Since our mission is to develop immediate and long range strategies to preserve and enhance the natural open space of the Verde Valley, VVLPI visualized an Open Space Plan with a map indicating the most valuable and appropriate land to set aside. One of the earliest projects undertaken and completed was to create an Existing Conditions Map. This base map took the individual open space plans of all the municipalities and county communities and located them on one map. It was put together by and with the cooperation of the planners from each of the municipalities under the sponsorship of the VVLPI Planning Council. One of the main tenants of the plan was to preserve open space between the various established communities in the Verde Valley to retain the rural character we all enjoy.

Yavapai County then developed a Verde Valley Regional Land Use Planning process and brought together a multi-faceted group with a consultant team. This group adopted the VVLPI Open Space Map to be maintained in the Regional plan. The plan was adopted in 2007 and VVLPI was assigned a leadership role in carrying out the open space recommendations. The Existing Open Space Conditions Map can also be found on p.20 of The Verde Valley Regional Land Use Plan.

The Regional Land Use Map can also be found on p.55 of    The Verde Valley Regional Land Use Plan(PDF 10.2MB)

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VVLPI has completed a grant program for the Overlay Model, a comprehensive mapping system of the Verde Valley which displays as overlays riparian areas, cultivated farms, wildlife corridors, parks and monuments, federal, state and municipal land boundaries, trail systems, and more. This Model graphically portrays the areas of highest preservation value for consideration in land use planning. VVLPI plans to present the Overlay Model to community groups, non-profit organizations and local governments.

In this image, municipal boundaries are in white, wildlife corridors (2004 study) are in purple, state lands are blue and AZ Preserve Initiative (API) eligible areas are in brown. The API encourages preservation of select parcels of state land. Usually those within 1-3 miles of municiple boundaries.

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VVLPI was awarded a Yavapai Community foundation Grant to study more carefully where the most valuable areas to preserve are and to map them. Parcels within the National Forest or adjacent to parks and monuments are of high open space value. Other special factors such as wildlife habitat, significant archaeology, agriculture and scenery are also considered when choosing parcels.