Collaborative conservation at its best!
WTM Conservancy members connect to protect the mutually beneficial coexistence of human beings and a robust wildlife population which thrives in the open spaces and corridors of the vibrant White Tank Mountains, the cornerstone of our West Valley communities.
We bond to create a larger “club” for you where you find pertinent information about recreational activities, opportunities for service, mountain flora and fauna research, advocacy for collaborative conservation, giving, and just plain fun.
As a part of the “club,” you take pride in preserving your own neighborhood mountain as a cornerstone for generations to come.
At the end of the day, it is all about connections: connections among human beings who commit to their own health and well-being while advocating to preserve open spaces and corridors for the survival of wildlife and their natural habitat.
Connect with other “club” enthusiasts to perpetuate life on and around the mountains through collaborative conservation efforts.
Decide today to join to keep your neighborhood mountains alive. Now is the time to step up and serve to preserve.
___________________________________________________________
The Case for Collaborative Conservation
By Elaine Green
The beautiful White Tank Mountains sit at the western edge of the Phoenix Metropolitan area which is destined for tremendous growth. Surrounding areas have already planned development near the mountain range, and ownership of the area ranges from public lands to community developers.
Nearly 30,000 acres make up the White Tank Mountain Regional Park, managed by Maricopa County and making it the largest regional park in the county. In the southern White Tank Mountains, Skyline Regional Park covers 8,700 acres and is managed by the City of Buckeye. These parks provide countless opportunities for learning and outdoor adventure, assets to our West Valley communities.
But the story doesn’t end there. Ownership of the areas surrounding the mountains allows for potential encroachment by the development of roadways, homes and businesses, and creating disruption to the natural wildlife corridors---effectively creating an “island”.
This is where collaborative conservation comes in.
Where there are many voices, there are many opinions. Collaboration allows for discussion about the best ways to conserve this thriving area while working to accommodate the needs of environmentalists, developers, outdoor enthusiasts and, most importantly, the mountains themselves.
Collaborative is defined by Oxford Dictionaries online as “produced or conducted by two or more parties working together.” Conservation is defined as “the action of conserving something, in particular the preservation, protection or restoration of the natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation and wildlife.”
Let your voice be heard on behalf of the White Tanks to preserve their cultural and natural resources. Join the White Tank Mountain Conservancy today at WTMConservancy.org.
___________________________________________________________
White Tanks Flora Update, Summer 2017
By Cass Blodgett
It has been the hot season since late May of this year and our focus on the white Tanks Flora turns indoors, with a stack of nearly 400 plants to positively identify. We do this in the Desert Botanical Garden Herbarium where there are plenty of microscopes and botanical resources to rely on.
The plants we collect at the White Tanks go through a series of processing steps before they take their final resting place in the storage cabinets of the herbarium, the positive identification being one of them.
If you are one of the volunteers who have agreed to handle the field press on a collection day, you know that the press becomes more unwieldly and mis-shapen over the course of the day. The first step in processing the specimens is to repack the press, this time with each plant in its newspaper folder sandwiched between its own layers of cardboard. This makes for a much taller but well organized press with all the plants lying flat.
Next the repacked press is placed in a dryer, which is just a cabinet with an electric heater and a thermostat. Here they rest for 3 or so days until the plants are completely desiccated. Driving all the moisture out of the plants protects against molds developing.
Now the press goes into a freezer for about 2 weeks. This step is to insure all bugs and bug eggs have perished.
From there they go to a cabinet in the herbarium allocated just for this project. The task of positively identifying the plants can only commence from this point.
Once the plants are ID’d, and our field notes updated accordingly, we need to upload our field notes to Seinet. Seinet is a large online repository of botanical specimens collected in Arizona as well as other botanical collections in the South West. This is a tedious task where the field notes for each collection are transcribed into the form below and uploaded into the database.
The final stage of processing is to mount the plants on archival paper along with a label containing our field notes.
The DBG herbarium has over 80,000 plant vouchers in its cabinets, a few of them nearly 200 years old collected by early botanists, pharmacists and railroad surveyors.
The herbarium collections are a resource for scientists all over the world. Researchers examine the collections for regional variations in plants, genetic and other molecular analysis, studying the bugs, bacteria and viruses on and in the plants tissues, and countless other interests. In some cases the dried specimens in the herbarium represent rare examples of plants now extinct.
We are about half done with the task of identifying the ~400 plants collected in the spring 2017 season. The work will likely go on through October while we mix in some late summer and fall collecting outings to get those often elusive summer bloomers.
Thanks again to all the volunteers who help with our collection outings and look for announcements for upcoming summer and fall events.
________________________________________________________
New Accessible Trail Under Construction at City of Buckeye’s Skyline Regional Park
By Bob Wisener
The City of Buckeye, using a grant received from Arizona State Parks is building an accessible trail in Skyline Regional Park through its contractor, Okanogan Trail Construction Company. The City of Buckeye received an $80,000 grant, matched with $10,000 in City funds from Arizona State Park’s Recreational Trails Program.
The 6’ wide accessible trail will be over a half-mile long and located north of the bridge in Skyline Regional Park. The trail will feature a few short loops and will be firm and compacted and will meet slope requirements for accessibility. The trail can be used by anyone, including those with limited mobility using strollers or wheelchairs.
Okanogan completed the alignment by grading the base and will be installing 3/8” minus granite and adding stabilizer to make a firm surface. The trail should be complete in September.
The City will also use grant funds to install interpretive panels and plant identification signs along the accessible trail to educate visitors on park resources on how both plants and animals have made adaptations to thrive in the Sonoran Desert. The plant identifications signs will have interesting facts on ethnobotany and how animals use the plants. The Arizona State Parks grant will also pay for a 1-mile connecting trail to the Sienna Hills master planned community that will tie into Quartz Mine in the southeastern quadrant of the park.
Separate from the grant, in June 2017, Okanogan Trail Construction Company completed building a connecting trail along Watson Road. The trail connects Skyline Regional Park to neighborhoods south of I-10 and connects to an existing sidewalk at the Sundance Sierra Highlands community. This trail allows people to hike into the park from communities located adjacent to I-10 without using the road.
___________________________________________________________
Do It for Your Health!
Fall is approaching, and the parks and Conservancy are gearing up with activities for your enjoyment! Whether volunteering or attending activities for pleasure, do something good for yourself by experiencing the freedom and beauty of our open spaces.
Volunteer Coordinator Jane Fricke cites improvement to the immune system, stress relief, and improvement in short-term memory as reasons to be active in our parks. Read more scientific based reasons in this article.
Check out Jane’s list of upcoming activities here!
___________________________________________________________
Laabs Assumes Role of Outreach Lead; Neal Moves to Marketing
John Laabs has assumed the role of leader of Community Outreach replacing Alice Neal who has taken the helm of the Marketing Team along with Information Technology leader Bob Hopper.
Executive Director Les Meyers stated, “John is tremendously qualified to support our stewards and to expand outreach efforts. He is passionate about environmental education, and we are excited that he has accepted this leadership role.”
The Outreach Team will be contacting community organizations and presenting information to promote the mission of the White Tank Mountains Conservancy. In addition, members will be delivering programs on desert safety and Leave No Trace to adults and school children. The WTMC mascot Rudy the Rascal roadrunner is set to zoom into participating schools and events.
The Marketing Team is acting to expand resources from which to engage potential members and donors. It also is developing quality content to build the image of the WTMC as a reliable community resource for recreation, mountain science, community education and outreach, collaboratative conservation, and volunteerism.
Promotion of the significance of collaborative conservation and the WTMC mission continue to be priorities.
___________________________________________________________
Wanted: Web and Social Media Volunteers
or Inspired Learners
By Alice Neal
Do you have web development skills and know Wordpress, or would you like to learn?
The Conservancy will launch a new website in October, and it will be laid out with several landing pages covering mission specific topics.
Are you familiar with design and publishing applications and would like to assist with the creation of flyers, brochures, etc.? Do you have basic pc knowledge and would enjoy providing support for stewards who are developing and performing presentations? Do you enjoy photographing events?
Interested? Contact Bob Hopper at WTMConservancy@gmail.com.
Keep in mind that most of this can be done from the comfort of your own home while using your own computer!
I
.