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Action Alert

You Can Help Protect Arizona's Sonoran Desert!

Public Meetings Begin October 4th in Phoenix

Give Your Feedback on the BLM's Draft Plan for Our Sonoran Desert Lands!

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released its draft resource management plan for the Lower Sonoran Field Office and the Sonoran Desert National Monument, which together encompasses 1.4 million acres of prime desert wildlife habitat, archaeological sites, and historic trails in western Maricopa County. These are your public lands and your wildlife--they need your help. The agency seeks public comments from local residents who enjoy the Sonoran Desert at a series of public meetings beginning on October 4th--share your voice and help us protect this fragile landscape!

Upcoming meetings include:

• October 4 in Phoenix (BLM Training Center, 9828 North 31st Avenue, 6 - 9 p.m.)
• October 12 in Mesa
• October 13 in Casa Grande...and more!

Find all dates, meetings places, and times here.

AWC is reviewing the 1,100-page draft plan, analyzing how well the BLM’s alternatives protect lands with wilderness characteristics, wildlife movement corridors, and sensitive cultural areas like the Great Bend of the Gila River, the Anza trail, and the Butterfield Stage Coach Route among others.  The draft plan contains five alternatives of management, including the agency’s preference.

Wilderness Characteristics

One of the major issues addressed in the plan is which lands the BLM identifies for wilderness characteristics.  While not the same as designated wilderness areas, lands with wilderness characteristics are managed for conservation and non-motorized recreation values.

• In your comments, please support the protection of the Sand Tank Mountains for wilderness characteristics.  The Sand Tanks, located in the national monument, have never been inventoried for wilderness since their transfer from the Department of Defense to the BLM in 1999.

• Request that the Margies Peak and Butterfield Stage wilderness units are also included in the monument’s wilderness inventory.

• Request that the BLM increase the number and size of areas managed for wilderness characteristics in non-monument lands.  While AWC submitted recommendations for more than 270,000 acres of wilderness lands, including Face Mountain, Columbus Peak, and Yellow Medicine Butte, the BLM’s preferred alternative only identifies 55,000 acres for wilderness management. 

Reducing Road Density for Wildlife

The draft plan also identifies the official road network for Sonoran Desert National Monument.  While AWC supports access to and around the monument, several of the roads are uneccessary and provide ecological impacts that surpass their value as a road. 

• In your comments, please support allowing motorized vehicles only on designated routes.  This is a critical step in reducing the proliferation of roads across the landscape, but is only as good as the law enforcement and route signage that keeps people on the roads.

• Ask the BLM to commit to the route designation process ASAP, which is NOT addressed in this draft plan.

• Support the closure of unnecessary, user-created routes that plague both the monument and non-monument lands.  Currently, the BLM is proposing to close 255 miles of unnecessary roads, leaving 371 miles available for public use.

Protecting Wildlife Migration Corridors

In addition to protecting core wildlife habitat with wilderness recommendations, the BLM must also recognize the vital role of linking existing wildlife movement corridors together, so that species like bighorn sheep, mule deer, and other key species can move across the landscape safely.

• Support the inclusion of Priority Wildlife Areas and Wildlife Movement Corridors. These designations will help facilitate the recovery of imperiled species and maintain important landscape linkages between mountain ranges.

• Request improvements to the preferred alternative by adopting wider Movement Corridors as outlined in Alternative D.   

Get Involved

Come to a local meeting!You can view the document and maps online by clicking here.  We recommend reading the Intro and Executive Summary first, which is the second link on the page, or here.  In order to help you find several sections easier, just follow the cheat sheet below:

• To review alternatives for wilderness characteristics, click on Chapter 2 and go to page 108
• To review a summary of all alternatives only for the Sonoran Desert National Monument, click on Chapter two and go to page 36
• To review the road network for Sonoran Desert National Monument, click on Chapter 2 and go to page 183
• To review the alternatives relative to cattle grazing, click on Chapter 2 and go to page 137
• To review alternatives concerning priority wildlife species and habitat, click on Chapter 2 and go to page 63

Can We Help You?

AWC is available to help members understand and review sections of the draft plan that interest our members.  Feel free to drop us a note at admin@azwild.org and we’ll get back to you pronto! 

If you can't attend a meeting, please consider dropping a comment letter in the mail to the BLM and be a part of making this important plan better for wildlife and wild places.

Email comments to BLM at: blm_az_ls_sdnm_plan@blm.gov  

Or write to:
BLM Lower Sonoran Field Office 
LS-SDNM RMP 
21605 North 7th Avenue 
Phoenix, AZ 85027

Public comments on the draft alternatives are being accepted by the BLM until November 25, 2011.

Thank You for Your Help!