populations and other wildlife species and their habitats, learning more about what constitutes a healthy environment, managing for recreational opportunities, and continuing our agricultural traditions of raising Hereford cattle and promoting a strong American Quarter Horse program.”

Occupying up to 2,400 acres of private Babbitt Ranches land in Coconino County, CO Bar Solar is one of the largest solar projects being developed in the state and the country. Throughout the 18-month construction timeline, expected to begin in 2023, an estimated 550 construction jobs will be created. The life of the project is projected to be about 35 years.

“The CO Bar power plant is an incredible clean energy resource that will support SRP customers and help us take a significant step toward our decarbonization goals,” said SRP General Manager and CEO Mike Hummel.

“This direction in renewable energy takes into account all the different focus areas that we have, including maintaining an overall healthy environment and participating in a broad regional perspective – it brings it all together as we further continue to develop strong and healthy relationships with many different groups and individuals,” said Cordasco. “In the end, we are just really inspired to engage our imaginations about what a wonderful future we can help ensure for generations to come. This new frontier in renewable energy is truly bigger than ourselves. It’s about future generations and conservation on a landscape scale.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

‘Homegrown’ Wind, Solar Energy Project Approved on Babbitt Ranches

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A legacy of land stewardship and conservation included in agreements.

Praising Babbitt Ranches for the way the family business manages its operations and citing the Babbitt family’s long-running reputation for land stewardship and conservation practices, the Coconino County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a wind and solar project on Babbitt Ranches about 30 miles north of Flagstaff.

The action allows NextEra Energy Resources to move forward with the Babbitt Ranch Renewable Energy Center (BREC, pronounced B-REC) across 669 acres of a nearly 50,000-acre site, located seven-and-a-half miles southeast of Valle on the CO Bar Ranch, which includes the Babbitts’ private land and State Trust Land.

A Defining Moment

During the Aug. 25 meeting with the commission, Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco shared a story about the turning point in the company’s 135-year history. “In 1990, Babbitts was going through a lot of successional changes. One of the things that was happening for Babbitt Ranches was the pressure to sell. We had offers from neighboring entities and there ended up being this big push for 40-acre development. Because Babbitts was going through a lot of successional changes, we actually said, ‘We have to say either yes or no to our future and what it’s going to be.’”

He described how the company brought in a real estate developer to show what 40-acre developments would look like across Babbitt Ranches and the value they would bring to the owners, the Babbitt family, over time.

“What was absolutely remarkable, the owners took it to a vote and it was absolutely unanimous not to go that direction,” said Cordasco. “It was a benchmark. What it established was a new mission statement for Babbitt Ranches: Through our efforts of learning and understanding, Babbitt Ranches, a family business and pioneering land company, raises livestock, manages natural resources, promotes science and participates in the broader community in order to join, share and do the very best we know how.”

Articulating a Land Ethic

Cordasco said that decision got the owners talking about a land ethic and created the science, research and educational non-profit arm of the company, the Landsward Foundation. “We started to have discussions and conversations about what a land ethic meant to us. Folks like Aldo Leopold and many others were very instructive in guiding some of that ethic, but it got well-seeded in a family that already had it in them from 1886. It got re-established and well articulated.”

They also discussed how to apply responsibility, obligation and a sense of accountability to their land ethic. “Of course, that included conservation stewardship and, most importantly, relationships,” he said.

The land-ethic focus resulted in the development of The Constitution of Babbitt Ranches, in which the company defined its principles, values and purpose, and Cowboy Essence, a description of character qualities for how the company strives to operate and interact.

Cordasco says that defining moment opened doors for Babbitt Ranches to participate in a number of projects with a wide variety of people and organizations. It also led to one of the largest conservation easements in the country, in which a portion of the Cataract Ranch was donated to the county and The Nature Conservancy to be set aside for open space in perpetuity. Other Babbitt Ranches conservation easements followed for research and wildlife and wildland protection.

Cordasco also discussed Babbitt Ranches’ involvement in the development of the Coconino County Comprehensive Plan in 2003. “It was a really fresh and inspiring time. We were talking about things that had never really been talked about in a comprehensive plan. It really highlighted the things we’re talking about even today – sensitive lands, wildlife and vegetation, ecological health and soils, sustainability, cultural and historical protection. But what was put into that comprehensive plan that absolutely meant the most to me and hopefully to everybody else was at the very beginning of that comprehensive plan was a land ethic and what that meant to the county. What it did was put Babbitt Ranches and our vision of the future straight up the alley with Coconino County.”

Wind, Solar Studies

Cordasco discussed how Babbitt Ranches purchased and installed an anemometer tower to measure wind speeds at Spiderweb Camp near Gray Mountain in 2005, and also conducted solar power evaluations. “The Babbitts understood that renewable energy was headed in our direction, but they really wanted to learn and understand what it all meant and how it actually fit in with our land ethic and our constitution for our company.”

In 2010, Babbitt Ranches signed two agreements with NextEra to explore two locations – one was the area that has been identified for BREC, the other was further to the west. A decade of environmental studies followed, which revealed a number of golden eagle sites on the ranches and resulted in the creation of the SP Crater Golden Eagle Conservation Complex for the study and protection of the raptors and their habitat.

Golden Eagle Conservation

In working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Cordasco said golden eagle conservation efforts on Babbitt Ranches will lead to a model that can be applied across the country that calls for no lead shooting, no shooting of prey base and the management of recreation impacts in that area during breeding season.

BREC Project

Meanwhile, the BREC project includes 60 wind turbine sites (up to 54 turbines total), with the tallest to be 384 feet high from the ground to the hub of the blades. When the blade is straight up, it stands at 614 feet. BREC also includes 500 to 800 acres of solar panels, three meteorological towers and a 60-megawatt battery storage system. It is expected to create 250 jobs during construction and four to six full-time management jobs through the project’s 20-to-30-year life.

“The project will have a capacity of up to 161 megawatts of wind energy and 60 megawatts of solar energy, paired with a 60 megawatt, four-hour battery energy storage system,” said NextEra Spokesperson Matt Eissey. “Once operational, BREC has the potential to create good-paying jobs and millions in additional revenue for landowners and the local community.”

Public concerns have included traffic on Highway 180 during the construction phase and impacts on the viewshed. Coconino County Principal Planner Bob Short reported that wind turbines will be visible from two sites – one from the highway and one from a section of the Arizona National Scenic Trail, which runs through Babbitt Ranches, the only stretch that transects private land on the entire 800-mile trail.

“All of the private property in this area is owned by Babbitt Ranches,” said Short. “I also wanted to talk about project noise. The nearest non-participating property is 4.8 miles away so it would not be noticeable to anyone nearby. It might be heard by people walking the Arizona Trail, but otherwise, probably not by anyone else.”

Vocal Support

Mechanical engineer and wind energy expert Tom Acker voiced his support. “What I see is a technically sound project. The Babbitt Ranches have not rushed into this project and I think they’ve done a very good job setting it up. They’ve selected NextEra Energy Resources as a partner. NextEra Energy Resources is one of the very best renewable energy development companies in the world.”

“My family has been here a very long time as well [as the Babbitts],” said Commissioner Don Walters, “and I don’t know of a better managed operation than the Babbitt Ranches. I’m in awe of how the Babbitts manage their properties. I’m not a huge fan of a 600-foot tower but I understand the economics of it and I understand what the drought’s done to ranching and how difficult that is. It’s a losing proposition and that’s why I’m in awe of how they’re able to do this. I totally support this project.”

Commissioner John Ruggles echoed Walters’ sentiments and expressed the need to keep Arizona ranches together and functioning. “It’s a part of our heritage. The idea of seeing this kind of property being broken up into 40-acre ranchettes, I don’t want to see that happen. Renewable energy, that’s a direction we have to move in. You just cannot deny this. Look at the other options out there – I have, very thoroughly, in the past. This is the right way to go and the economics have improved dramatically.”

“I will concur with the other comments made by my fellow commissioners about the exemplary and excellent level [of land management] that Babbitt Ranches has done,” said Commission Chair Tammy Ontiveros, noting that she also is part of a long-time Arizona family. “I am familiar with how these ranches have set the standard of…excellence in the care of the land and the conservation of resources.”

Eissey called the commission’s decision to approve the project “exhilarating.” He said NextEra, which also operates Perrin Ranch Wind Energy Center to the west, was excited to be back in the county for a second wind project and to develop the first solar and energy storage projects in the region.

“After 10 years of study, siting and development, we couldn’t have sited a more ecologically suitable project,” said Eissey. “NextEra Energy Resources is appreciative of the Coconino County staff, planners and commissioners for their thorough review and unanimous approval and to all who supported this project, especially the Babbitt family.”

BREC Project Manager Wardah Abbasi said renewable energy is good for the environment and good for the economy. “BREC will help further the state of Arizona’s clean energy goals,” she said. “Wind and solar energy, at the end of the day, is homegrown. It doesn’t get much more homegrown than electricity generated in your own community to benefit your own community.”

Babbitt Values

“When we visit with the developer [NextEra], our constitution, our principles, our values, our land ethic, our Landsward Foundation goals and objectives, our science, our research, our commitment to the landscape, our commitment to monitoring, our commitment to the long-term health of these grasslands, the wildlife, all of these things are actually put into the agreements,” said Cordasco. “Ultimately, this is a temporary use of the land. There will be a generation or a generation after that that will see these lands like we do today and their opportunities to apply a land ethic and the constitution will be wide open for them. And with all of that, we still get to keep on doing everything we do. There is absolutely nothing that changes on Babbitt Ranches because of this development. Where we are tonight is a terrific example of what we’ve been talking about for so long for private landowners and how to keep open space and how to keep all these things tied together.” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

A Return to Tradition

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“This is always a wonderful gathering with our extended Babbitt Ranches community,” he said.

As Babbitt Ranches honors 135 years of operations in Northern Arizona, the Annual Hashknife Colt Sale is scheduled to be live and in-person again at Spider Web Camp, about 30 miles north of Flagstaff off Highway 89, on Saturday, July 10. Arizona’s largest privately owned working cattle ranch was unable to host the popular tradition last year because of the pandemic.

Clay Rodgers, 40, who became ranch manager in March, says the Colt Sale is especially meaningful to him because he was born and raised on Babbitt Ranches at Wupatki Camp. He says he has been hearing from ranchers and equestrians from Arizona and outside of the state who are also excited about the event and the colts, all registered with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA).

“We’ve been talking to a group of guys from Mexico who want to start a horse brand,” said Rodgers, which he notes is not uncommon.

Babbitt horses have a worldwide reputation for being solid all-around ranch horses with “cow sense” that can work long days and maneuver across rough, rocky terrain. Rodgers says they have speed, looks, ability and a good disposition. “The majority of the horses are used for rodeos and ranching,” he said. “A lot of people like that Driftwood breeding.”

Driftwood, nicknamed “Speedy,” is a household name among seasoned cowboys. He was a legendary rodeo champion born near Silverton, Texas, in 1932, and inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2006. Babbitt Ranches has developed its successful American Quarter Horse breeding program largely from descendants of the Driftwood lineage.

Twenty-three colts and fillies, which can sell for more than $8,000, are expected to be at the auction. Longtime Colt Sale auctioneer Ron Berndt will be overseeing the spirited bidding, which he has done for 20 years.

Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco is preparing for more than 400 visitors. “This is always a wonderful gathering with our extended Babbitt Ranches community,” he said. “For Babbitt, it’s not about buying and selling horses, but about being grateful for the opportunity to be together and seeing the efforts that have been made through the years reflected in these extraordinary animals.”

Babbitt Ranches horses carry the iconic Hashknife brand. A “hash knife” is a kitchen tool used for making beef hash. It has a half circle steel blade, attached to a wooden handle, that is rocked back and forth across cooked beef to create hash. But the brand symbolizes the days of the Wild West in American history. It originally belonged to the Aztec Land & Cattle Company, which operated in Northern Arizona from 1884 to 1902. It later became the property of the Babbitt family. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN