McDowell Sonoran Preserve

Take an aerial tour of Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve and learn how it's citizens came together to help protect this diverse, special place. Here's a video introduction of the Preserve.



The entire "Wings Over The Preserve" video presentation can be seen on YouTube.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Mysteries of Sonoran Desert life are slowly revealed and abundantly displayed at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, located on the Mexican border, a few miles south the city of Ajo, AZ.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is the only place in the United States to see large stands of organ pipe cacti, though their range extends far south into Mexico. The monument encompasses the bulk (about 90%) of its U.S. population. Optimum growing conditions exist no more than a 40-50 mile radius north of the monument. Beyond this distance, conditions are not suitable, and the cactus will seldom occur naturally in these areas except in very isolated locations.

If you enjoy hiking, desert flower and fauna, and the serene beauty the Sonoran Desert has to offer, then this is the place to visit during the cool winter months. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument preserves over 330,000 acres of green, living desert that is yours to explore and get to know.

Here's a Robin Sewell's Arizona Highways Television show to tell you more.

Adventure Earth: Sonoran Venom

A three-part quest into the Sonora Desert with Bryan Maltais to find rattlesnakes, the Gila monster, and many other of our native desert dwellers.