The Altar Valley, located southwest of Tucson, Arizona, is a working landscape of Sonoran desert grassland that has been managed by families for generations. Those families today provide sound stewardship while functioning collectively as bulwarks against urban development and other threats that would forever alter this fragile social and ecological environment. These families collaborate with other organizations and citizens via the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit founded in 1995, to solve problems and enhance the watershed through science, communication, and restoration projects. The mission of the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance is to have "ranchers and other agriculturalists work collaboratively as the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance with our partners to leave the next generation with an economically and biologically productive watershed, a thriving agricultural community, and rural life enriched by the culture and history of the Altar Valley." The Alliance is devoted to the vision of "conserving the Altar Valley for future generations."