 Collaborative conservation focus of Nov. 4 panel discussion, book signing
PIMA COUNTY, Oct. 29, 2024 - Pima County’s work over more than 50 years protecting open space, wildlife corridors and large swaths of pristine Sonoran Desert is the focus of a new book by local author, photographer and essayist Stephen Strom. He’ll be part of a panel discussion and will sign copies of his book, Forging a Sustainable Southwest, Monday, Nov. 4, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Copper Room of the Pima County Historic Courthouse, 115 N. Church Ave.
The event is free and open to the public.
Strom will join Karen Simms, division manager with the County’s Conservation Lands and Resources Department; Julia Fonseca, retired from the County’s Office of Sustainability and Conservation; and moderator Dr. Larry Fisher, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment.
The book opens recounting the devastating floods that hit Pima County in 1983. The loss of life and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage was a wake-up call to government officials, conservationists, citizens and more. It led to collaborative conservation efforts that would set the stage for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP), a land stewardship document that continues to guide the work of County officials more than 20 years after its adoption.
Simms spent 30 years as a wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Land Management and later manager of the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, a major focus of the book. Former County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, one of many County officials interviewed for the book, prioritized protection of the Cienega Preserve, which at the time was targeted for low-density housing.
Fonseca played a key role in developing and implementing the SDCP during her 37-year County career. She and Simms are both featured prominently in the book.
The author spent considerable time discussing the SDCP, which he praised for balancing the needs of conservationists and developers.
“The genius of the SDCP planning effort lay in the choice of Pima County leadership to avoid a narrow conservation-versus-development debate, instead engaging county citizens in discussions aimed at developing an overarching vision for the county’s future,” Strom wrote.
The hundreds of meetings and guidance from technical experts motivated voters to approve two bond issues that – over the years – allowed County officials to develop natural resource parks, preserve or restore cultural sites, upgrade hiking and biking trails, conserve ranches and working landscapes, and protect more than 260,000 acres of conservation lands.
|
