This year, we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of Ironwood Forest National Monument. “The 189,000 acre Ironwood Forest National Monument, with its size and central location in Pima County, is a keystone of the larger Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan,” says Tom Hannagan, President of Friends of Ironwood Forest. This acreage is filled with biodiversity, with indigenous history, and valuable habitat for the desert big-horned sheep and threatened and endangered species such as cactus ferruginous pygmy owls, lesser long-nosed bats, and Sonoran Desert tortoises.
The monument gets its name from the desert ironwood tree (Olneya tesota), or palo fierro, in Spanish. It is one of longest living trees in the Sonoran Desert and was identified as a keystone species and a nurse plant that supports hundreds of species. Just so — Ironwood Forest National Monument protects and preserves irreplaceable Sonoran Desert flora and fauna and cultural history for all to enjoy for generations.
The Monument was our first major victory as an organization! (Check out this archived article from early 2001!)
Our role in the Monument
In our early years, the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection kickstarted the push for this monument and greatly expanded the original proposal. In April 2000, the Coalition released its proposal for this monument. Our Board President, Christina McVie, and our founding executive director and current Board Member, Carolyn Campbell, presented this proposal to the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Ak-Chin Indian Community, the Gila River Indian Community, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors and the Maricopa Association of Governments for their consideration.
The Coalition also helped lead tours of the proposed monument to increase awareness and gain support from Congressional staffers and the then Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt. In June of 2000, mere weeks after Babbitt’s formal proposal, President Bill Clinton designated the area as “Ironwood Forest National Monument” under presidential proclamation 7320.
Establishing Friends of Ironwood Forest
Six years after this incredible victory, the Coalition helped found the Friends of Ironwood Forest, now one of our member groups and close partners in our work protecting the Sonoran Desert — including helping to lead the Desert Fence Busters. As their President Tom Hannagan recently shared, the Monument is one of many areas currently under threat of shrinkage or elimination.
Friends of Ironwood Forest joined us in our lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration in our opposition of the I-11 West Option along with the Tucson Audubon Society and the Center for Biological Diversity. This route would run through Avra Valley, between Ironwood Forest National Monument and Saguaro National Park West. The West Option would irreparably destroy vital Sonoran Desert habitat and open spaces, severing wildlife corridors and jeopardizing the endangered and threatened species that live within these lands.
A beautiful celebration!
We spent Saturday, March 22nd, at Meet the Monument — a celebration of the Monument’s 25th anniversary — alongside many friends and peers, including Conservation Lands Foundation, Desert Fence Busters and more.
As we celebrate the silver anniversary of the Ironwood Forest National Monument, let us remember what is at stake. These beautiful and ecologically invaluable lands are worth fighting for. The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection and the Friends of Ironwood Forest will continue our efforts to protect the Sonoran Desert.
Read more in the Arizona Daily Star article: Ironwood Forest reaches monumental milestone
