Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is diving into the effort to save a threatened 160-acre parcel that Saguaro National Park wants for expansion.

Babbitt and a partner, real estate investor Philip Aries, have taken out an option from the owners that keeps what's known as the Bloom property from being sold for development for 30 days. Babbitt's goal is to have the parcel traded to the federal government for inclusion in the park.

The property, which lies just south of the Sweetwater Trail in Saguaro Park West, would be part of a proposed private-federal land swap that has been in the works for three years.

As the exchange now stands, it would trade 2,480 acres of private land on the Empirita Ranch near the Pima-Cochise county line to the feds for inclusion in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. In return, landowner Don Diamond — Babbitt and Aries' client — would get 1,280 acres of Bureau of Land Management-owned land near Corona de Tucson.

Babbitt said he decided to get involved in trying to save the Bloom property after reading a news article and an editorial in the Arizona Daily Star about the possibility that it could be developed.

The National Park Service has proposed adding the land to Saguaro park as part of a 583-acre expansion plan. But because the Bloom family wants to sell it quickly, park officials and environmentalists are concerned that the parcel could be sold and developed before Congress can approve spending money to buy it.

"I'd like to expand Saguaro National Park. I have a personal interest in the Las Cienegas Conservation Area," said Babbitt, a former Arizona governor who helped pass a law creating the conservation area in 2000, when he was secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. "These major conservation units have got to be consolidated as much as possible as long as we have the opportunity to do it. That opportunity will not last long."

His proposal is not a sure thing. The original exchange died in the U.S. Senate last year after passing the House.

Tuesday, both Congress members from Tucson reacted cautiously to Babbitt's idea. They said they wanted more details and to study it further before taking a stand.

Babbitt's option to buy, which runs out in mid-February, will allow time to get the land-exchange bill rewritten to add the Bloom property, Babbitt said. He also needs the time to find a conservation group or other potential buyer that could buy and hold the property until the land swap is approved, he said.

The Bloom family, its attorney and its real estate representatives have declined to comment on the Saguaro expansion issue. Estimates of the property's asking price range from $1.8 million to $3 million. Aries said the option, obtained a week ago, includes a confidentiality agreement barring him and Babbitt from discussing the purchase terms.

"It would have to be at the lower end of that (price) spectrum in order for things to work," Aries said. "Part of our willingness to get involved was that the price had to be reasonable. We didn't want to waste anyone's time."

Babbitt said he believes that when appraisals of all three properties in the proposed exchange are done, the land Diamond would get should have a roughly equal value to what the feds would get.

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the Tucson Democrat whose district includes Saguaro Park West, said he is open to the proposal but tends to be cautious about land exchanges.

"I tend to look at them with a very critical eye," he said. "The balance has to be in it as much for the public good as for private gains. If there is some urgency to it, Mr. Babbitt needs to communicate that urgency as soon as possible to myself and the rest of the delegation."

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, whose district includes Las Cienegas, said through a spokesman that this land exchange is complex and requires more study before she can comment.

"Land exchanges that expand national parks can be of great benefit to the public and often serve to preserve environmentally important areas," the Tucson Democrat said through her spokesman.

Find the Star's coverage of environmental issues at azstarnet.com/environment

● Contact reporter Tony Davis at 806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.

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©The Arizona Daily Star, 2006