Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve (MSP) is the triumphant result of four decades of work by citizens and city, including the acquisition of more than a billion dollars of otherwise developable land. The preserve encompasses 30,580 acres and 195 miles of hiking/biking/equestrian trails in a sublime section of Earth’s most biologically diverse desert. Among the heroes of the preserve effort were legendary Mayor Herb Drinkwater, who was inspired in the 1990s by Phoenicians such as the late Senator Barry Goldwater, who helped set aside the Phoenix Mountains Preserve two decades before, providing miles of hiking and biking trails for a city reeling from sprawl. Desert EDGE, a proposed nature-education center inside the MSP has brought praise for its innovative virtual approach to desert education, though some have criticized it because, they say, it violates the terms and spirit of the agreements creating the preserve. Scottsdale City Council is awaiting the results of a citizen petition drive, due this July, to stop Desert EDGE from being built inside the MSP boundaries. Stay tuned for more.
