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The Sonoran Desert is a land of stunning diversity—of ancient lava flows, shifting sand dunes, strange cacti, ephemeral waterways, unique native fish and frog populations, and a host of plant and animal life adapted to the extreme conditions of the desert.
What Am I? A Gila Monster!
The Sonoran Desert is also a fragile landscape and its biodiversity is under siege. In 1990 the region contained 6.9 million residents, nearly double the population size in 1970. By 2020 the population is expected to reach 12 million! As human population grows, native habitat is converted, scarce water resources are increasingly apportioned to human uses, and other growth-related impacts strain the viability of the region’s biodiversity.
Owls clover
© Kasey Anderson |
Ecological Importance:
The Sonoran Desert Ecoregion has more than 200 imperiled species and numerous plants, reptiles, and fish rarely found elsewhere. It is the most tropical of the three North American warm deserts (Chihuahuan, Mohave, and Sonoran).
Conservation Concerns:
In Mexico most Sonoran Desert land is privately or communally held and only a small percentage has official protection or conservation status. In the United States the majority of the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion is in public ownership, but only 25 percent of these public lands are adequately protected, and there is increasing pressure to use publicly owned lands for purposes not compatible with biodiversity preservation.
Top: Saguaro cacti. © Kasey Anderson
Bottom left: Cowles fringe-toed lizard. © Peter Warren
Bottom right: White-winged dove enjoying Saguaro bloom. © Paul A. Berquist |
Places to Visit:
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© The Nature Conservancy |
Sonoran Desert Ecoregion Facts
- Size: 55 million acres
- Location: Parts of California, Arizona and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California
- Animals: In the desert's lower elevations, roadrunners and fringe-toed lizards sprint across sizzling sands and the endangered nomadic Sonoran pronghorn roam. The mountains are home to majestic desert bighorn sheep.
- What Am I? A Gila Monster!
- Plants: Creosotebush and bursage shrubs dot the low desert. In the bajadas that slope down from the mountains, forests of saguaro cacti, paloverde, and ironwood team with life. Higher up, plant species dating back from the Ice Age can still be found.
Find out how we set priorities for conservation action in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion.
Strategies and Actions:
The huge expanse of publicly owned land within the U.S. portion of the ecoregion encourages us to work with public land managers and other organizations interested in public land management. The cross-border nature of the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion also encourages collaboration with our Mexican partners. Some strategies and actions of note include:
- With our federal partners we are developing guidelines for managing and protecting biodiversity on public lands. In the Heart of the Desert conservation area, we are working across multiple land-management holdings totaling more than 6 million acres, including the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. We are also helping to establish cross-jurisdictional groups to abate common threats, such as invasive species.
- In Mexico we are working with private land- owners to develop ecological management units, a federal land designation that allows landowners to operate their lands for hunting, ecotourism, or conservation purposes.
- We are preserving the Hassayampa River’s rare cottonwood-willow riparian forest and aquatic community by sustaining quality and quantity of river flows. To achieve our objectives we work across the entire watershed.
- In the Aravaipa Canyon area we manage preserve lands and cooperatively manage adjoining lands with the Bureau of Land Management. Management of Aravaipa Creek’s watershed helps protect its seven extant native fish species.
- Along the San Pedro River — one of the most important desert riparian ecosystems in the Southwest — we have made strategic land purchases, increased the volume of water in the river and lengthened the extent of perennial flow, and restored riparian vegetation. We are also working with private landowners to encourage conservation easements.
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