Sonoran Adventures - Environmental Stewardship

SONORAN ADVENTURES provides environmental educational programs on each level of our guided tours.

	Outdoor Ethics "Leave No Trace" Training
	Flora & Fauna / Natural History
	Environmental Stewardship

"We believe that the physical experience of being immersed in wild places is the best way to inspire people to conserve and protect our natural world."

SONORAN ADVENTURES Environmental Stewardship includes a review of SONORAN ADVENTURES regional environmental facts and practical applications.

Desert in bloom

Regional Environmental Facts

The Sonoran Desert has seen a seven fold explosion in population over the past 50 years, resulting in increased depletion of our fragile natural resources. SONORAN ADVENTURES primary objective, through its guided tours, outdoor education and conservation efforts, is to educate the public about protecting this great land.

A 1942 photograph (top left) of a reach of the Santa Cruz River south of Tucson, Arizona, shows stands of mesquite and cottonwood trees along the river. A photograph (top right) of the same site in 1989 shows that the riparian trees have largely disappeared, as a result of lowered ground-water levels. Photos: Robert H. Webb, USGS. (Source: U.S. Department of the Interior/ U.S. Geological Survey.)

As seen in the chart below, ground water has been pumped to support agriculture and population growth in the Desert Southwest resulting in water-level declines of between 300 and 500 feet in much of the area. Land subsidence was first noticed in the 1940s and subsequently as much as 12.5 feet of subsidence has been measured. Additionally, lowering of the water table has resulted in the loss of streamside vegetation as documented by historical photographs.

Locations in the basins of southern California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico where substantial ground-water level declines have been measured. In some areas, water levels have recovered in response to reduction in pumping and increased recharge efforts (Leake and others, 2000).

There is now clear scientific evidence that humanity is living in an unsustainable way by consuming the Earth’s limited natural resources more rapidly than they are being replaced by nature.

Copper mines in the Desert Southwest also use vast quantities of
ground water.

SONORAN ADVENTURES promotes Ecological Sustainability and well-being of the Sonoran Desert and all wilderness areas.

We define Sustainability as:

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (natural resources, clean water, air and food).
Nature’s resources must only be used at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally.

SONORAN ADVENTURES is part of a collective effort to keep human use of natural resources within the sustainable development aspect of the Earth’s finite resource limits. This is now an issue of utmost importance to the present and future of humanity.

A beautiful legacy.

Will this be here if we
don't preserve it?

Practical Applications

So how do we change?

We start with one kid, one teenager, one person at a time
And we tell them,
We show them
We take them by the hand to our grand mountains
To our deserts
To our canyons
Let these wonders of nature do the talking...

At last a breath of fresh air will fill their lungs as they look out over the horizon and see everything as it was before we came and filled it with our stuff.

Here are some practical ways to achieve environmental sustainability:

Our past is revealed in these ancient picture art drawings.

Drive less or go hybrid (in the US, vehicles are responsible for 25% of the greenhouse gases produced worldwide)
Bike and walk more
Vote for eco-friendly laws
Buy energy-efficient products (21% of energy used in the US is used at home)
Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs
Choose renewable energy
Use less energy at home and work