Volunteers at Historic Kanoa Ranch in Green Valley have been around for 10 years, and there’s no shortage of history and changes since the site’s inauguration.
Volunteers interact with the public and facilities, such as leading bird walks, greeting guests at the visitor center, helping with landscaping, and visiting groups around the community to provide information about the ranch. play an important role in connecting
But guides play the biggest part in leading tours of the ranch grounds, filled with Manning houses and ranch structures that sit on land grants dating back to Mexico’s first days as an independent nation. I’m here.
During fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23, Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation will provide all Kanoa Ranch volunteer staff with 275 hours (134 hours and 141 hours, respectively) of the park during the six months of October through March. reported that it was dedicated to .
In 2010-2023, volunteers provided 49 67-hour tours. Park volunteers added 74 more hours to his 38 mobile shifts on the premises. The NRPR reports that current estimates of volunteer hours contributed $4,248 in 2022-23. From fiscal 2021 through his 2022, the county reported that 134 busy-season volunteer hours equaled his $3,752.
Volunteer John Attardi has found that he has always been interested in the history of the area he lives in, such as Santa Fe, New Mexico. He said that when he moved to the Green Valley about 20 years ago, the Kanoa Ranch buildings visible from his home in the hills next to him piqued his curiosity.
“Then there was an article in the Green Valley newspaper that people in the park were looking for volunteers,” said Ataldi. “So I was able to go to conferences, be interviewed, and attend classes. I think I had classes for a month or so. Then the ranch opened and I started touring.”
Pima County inaugurated the ranch on March 2, 2013.
Volunteer Hugh Bell moved to Green Valley in 1998 and has lived in the area part-time, with a growing number each year. Bell and his wife now spend seven months in Green Valley before returning to Wisconsin.
“I was a tour guide at the University of Wisconsin Museum of Art,” Bell said, adding that he had been doing it for about 10 years, too. But it was fun touring.”
Bell found it difficult to continue at the museum, having spent more time in Arizona. He was on the lookout for his new opportunities at Green in his Valley. Like Atardi, Bell learns in the newspaper that the county is looking for volunteers and decides to check it out.
“Being a ranch and offering tours really appealed to me. It was exactly what I was looking for,” he said. “So I started training.”
Volunteer Mandy Bernalia visited the ranch after spotting an advertisement for the tour while in Tuback with a friend before the official dedication ceremony in 2013.
“Of course I was immediately hooked,” she said. “Then when I took the course, the stories.
Bernalia realized that meeting other people who volunteered years ago was also an advantage of the county participating in the proposal.
“There were 17 people on the original course, and the original course was kind of long,” she said.
10 years profit
Kanoa Ranch looks very different today than it did when the county was dedicated in 2013. Beyond regional improvements such as lakes, cienegas, pollinator gardens, and mitigation banks surrounding the property, buildings in historic areas have also been improved.
Bell said the solid structure and chain link fence surrounding the old adobe ranch house didn’t deter him when he attended training 10 years ago.
“There are really two reasons. One, it was clear that the county was working hard on buildings, landscaping, etc.,” he said. “They’ve been doing a lot of work. We acquired the property in 2001 and didn’t open until 2013. So in those 12 years they’ve put in a lot of work…a lot of work.”
But Bell realized that the most important part wasn’t about the exterior of the building, but about the history of the ranch and Southern Arizona in general.
“In fact, the older and dilapidated it looked, the more history it revealed,” he said. “So, No. 1, and No. 2 in history, I knew they would keep working.”
Attardi was a little sad when he saw the ranch on his first training trip ten years ago.
“It was neglected for a long time,” he said. “They were working on it and it turned out to be a beautiful space. The buildings were all well designed and well constructed. There were lovely grounds and ranch activities – corrals etc. So , I knew I was an important part of the area.”
Bernalia said a lot has changed since the area was “a piece of desert with chain link fences and some adobe buildings.”
“When we came, they drove the snakes out and we cleaned up the rat droppings,” she said.
Looking back on her first days on the ranch, Bernalia found it amazing to see the changes since then.
“I remember when they said they were going to build a pond. I remember saying, ‘Yeah, I live to see it,'” she said. , it’s beautiful. What a great job the county has done.”
love for history
With new stories and histories coming to light each year, Ataldi, Bernalia and Bell never stop volunteering on the ranch.
Bernalia moved to Green Valley from New Hampshire about 20 years ago. She credits her volunteer work at Kanoa Ranch with giving her insight into the history of her new home.
“You know, I wasn’t educated here. I didn’t come here until I retired,” Bernalia said. “If I hadn’t been to the ranch, I wouldn’t have known as much as I do now.”
Ataldi, who enjoys Spanish colonial history, found the ranch’s origins to be a particularly interesting part of the area. Ataldi pointed Anza to his trail. Juan He Bautista de Anza stopped near what would later become Canoa Ranch. He said De Anza’s expedition from Tubac to San Francisco experienced the first birth and only death there when a woman died during childbirth.
“The history of the area, especially the ranch, and beyond, all the way back to the Spanish colonial days, is probably the most I got out of it,” he said.
Standing outside the Manning Sr. home on April 20, Bell said he was never a history buff but found the history of Kanoa Ranch very fascinating and intriguing.
One of the areas on the property that Belle enjoys is an old retaque enclosure made from mesquite logs. Meeting people who visit the ranch as well as fellow volunteers has been a highlight of his decade.
Attardi said he didn’t think much about spending 10 years on the ranch when he started volunteering.
“I just started doing it and it’s been 10 years and I’m still here and still working there,” he said. will be there.”
