| Unexpected Recreation Opportunities Hidden in the Sonoran Desert By Merv Boyd Yuma Field Office, Bureau of Land Management  The Sonoran Desert is one of four North American deserts including the Great Basin, the Mojave, and the Chihuahuan. The Sonoran spans 120,000 square miles across Arizona, California, the Colorado River Delta, and into the Mexican state of Sonora and the Baja Cali- fornia peninsula.
Because of its superb winter climate, the Sonoran Desert is an ideal area for recreation. With temperatures averaging from the low 60s to the high 70s from October through April, activities like hiking, mountain biking, road biking, rock climbing, skydiving, hot air ballooning, and many others are taking place all across the area.
The winters here showcase rugged desert landscapes of blooming cacti and other indigenous plants set against a backdrop of breathtaking sunsets. While most of the country fights snow, wind, cold, or high humidity, the late fall, winter, and early spring is a perfect time to visit the Sonoran Desert.
Yuma is nestled in the Yuma and Gila valleys and offers a climate that blends pleasant desert sunshine with the cool waters of the Colorado River.
Visitors from all over the United States, Canada, and other countries camp in two quite unique Long Term Visitors Areas (LTVA) managed jointly by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Yuma Field Office and California Desert District. The Yuma Field Office issues 8,000 to 11,000 vehicle permits during the mild September to April season. A volunteer cadre of 80 to 100 staff contact stations, sell permits, and handle front–line visitor service duties. The LTVA is the third largest BLM fee collection program nationwide. This has been an enormously successful effort to manage large numbers of visitors over long periods of time, while minimizing adverse impacts.
The recreation programs in the Yuma Field Office enjoy widespread support. They are very popular with summer and winter visitors, and are actively supported by city and county officials. The thousands of visitors are an important economic engine for local communities. Successful partnerships exist with Arizona and California’s cities, counties, as well as many federal agencies cooperating to meet recreation demands. Public involvement and interest in recreation management issues grows with expanding populations, changes in management schemes, and with BLM’s growing expertise at collaborative management.
Anyway you look at it, there’s no place on earth quite like the Grand Canyon State. It’s not just the landscapes, which take in tall mountain ranges, swift rivers, grasslands, sand dunes, and cactus forests. It’s not just the storied past, which reaches back thousands of years. It’s not just the people, a vibrant blend of cultures and traditions. It’s all these things, and the way they come together, that make Arizona a truly unique and unparalleled spot.
California Biodiversity News: Volume 9, Number 1 |