The Nature Conservancy’s Hassayampa River Preserve Celebrates 20th Anniversary
Activities Planned for Thursday - Sunday
WICKENBURG, AZ — March 29, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy’s Hassayampa River Preserve will mark its 20th anniversary with a four-day celebration and free admission Thursday through Sunday, March 29-April 1.
This preserve is home to some of the desert’s most spectacular wildlife. Trails are self-guided, leading along the lush river bottoms, across the river’s floodplain, through cottonwood-willow forests and dense mesquite thickets found only near desert waterways. At Palm Lake, waterfowl are a major attraction.
The Hassayampa preserve and headquarters, listed on Arizona’s State Register of Historic Places, were once a part of the Frederick Brill Ranch. Brill, a Prussian immigrant, assumed ownership of the property around 1871 and raised cattle, operated a stagecoach way station, raised fruit from extensive orchards, and operated the first carp farm in Arizona. In 1913 the Brill Ranch became one of Arizona’s first guest ranches when new owners transformed it to the “Garden of Allah.” Later it was called the Lazy RC Ranch.
The Nature Conservancy purchased the preserve property in December 1986 from Norman and Dorothy R. Lykes. The preserve doubled in size in 2004 with the acquisition and donation of 330 acres of desert foothills west of the river. The transaction essentially completed the Lykes’ vision to reunite lands on the other side of the railroad tracks with the river-bottom preserve lands.
“She always was a conservationist,” says Deborah Lockett of her late mother, Dorothy Lykes. “And she made sure we grew up with those values. As kids, we were always backpacking and hiking in the wilderness.” Knowing the conservation value of her Wickenburg property—stands of cottonwoods in a rare desert oasis with native flora and fauna—Dorothy decided The Nature Conservancy would find the best use for it. “She saw it as a way of saving an important part of Arizona forever.”
A calendar of events for the preserve’s 20th anniversary celebration, including guided nature tours and exhibits, can be found online at nature.org/arizona. The Hassayampa River Preserve is 3 miles southeast of Wickenburg along U.S. 60. The preserve is on the west side of the highway near milepost marker 114. For more information, call (928) 684-2772 or e-mail bmccollum@tnc.org.
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. For more information about our work in Arizona, visit nature.org/arizona.
|
Join The Nature Conservancy on