PHOENIX, ARIZONA…November 9, 2004  Site of one of Arizona’s first guest ranches, The Nature Conservancy’s Hassayampa River Preserve has doubled in size with the donation of 330 acres of desert foothills in northwest Maricopa County.  The new addition also provides a wildlife corridor from the preserve habitat to public lands west of the river, especially significant in this rapidly urbanizing area.

The 100-mile-long, mostly underground Hassayampa River—one of the Sonoran Desert’s few flowing, un-dammed rivers—surfaces in this bucolic setting to provide a home to more than 280 resident and migratory bird species. The lush river habitat also supports one of the desert’s best remaining stands of cottonwood-willow forest.  Completion of the 660-acre preserve was the vision of the late Dorothy Lykes and her husband, Norman, who sold the first parcel to the Conservancy in 1986.

The Conservancy is celebrating the preserve expansion at an open house from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, November 13.  State Director Pat Graham will discuss the Conservancy’s current projects throughout Arizona at 3:00 p.m.

Listed on Arizona’s State Register of Historic Places, the preserve’s original four-room adobe homestead was built by Frederick Brill in 1866.  A German immigrant, Brill was a visionary pioneer who immediately prospered in the new Arizona Territory as a cattle rancher with water from the river and several springs.  He also started a fish farm here 10 years later.  The profitable business supplied fresh carp to restaurants, particularly to Chinese-run establishments abundant at the time in Prescott and Phoenix.

The preserve site became one of Arizona’s first guest ranches in 1913 when the new owners re-opened it as a hospitality venture called the “Garden of Allah.”

The Conservancy originally selected the Hassayampa site to protect its rare cottonwood-willow forest— many of these have suffered enormously in the past century.  The loss threatens at least 80 percent of Arizona wildlife, those creatures that depend on the riparian, or streamside, habitat to survive.  The preserve also is a favorite spot for bird-watching.

The Hassayampa River Preserve is located on Highway 60, three miles southeast of Wickenburg.  Hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.  Donations of $5 per person over 12 years of age are appreciated.

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