Nature Preserve | Preserve Vistoso

PRESERVE VISTOSO

Friends of the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve

The mission of Preserve Vistoso is to promote the public support and appreciation of the natural beauty and recreational amenities of Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve for the inspiration, education and enjoyment of current and future generations.

PRESERVE VISTOSO MISSION STATEMENT

We’re excited to announce that we are transitioning to a new role and a new mission: partnering with the Town of Oro Valley to support the implementation of the soon to be completed Vistoso Trails Master Plan. We’ve had several conversations with the Oro Valley Director of Parks and Recreation, about how we can work together to realize the vision of the preserve and we’re excited to further define our new role. Stay tuned for more information but we hope our membership will remain involved as Friends of Vistoso Trails. We know many of you are eager to work on restoring Vistoso Trails and there will be many opportunities for volunteers as we transition.

Get to Know the Nature Preserve

The Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve presents the beauty of the Sonoran Desert teeming with wildlife and artifacts of the Native Americans who lived and hunted there. The existing 6.2-mile, eight-foot-wide concrete path winds through the property providing visitors with views of the Catalina and Tortolita mountains, examples of varied desert vegetation, and the opportunity to view an abundance of wildlife. With easy access from multiple locations, visitors can stroll the property and connect with the natural world we tend take for granted.

Click here to read more about the Preserve.

Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve Field Guide

Jake Smith, a resident of Rancho Vistoso, prepared a wonderful, comprehensive field guide to the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve. It contains hundreds of photographs and descriptions of what you can observe in the Preserve. Click here or the image to the to read more about this wonderful resource.

A note from TOV: Rules signs are posted throughout the Preserve. Go-carts and ATVs have been driving on the property. While this is a fun recreational activity, it is NOT allowed in the Preserve.

Planning for the Future

The Town of Oro Valley selected Sites Southwest team, a landscape architecture and planning firm to create a master plan for Vistoso Trails. Liz Cole, the project manager, collected our community comments and ideas and presented an initial plan at an open house at Steampump Ranch in January. Members of the community made several recommendations that were incorporated in the latest draft presented on February 21 to the Parks and Rec Advisory Commission. This draft plan will now be presented to the Town Council on May 9. We hope members of the community can attend these meetings. A link to the Draft Master Plan is below in the box titled "Draft Master Plan."

A link to the Town's website that describes the May 9 meeting is here.

Important Documents

Click the images below to review the documents.

Draft Master Plan for the Preserve

(May 9, 2023)