State Trust lands were granted by Congress, to be managed in perpetuity for the benefit
of its designated Beneficiaries, K‐12 Education receiving the largest distribution of
generated revenue. More than nine million acres remain within the corpus of the land
Trust, and a great number of those acres are non‐contiguous, interspersed among other
land ownerships, including AZARNG sites.
As part of this mission, the ASLD manages the land in a Trust until sale is warranted. Sale
of Trust land is typically determined through the assessment of potential development
opportunities. The ASLD has committed resources and assistance to the U.S. Department
of Defense and the Arizona Army National Guard missions through current land use
agreements supporting numerous military installations throughout the State. Some Trust
lands are leased for grazing activities or military uses, such as at Florence Military
Reservation.
Figure 2‐8a identifies land ownership across the entire JLUS Project Area, and
Figures 2‐8b and 2‐8c show land ownership around Rittenhouse Training Site and
Florence Military Reservation and around Picacho Peak Stagefield and Silverbell Army
Heliport, respectively. Much of the development is within the established communities,
but the communities are fairly low density, and many parts of them are rural. The
following section describes the development around each of the four AZARNG sites.
Rittenhouse Training Site
Rittenhouse Training Site covers approximately 480 acres and is located roughly six miles
east of the Town of Queen Creek. It is composed of land owned by the Bureau of Land
Management that is leased by the Arizona Army National Guard. The land to the south
and west of Rittenhouse Training Site is primarily developed with residential uses in the
unincorporated community of San Tan Valley. The land to the north is Arizona State
Trust land managed by the Arizona State Land Department and is mostly undeveloped.
There is a small livestock depot approximately half a mile to the north and an electrical
substation roughly one mile to the north. The land to the east is largely undeveloped and
is owned by the Arizona State Land Department and Pinal County. The Central Arizona
Project Canal also runs near the eastern boundary.
Background Report
2-27