Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection

Continued advocating for protected open spaces, both on public and private lands. This included direct consultations with private developers where we made recommendations on their development plans and advocated for connected open spaces and protected wildlife habitat on their properties. We also celebrated and educated our supporters about new open space properties acquired by Pima County along with Pima Countys continued successes implementing their Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan. We conducted this community education through our website, e-newsletters, and print newsletter. Worked to re-connect our threatened open space preserves. This included continued facilitation of the management and monitoring of the Oracle Road wildlife crossings. We continued to work with neighborhoods adjacent to the wildlife underpass and other community partners to work towards a win-win solution for wildlife fencing gaps in this area, with the final fencing gaps finished in April 2023. We also publicized and celebrated the growing data sets compiled by the Arizona Game and Fish Department about wildlife use of the Oracle Road wildlife crossings - we are the only non-profit organization providing this information to the public on our website and in our general communications. In 2023, we started a new project to improve and enhance the native habitat on the Oracle Road wildlife crossings, with funding from the Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area. We held monthly Habitat Restoration Workdays from September-December 2023 where volunteers and staff removed invasive species, planted native plants, monitored wildlife cameras, and produced educational videos to share with the larger community. We also continue to consult on plans for new wildlife crossings such as the siting and design of two new wildlife crossings on State Route 86 on the Tohono Oodham Nation, new wildlife underpasses along Silverbell Road that will connect the Tucson Mountains and the Santa Cruz River, and a future wildlife bridge over Interstate 10 connecting the Tucson and Tortolita Mountains. For this final project, we also continued our partnership with local governments such as the Town of Marana and Pima County to further connect this wildlife linkage by building an accessible wildlife ramp into the Santa Cruz River and supporting the purchase of more connected open space properties. We continued to participate on the Regional Transportation Authoritys Wildlife Linkages Working Group which oversees the many wildlife linkages infrastructure projects funded by the Regional Transportation Authority; in addition, we have been very involved in the development of the next Regional Transportation Plan RTA NEXT and advocating for additional monies for more wildlife linkage infrastructure in this new plan. We continued to analyze and use data collected in the Interstate 10-Davidson Canyon wildlife linkage from 2019-2021 to advocate for improved wildlife fencing and enhanced wildlife underpasses in this linkage. We continued our project in the Sopori Wash between the Santa Rita and Tumacacori Mountains in collaboration with the Arizona Land and Water Trust, first established in 2021. Lastly, we continued our collaboration with the Desert Fence Busters, which seeks to remove outdated, un-used barbed wire fencing that impedes wildlife movement across the landscape. In 2023, the Desert Fence Busters held 12 volunteer-driven events, removing ~11.5 miles of dangerous fencing. Strenuously opposed the proposed Interstate 11 route in Avra Valley west of the Tucson Mountains through ongoing meetings with community partners and community outreach. We joined with three of our member groups in 2022 to file a lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration and Arizona Department of Transportation and expanded the lawsuit further to address issues related to endangered species in December 2023. This lawsuit challenges the Tier 1 planning process and the flawed evaluation of the environmental impacts of the proposed project. One of our member groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, is providing legal services related to the lawsuit on a pro bono basis. In addition, we have several of our own wildlife cameras near the proposed interstate route to gather data on wildlife presence and diversity in this important wildlife linkage. We also continued to oppose the Copper World Mine and support our member groups and community partners that continue to fight this mine proposal in federal courts - we shared news and information with our supporters about their efforts and ways to get involved through our social media channels, emails, and print newsletter. Improved and refined our Community Science projects to ensure they are collecting the best data possible with clear goals and objectives and continuing to provide an educational, enriching experience for our volunteers, now totaling 65+ active volunteers. In 2023, we hired two Desert Wildlife Interns for semester-long internships from August-December. Our two interns helped clean up and organize our millions of wildlife camera photos to prepare them for further analysis. They also assisted with our Habitat Restoration Days at the Oracle Road wildlife crossings. We also continued to work with partners such as the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Pima County and provided regular reports to our volunteers on how the data from these projects impact our advocacy for restored wildlife linkages. Maintained productive working relationships with local governments, state and federal agencies, community partners, and landowners to ensure we are poised to tackle new projects as they occur. Improved and expanded our communications with our supporters, donors, volunteers, community partners, and member groups, including our expanding our presence on Instagram and producing regular videos for our YouTube channel. The videos aim to educate the larger community about the Sonoran Desert and threats to Sonoran Desert wildlife linkages.