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Stoneman Lake Collection, 1887-1998.

NAU.MS.337
NAU.PH.2002.19.3

Biographical Note

Arthur Bunger was born on April 23, 1921 and spent his childhood growing up in Arizona. He attended Arizona State University for two years and then joined the Navy. Mr. Bunger was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1946. After his discharge, he engaged in the home building business in Tempe, Arizona and reactivated the plumbing company he had started prior to his time in the service. On October 4, 1943 he married Martha Dumas. Mr. Bunger served as Tempe City Manager and Prescott City Manager and he also worked as a farmer and land developer. Mr. Bunger passed away on September 19, 1999.

Mr. Bunger first visited Stoneman Lake in 1948. Shortly after, he and his father-in-law Dr. Mack Dumas purchased the land owned by Walter Durham. In the later part of 1948 Arthur and Martha moved to Stoneman Lake and started farming. After two years of farming the land surrounding Stoneman Lake it became clear that the erratic nature of the shore line made it impossible to farm. In 1950, Mr. Bunger left Stoneman Lake and returned to building homes. Bunger then moved to Blythe, California to manage a 600 acre alfalfa ranch for his brother-in-law. While he was in Blythe, Dr. Dumas took over the running of Stoneman Lake.

Originally in 1914, Tom and Maria Drum homesteaded two hundred and forty acres of land on the east side of Stoneman Lake. In the 1920's Walter Durham, purchased the land and converted much of the acreage to pasture and farmland. In 1948, a dentist from the Phoenix area, Dr. M.O. Dumas, obtained the property. Dr. Dumas jointly owned and managed the property with his son-in-law, Arthur Bunger. The property was primarily agricultural up until 1960. The Bungers, in 1960, sold all but a five acre parcel to Westman Corporation for subdivisions, but repurchased the acreage in 1964.

Mr. Bunger's Stoneman Lake and Development Company was responsible for the development known as Ponderosa Paradise at Stoneman Lake. Five roads and 26 acres were developed as single family residences. Originally Arthur Bunger intended to develop all the private property, but recently this land has been purchased by several residents with the express purpose that the land remained undeveloped.

Remaining land within the Stoneman Lake watershed is managed and owned by the U.S. Forest Service. Walter Durham in the 1920s built a ditch that supplied an additional 330 acres of runoff to Stoneman Lake. The ditch was later enhanced by the Corps of Engineers Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s, and is located on Forest Service land. In 1979, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Regional Forester both agreed that the ditch flow was imperative to offset climatic fluctuations. The Forest Service position has been complicated by liability concerns regarding ditch regulation, maintenance and flooding of private property.

Arthur Bunger, in 1980 petitioned the Forest Service to install temporary diversion dams within the ditch. The Forest Service granted authorization on the grounds of emergency flooding concerns. On June 4th, 1982, U.S. Forest Supervisor Paulson, decided that he would leave the temporary dams in the ditch for 365 days. He offered during that year for some person or entity to apply for a special use permit to build, operate, and maintain a head gate regulating device. In the event that within the year no person or entity offered to do this, he would permanently close the diversion ditch leaving it incapable of delivering water to Stoneman Lake.

Six appeals were filed on Mr. Paulson's decision, by Mr. Dumas, Mr. and Mrs. Bunger, Mr. Egar, the Stoneman Lake Homeowners Association, the Coconino Sportsmen, and Bunger's Stoneman Lake Land and Development Company. The issue was whether the U.S. Forest Service had the authority and duty to construct, operate and maintain a flow regulating device in the Stoneman Lake ditch. The appellants concurred on the following points: 1) the ditch should be closed when the lake water level reaches 6,726 feet; 2) as long as the U.S. Forest Service controlled the ditch according to the plan, it should be held harmless of flood damages; 3). the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must approve a formal operation and maintenance plan. In January of 1983, FEMA adopted a high water elevation of 6,729.6 feet, but the other issues remain unresolved.

Most lots at risk of flooding have been purchased by residents with the intention of leaving the land undeveloped, making the flooding issue less threatening to the community. Today there is a renewed interest to re-open and regulate the ditch. In order to reopen the ditch, it would require resolution of the water right, application for a special use permit, agreement by a government agency to manage the flow and release of liability for the United States Forest Service and an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Protection Act.

Since the ditch was closed in 1982, the lake level has slowly been declining. In 1999 the lake water level had fallen to 6,724 feet and by June of 2000, the level had fallen even farther to 6,722 feet. The ditch is still closed today as of October, 2002.

Scope and Content Note

The Stoneman Lake collection consists of a variety of records, documents, correspondence and legal files relating to the Stoneman Lake inlet ditch and the Stoneman Lake Land and Development Company. The collection was created primarily by Arthur Bunger, owner of the Stoneman Lake Land and Development Company. It includes material about watershed studies conducted in and around the Stoneman Lake area, lake water service and return periods conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, floodplain management overlay zone, and the Stoneman Lake environmental assessment. This collection is significant not only because of the studies done in and around the Stoneman Lake area, but also because it documents the decades of controversy about the Stoneman Lake watershed and the development of land surrounding Stoneman Lake.

Organization

Restrictions

Restrictions

None.

Copyright

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Administrative Information

Credit Line

Stoneman Lake Collection [manuscript], NAU.MS.337, Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Dept.

Stoneman Lake Collection [photographs], NAU.PH.2002.19.3, Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Dept.

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