Land Ownership in the Bill Williams Basin

Land ownership, including the percentage of ownership by category, for the Bill Williams Basin is shown in Figure 4.2-2.  Principal features of land ownership in this basin are the large amounts of contiguous U.S. Bureau of Land Management and state trust lands. A description of land ownership data sources and methods is found in Volume 1, Appendix A.  More detailed information on protected areas is found in Section 4.0.4.  Land ownership categories are discussed below in the order from largest to smallest percentage in the basin.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

  • 46.1% of the land is federally owned and managed by the Lake Havasu Field Office and the Kingman Field Office of the BLM.

  • The majority of the BLM lands are contiguous and located in the western portion of the basin. 

  • The basin contains six BLM wilderness areas totaling 227,510 acres.  The wilderness areas are: the 38,470-acre Rawhide Mountains Wilderness, the 16,400-acre Swansea Wilderness, the 129,800 acre Arrastra Mountain Wilderness located in Mohave, Yavapai, and La Paz counties north of Alamo Lake; the 8,300-acre Tres Alamos Wilderness, the 15,400-acre Aubrey Peak Wilderness and the 27,440-acre Upper Burro Creek Wilderness (see Figure 4.0-12).

  • Primary land uses are recreation and grazing.

Click to view Figure 4.2-2

Click to view Figure 4.2-2 Bill Williams

Basin Land Ownership

State Trust Land

  • 30.5% of the land in this basin is held in trust for the public schools and five other beneficiaries under the State Trust Land system.

  • The majority of the state land is contiguous and occurs in the eastern portion of the basin.  Smaller portions of state land are also found interspersed with BLM land in the western portion of the basin.

  • This basin contains the largest percentage of state land in the planning area.

  • Primary land use is grazing.

Private

  • 14.8% of the land is private.

  • The majority of the private land is interspersed throughout state trust, national forest and BLM lands.

  • There are a number of larger parcels of private land in the southeastern portion of the basin around the towns of Skull Valley, Kirkland and Peeples Valley and along the northern basin boundary.

  • Land uses include domestic, commercial, ranching and farming.

National Forest

  • 7.6% of the land is federally owned and managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS). 
  • All forest lands in the basin are part of the Prescott National Forest.
  • Most national forest land is contiguous and located along the northeastern basin boundary.
  • Land uses include grazing, timber production and recreation.

U.S. Military

  • 0.7% of the land is federally owned and managed by the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control.  The land is also managed by the Arizona State Parks for recreation.
  • All military lands are located around the boundary between La Paz County and Mohave County and include Alamo Lake.
  • Primary land uses are flood control and recreation.

Wildlife Refuge

  • 0.2% of the land is federally owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

  • All lands are within the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. 

  • Primary land uses are wildlife conservation and recreation.

  • All lands are within the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge. 

Other

  • 0.1% of the land is federally owned and managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.
  • All lands are located in T11N, R17W adjacent to the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Primary land use is unknown.

 

 

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