Thanks to an incredibly generous donor, we are now matching donations up to $50,000 this spring. Will you help us reach our goal of raising $100,000?
The version of the Sonoran Desert we know and love is about 4,500 years old, and counting. Our work is an investment in the desert’s long-term preservation and resilience. We may not be there to see how it turns out, but future generations will be.
This year, the Coalition celebrates:
- 25 years of Ironwood Forest National Monument, whose designation was our first major victory!
- 13 years of camera monitoring in the Tortolita and Catalina Mountains wildlife corridor, the longest-running program of its kind in southern Arizona.
- 10 years of highway adoption — you have helped us pick up at least 800 bags of trash on Oracle Road, and counting!
And coming up next year, we will celebrate milestones such as:
- 25 years of the region’s award-winning Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, which the Coalition helped to create and we now closely monitor.
- 10 years of the Multi-Species Conservation Plan, which enforces the Endangered Species Act here in Pima County. We also helped to create this plan!
With your support, the Coalition is also in our 13th year of actively opposing the proposed Interstate 11 route west of the Tucson Mountains. And after more than 20 years of activism, we also just recently celebrated the acquisition of Kelly Ranch by Pima County as conservation lands!
These aren’t just numbers — they are evidence of our community’s collective and unwavering commitment to protecting the Sonoran Desert. You are an important part of this progress.
2025 will be a pivotal year for the desert’s future. Long-term planning tools are at the core of our work and we are actively contributing to several 10, 20 and 30 year regional plans, as well as planning code updates, that are in draft or being finalized in 2025.
With our two Co-Executive Directors, new advocacy volunteers, and our first conservation planning intern starting this fall, we have more energy behind this work than ever — but there is a lot left to do and the target keeps moving.
Your support will ensure we have the resources we need to speak up for the desert.
Our ambitious plans reflect the many challenges ahead but, with your grassroots support, we remain a powerful voice for the Sonoran Desert.
While working these past few months in areas such as the Santa Rita Mountains and Ironwood Forest National Monument, we were reminded of the wonders of our geology — the oldest parts of our landscape. Thanks to the rocks, minerals and exciting forces that shape them here in Southern Arizona, we have beautiful landforms that nurture our unique biodiversity.
We hope to be seen as a rock for Southern Arizona — a perpetual force for good, adapting to external forces while supporting our living species and the open spaces they need to thrive.
Thank you for investing in long-term, local progress!
For the desert,
Kathleen and Kate
Co-Executive Directors
