Above: May 2002 Below: June 2004

So Arizona began the serious task of passing laws and regulations – grading, drainage, land–use planning, hillside ordinances, water assurances, master plans – to overcome the negative image.
Development – a major economic engine in the state – can be found in all forms today. Some developers build look-alike houses mile upon mile while some attempt to create more unique “neighborhoods” that attempt to stand out among the crowd. One or two are even building sterling reputations as sensitive, environmentally friendly developers.
By any measure, Johnson’s La Osa Ranch ranked at the bottom of Arizona development. His land sat near the small town of Marana, just north of Tucson in southern Arizona, close to the Pinal and Pima county lines. It also was near the Ironwood Forest National Monument and the Los Robles Archaeological District – both protected, restricted areas meant to be kept in pristine condition.
In addition, it was within striking distance of military flight patterns and helicopter training facilities of the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site.
This open desert north of Tucson is one of the ripest spots in the state for development. A dozen massive subdivisions have been approved, promising to bring nearly 200,000 housing units with a half-million new residents to an area that’s currently considered rural.
The Town of Marana pays incredible attention to all this development, watching through satellite imagery just how its land is changing. The town even employs a satellite analyst, Chris Mack, and it was he who first noticed what was going on at La Osa Ranch.
As he told Government Technology magazine in 2005: “We started hearing in December 2003 through various environmental groups of this proposed La Osa Ranch development and some of the allegations of illegal land clearing. I looked to see if our imagery covered the area and, at that time, we had two dates of imagery – May 2002 and May 2003. I spotted the site in question fairly readily because there was a start of land clearing activities, and you could see bulldozer tracks in the area of interest.”
By 2004, the extent of the damage could clearly be seen from space, Mack adds, and as the magazine described, the images resembled “a lunar landscape or the aftermath of a nuclear blast.”
In the pictures he gets from space, Mack knows that vegetation shows up as red while dirt shows up as gray. In the first pictures he had, La Osa Ranch was awash in red. By 2004, there wasn’t a bit of red to be seen on the entire 2,270 acres. The land had been “scraped clean” of some 40,000 native plants, including thousands of state–protected saguaros, the state’s lawsuit says.
The state trust lands – held in trust for the benefit of the state’s public school system – along the western border of Johnson’s property are within the boundaries of the Ironwood Forest National Monument, established in 2000. The suit notes President Bill Clinton’s observations about this land when he gave it federal status:
“The landscape of the Ironwood Forest National Monument is swathed with the rich, drought–adapted vegetation of the Sonoran Desert. The monument contains objects of scientific interest throughout its desert environment. Stands of ironwood, palo verde and saguaro blanket the mountain floor beneath the rugged mountain ranges, including the Silver Bell Mountains…. The desert bighorn sheep in the monument may be the last viable population indigenous to the Tucson basin.”
In addition, the state notes that portions of the land “are so rich archaeologically that they have been designated on the National Register of Historic Places as within the ‘Los Robles Archaeological District.’”
In all, this district includes 119 sites that once represented “a large and successful hub of trade, manufacture, agriculture and ritual/political life” of the Hohokams. While most Hohokam sites around Arizona have disappeared, this area “has survived almost intact, and thus offers a unique opportunity to study all the levels and components of Hohokam community life,” the state notes.
When Johnson bought the land for his company, it was designated in Pinal County’s comprehensive plan as “development sensitive” and “rural.”  He soon asked that its zoning be changed to “transitional,” and on October 15, 2003, he submitted a detailed plan for a Planned Area Development (PAD), which included 67,000 homes, a resort, golf courses and businesses. Basically, it was supposed to be a city twice the size of Flagstaff.
Some saw it not as a planned community but as a “sprawl city” that would damage the area and eventually force the closure of the military installations nearby. When Johnson was confronted with this opposition, he argued that Pinal County would be “illegally” taking his property without compensation if it denied him the zoned he wanted.
Not so fast, the state’s largest newspaper said, with an editorial titled, “Sorry, George, That One Won’t Fly.” The Arizona Republic reminded him that he didn’t have a right to new zoning. “That’s why the whole procedure is called a zoning ‘request,’ not a zoning ‘guarantee,’” the editorial chided.
None of the opposition seemed to stop Johnson, according to the state.
“Johnson International’s requests to Pinal County generated considerable public concern and/or opposition,” the suit contends, “including concerns about the impact that the proposed development may have on the adjacent Ironwood Forest National Monument, the archeological sites within the Los Robles Archeological District, the Santa Cruz River, the area’s riparian habitat, the bighorn sheep in the Silver Bell Mountains, areas of religious and cultural significance to native Americans, and endangered species such as the Pygmy Owl.
“Nevertheless… even as Johnson International’s requests were being considered, Defendants already had bulldozers and other earth moving equipment clearing and leveling substantial portions… of the proposed development, trespassing on State Trust Lands, destroying protected native plants, filing in water courses, discharging pollutants, irreparably damaging ancient and historic archeological sites, and otherwise ignoring numerous laws applicable to developers in their position.”