Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan

Biologists from Harris Environmental Group, Inc. were part of the preliminary work conducted in the 1990s for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) in southern Arizona. The goal of the Plan was to create areas of conservation within southeastern Arizona in which to protect the region’s most vulnerable species, taking into account the Endangered Species Act as well as the economic needs of the affected community. Harris Environmental's part of the Plan focused on riparian habitats, which occur along drainage systems and their floodplains and are critical to many vulnerable species in southeastern Arizona. These habitats are being slowly depleted by human development and groundwater depletion. Harris Environmental biologists were instrumental in identifying and mapping all riparian habitats in the affected area using Global Information Systems (GIS) and Geographic Information Systems (GPS) technology and aerial photography. A comprehensive map of these habitats could then be generated. The information collected by Harris Environmental allowed for the development of a riparian habitat database of southeastern Arizona which helped the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan to be put into action.  

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