Roads legitimate and illegitimate are a form of habitat destruction that negatively affects wildlife, plants, encourages water and wind erosion. Properly engineered and constructed roads minimize these effects. As you can imagine smugglers care little about environmental impact and I guess I can say the same about the Americans who spend billions of dollars each year on illegal drugs. Unintended consequences!

The Bureau of Land Management is working hard trying to protect the Sonoran Desert National Monument but they cannot do it alone. This is why the Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument and the Sierra Club spent Earth Day 2013 standing up for our public land and showing the Bureau of Land Management and others that we mean what we say when we cry out our love for our public land.

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Heritage Act of 2013 is good news for all Americans and we should all be thankful for Congressman Grijalva’s leadership in introducing this bill. Congressman Grijalva is not the only person we should thank. The Sonoran Desert Heritage Campaign led by the Arizona Wilderness Coalition and the Sonoran Institute deserves our collective thanks for doing all the research, partnership building and community outreach leading up to the act’s introduction. In my opinion they did their work the right way and that all conservation and community activists should use their methods as a model for how citizens can get things done.

There is no doubt, western Maricopa County will continue to grow and as it does grow with residential, commercial, energy and transportation development there will be more pressure on the land, the plants and animals and the cultural history that makes this region so special. Thoughtful community and natural resource planning is the only tool we have to make sure we do not destroy what we value so dearly, our public land.

The campaign partnership demonstrated with this plan that national defense, agriculture, recreation and thoughtful community planning are compatible with conservation. Good job!

Of special interest to the Sonoran Desert National Monument are the recommendations in the act to increase the number and acreage of wilderness areas within the Sonoran Desert National Monument and the 23,365-acre Rainbow Valley Wildlife Linkage Special Management Area that will provide a permanent public land link (wildlife corridor desert bighorn sheep and other wildlife) between the Sierra Estrella Mountains and the Sonoran Desert National Monument.

Proposed New Wilderness Areas

Butterfield Stage Memorial Proposed Wilderness Area: 8,325-acres

Margie’s Peak Proposed Wilderness Area: 14,566-acres

Sand tank Mountains Proposed Wilderness Area: 105,365-acres

For more information go to the Sonoran Heritage Campaign web site.

Just imagine irresponsible OHV users driving where ever they please on the Sonoran Desert National Monument destroying centuries of our nation’s natural and cultural history with one pass on their OHV and Arizona Game and Fish and other non-federal law enforcement officers are prohibited from enforcing travel management regulations on our public land. This is ludicrous!

The Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona Wilderness Coalition and the Anza Trail Foundations, Sierra Club, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service have spent thousands of dollars and volunteer hours repairing OHV damage on the portion of the Juan de Anza National Historic Trail that runs through the Sonoran Desert National Monument. As citizens we deserve to have our law enforcement officials enforce all the laws and regulations pertaining to resource protection, not just laws and regulations that fit an ill-conceived political agenda.

Enforcement of OHV regulations to prevent damage to wildlife habitat is crucial to the state fulfilling its responsibilities to all resources, including wildlife. Enforcement of federal regulations identifying appropriate places where motorized vehicles can be used is important action to ensure that Arizona’s residents and visitors have enjoyable and safe recreational experiences on the vast federal public lands in Arizona. It is also essential to ensuring that our natural resources are protected for future generations.

If HB2551 passes, the funds designated for enforcement will not be used the way they are supposed to be used and our natural resources, including wildlife and fragile archaeological sites, will suffer for it.
Ask your Senator and Representatives in the Arizona Legislature to please vote NO on HB2551!

Congressman Raul Grijalva steps up for our public land once again and we should thank him for being in Washington, DC and fighting for us and the environment.

He has recently submitted a series of bills that would help protect much of Arizona’s natural and cultural heritage.

Thank Congressman Grijalva  for all he does for all Americans and for standing up for our public land and our natural and cultural resources. If you live outside his district here is additional contact information:

Washington, D.C. Office:
1511 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
ph (202) 225-2435
fax (202) 225-1541

AVONDALE Office:
Rancho Santa Fe Center
13065 West McDowell Road, Suite C-123
Avondale, AZ 85392
ph (623) 536-3388
fax (623) 748-0451

SOMERTON Office:
130 North State Avenue
Somerton AZ 85350
ph (928) 343-7933
fax (928) 343-7949
Mailing Address: PO Box 4105,
Somerton, AZ 85350

TUCSON Office:
738 N 5th Ave. Suite 110
Tucson, AZ 85705
ph (520) 622-6788
fax (520) 622-0198

Shooting damage to a Mesquite tree.

The Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Tread Lightly and others have been meeting to develop a program called “Partnership Initiative and the Sonoran Landscape Pilot – Recreational Target Shooting” project. (Really this is what it is called.)

The purpose of this project as far as I call tell is to develop an educational outreach program to inform irresponsible target shooters to not vandalize and litter public property and to find a place on the Sonoran Desert National Monument where target shooting can be conducted safely and without destroying the resources the monument was established to protect.

The project so far has taken place at the state and national level. Bureau of Land Management Sonoran Desert National Monument staff have had little or no input in this process as far as I can tell. I am not surprised considering the Sonoran Desert National Monument staff recommended no target shooting on the monument in the Draft Resource Management Plan.

Shooting damage to a Palo Verde tree.

The Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument has on several occasions offered to work with all the stakeholders involved. So far all that we have received are polite thank you letters, but no invitation to sit at the table.

One of the arguments voiced for having recreational target shooting on the Sonoran Desert National Monument is that Phoenix metropolitan area target shooters have to travel farther than what is judged as convenient to find a place on public land to target shoot.  This excuse would be plausible if there were not nearly one million acres of public land in the Lower Sonoran District located nearby. So near that in some cases target shooters can just across a road or highway. Others have interpreted a recreational target shooting ban as a threat to their 2^nd Amendment Rights.

Located near the Sonoran Desert National Monument are two public shooting ranges. The Joe Foss Target Range in the Buckeye Hills has recently opened after the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department spent nearly $6.8 million dollars to make it available for public target shooting  (Arizona Game and Fish Department provided $40,500).  The Town of Gila Bend has a target shooting ranges that is open to the public. To use Gila Bend range shooters need to check in at the Gila Bend Town Hall. Many target shooters will pass a public target range on their way to the Sonoran Desert National Monument.

The Sonoran Desert National Monument was created in 2001 to protect the monument’s natural and cultural resources and the agency given this responsibility does not believe it can protect these resources and manage recreational target shooting. The Bureau of Land Management does have recreational shooting bans on the Ironwood Forest and Agua Fria National Monuments because protection of resources is incompatible with recreational target shooting. The same standard should apply to the Sonoran Desert National Monument and because of its location near the Phoenix metropolitan area a recreational shooting ban I believe is even more justified.

Even though I believe all parties should meet and work out a solution to the recreational target shooting situation on the Sonoran Desert National Monument I must admit that having to teach people that vandalism and littering are wrong and in fact crimes seems a little dubious. If they do not know this or care what their actions do I am not sure a presentation or a brochure will change their minds.

Consistent management guidelines must be developed and enforced on our Bureau of Land Management National Monuments and it appears that a recreational target shooting ban that is vigorously enforced is needed.

The Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument has been working with the Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona Department of Transportation to reduce the buffelgrass threat to the ecology of the Sonoran Desert.

Roads and highways are primary routes for invasive plants species to disperse and the Sonoran Desert National Monument is dissected or bordered by several highways as well has many unimproved roads. State Highways 85 and 238 and Interstate 8 have buffelgrass infestations in their right of ways. In addition Interstate 8 has buffelgrass thriving in median dividing the highway.

The Bureau of Land Management is finishing up an environmental analysis on herbicide use on the Sonoran Desert National Monument which when completed will make buffelgrass treatment more effective when combining mechanical removal and herbicide application techniques. The analysis will be completed before the onset of the summer monsoon season when buffelgrass growth is greatest.

In the meantime the Arizona Department of Transportation will have completed one of its treatment on invasive plants growing in right of ways and medians.

Sonoran Desert National Monument Bureau of Land Management staff has been instrumental in the fight to free the monument from the buffelgrass threat by scheduling crews to mechanically remove buffelgrass growing in the monument. They have made significant progress.

It is possible with our constant vigilance and partnerships with agencies we will see the Sonoran Desert National Monument buffelgrass free by 2014.

Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/21/2013
All Day

Location
Sonoran Desert National Monument

Category(ies)

• Nature
• Volunteer

Saturday, April 21

Join us the day before Earth Day to show our public lands some love.

We’ll be restoring desert habitat at Sonoran Desert National Monument,
working in an area that has been abused by irresponsible
recreationists. We will remove litter and may close roads and repair
fences, if we have enough volunteers.

For more information and to get involved, contact Tiffany Sprague at
(602) 253-9140 or tiffany.sprague@sierraclub.org.

The Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument gathered March 12, 2013 at Casa Reynosa Mexican Restaurant , Tempe, for an evening of cocktails & appetizers to learn and celebrate what the Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument accomplished in 2012 and what we will be working on in 2013.

 

Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument Executive Director Thom Hulen discusses wildlife connectivity issues regarding Proghorn Sheep, Highways 238 & 92 and between the South & North Maricopa Mountains.

Now that we’re into a new year, we’re excited to hit the ground, working on new projects and offering new programs that will protect and preserve the beauty and resources of the Sonoran Desert National Monument!

Last fall, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Monument was finally unveiled, and this serves as a road map for how the Monument will be managed. Working together, the Friends of Sonoran Desert National Monument have identified the priority issues and projects that will have the most impact in caring for this incredible Arizona treasure.

Some of our priorities for 2013 include:

• Introducing to the public the rich, natural and cultural history of the Monument through hikes and other educational programs
• Eliminating invasive buffelgrass infestations that threaten habitat
• Restoring habitat damaged by irresponsible target shooters and OHV users
• Increasing and maintaining healthy Desert Bighorn sheep and deer populations in the Monument and advocating for the reintroduction of the endangered Sonoran pronghorn
• Developing a plan to restore the Vekol Valley Grassland

Now, we’re inviting you to be a part of this very important mission! This year we have an exciting new Matching Challenge of $15,000 from the Conservation Lands Foundation. That means your gift will be doubled – and have double the impact.

Today, please consider a gift of $50, $75, $100, or whatever is right for you. Remember, your contributions will be doubled! You may give online here or mail to:
Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument
PO Box 13252
Tempe, AZ 85284.

Every dollar you give makes a difference!

Together, we can do great things for the Sonoran Desert National Monument and for Arizona.

Thank you!

Sincerely,