The desert mountains that were acquired by previous generations within the now urban fabric of Phoenix creates an environment which is rare among modern urban places in the US. I love to hike through them and to see them on the near horizon as I move through the City. Piestewa Peak and South Mountain provide opportunitues to walk from your house a couple of miles and experience deep envirionmental solitude. I am sure they have enhanced the value of my home. I am worried about their future, and the future of the newer parts of Phoenix. Our management of these places is more on the decline than the rise, and thus there value over time will diminish. They are some what isolated, and though I can reach them quikcly becuase I am close, those farther away are finding it more difficult. And opportunities to further merge these places with our urban places have been lost. Though we have planned for such places in the newer parts of Phoenix, with out sufficient attention they could face the same fate as those in our existing urban fabric, or worse be lost completely.