SAVING A NATURAL WONDER
RESEARCH THROUGH THE MCDOWELL SONORAN CONSERVANCY COULD LEAD TO MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL BREAKTHROUGHS BY JANET PEREZ
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ou’d be hard-pressed to find an arid area in the Southwest as beautiful at the Sonoran Desert with its saguaros, mountains, palo verde trees and color-kissed wildflowers. Preserving a portion of this wondrous desert is the job of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, but now it’s confronting encroaching enemies. Justin Owen, who has been the executive director of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy for more than two years, explains that there has been a large increase in a non-native bunch grass species that conservancy researchers are working to eradicate. “The two non-native grasses that have been introduced to the Sonoran Desert are serving as the primary fuel load for the wildfires you see in California and all the way to Australia,” Owen says. “These grasses are wreaking devastation around the world.”
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greenliving | April 2020
This current research conducted by the conservancy’s Pearson Field Institute is an example of how Owen is taking existing resources and giving them a new purpose. “Justin understands research as something that makes the conservancy different from other organizations,” says Don Gruber, a legacy steward at the conservancy. “Our own research on non-native plants is specifically focused on helping here, but we recognize that so much of what we're doing can be useful elsewhere, and we are also thinking about how best to share it.” Overseen by the Conservancy, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale encompasses more than 30,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert. There are more than 200 miles of well-maintained trails where the preserve can be explored on foot, bike, or horse. The preserve is the largest urban land preserve in North America and the fourth-largest in the world. greenlivingaz.com