QUEEN CREEK PRESENTATION
The following is a basic text and image** version of the informational presentation made to Climbers at the March 2008 Arizona Mountaineering Club (AMC) meeting. This is the section on the general history of the discovery of copper under Oak Flat, information on the mining effects and what will happen to the area if the mine proceeds. There were more details given during the course of the presentation, but this is the basic content. If you have questions or comments, please contact us via email at info@queencreekcoalition.com and we well atttempt to provide the information you need.
** additional images have been added to this version
PLEASE NOTE: For the sake of completeness, it should be noted that this presentation was only one third of the whole presentation that night. Other members of the QCC updated the audience on 1) the history of The Friends of Queen Creek as it relates to this issue from beginning to current, and 2) the current status of the land swap legislation in Congress. Both of these presentations were extemperaneous and not video taped. As such, they are not reproducable here. The ultimate goal of this presentation was to educate local climbers about the history of this issue and to bring them current regarding the proposed mining and the Queen Creek region from a climbing standpoint.
Queen Creek canyon is an outdoor recreation area located 4 miles east of Superior, AZ. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous with towering spires of rock and endless fields of boulders. The Queen Creek area also includes the Oak Flat campground, Apache Leap and Devils Canyon all laying mostly in the Tonto National Forest. For a rock climber, the Queen Creek area has a lifetime of routes and boulders to be climbed. One hour drive from Phoenix and Tucson, with year round climbing. Already there are over 1000 routes and 2000 boulder problems developed, and climbers still have not even scratched the surface on how extensive the area is.
