Our D5 Amigos:
Plants and Animals of the Sonoran Desert
On behalf of Pima County residents, we honor the tribal nations who have served as caretakers of this land from time immemorial and respectfully acknowledge the ancestral home homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the multi-millennial presence of the Pascua Yaqui tribe within Pima County. Consistent with Pima County’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, we strive toward building equal-partner relationships with Arizona’s tribal nations.
Hi friends! This coloring book our office helped create is about many of the wonderful animals and plants protected by the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. We share this land with some truly incredible living things! Sadly, these animals and plants are losing their natural habitat, but that’s why it’s so important to learn about them and work every day to protect them. So, use your imagination, have fun, and we hope you learn something new about our desert neighbors!
Sincerely,
What is the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan?
It all started with this guy!
From the Pima County website:
Pima County has a storied history with the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl, in fact it was the species that spurred the initiation of the interagency Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan planning process in 1997. Rapid development in the Tucson basin as the time was heavily impacting the limited remaining pygmy-owl habitat in the area, leading to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stepping in to halt multiple projects all together. The County convened numerous stakeholders, including the research, conservation, and development communities, to determine a way forward by which to protect the pygmy-owl and allow for responsible development.
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
Photo courtesy of pima.gov
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Our commitment to the environment goes hand in hand with our commitment to education. We are sharing this coloring book with elementary schools in District 5 to raise awareness about our environment in our youngest constituents. So much of the solution to our climate crisis is about education. Children are the future of our world!
A big thanks to Dr. Floyd Thompson III, the fantastic illustrator of this book, and to the Pima County Communications Department for their design work!
And thank you to the D5 Staff for their support with this project!
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To learn more about the award-winning Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, visit the website!
Mexican Long-Tongued Bat
Photo courtesy of fs.fed.us, linked to USDA.gov
Want to learn more? Check out these resources for educators and our works cited below!
Educational Resources
Pima County Website
Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
Pima County Environmental Education and Interpretive Programs
Huachuca Water Umbel
Photo courtesy of biologicaldiversity.org
Sonoran Desert Tortoise
Photo courtesy of Nps.gov
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WORKS CITED/SOURCES
“Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl.” Pima County, https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=495319. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Chiricahua Leopard Frog.” Pima County, https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=495241. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Chiricahuah Leopard Frog.” WildEarth Guardians, https://wildearthguardians.org/wildlife-conservation/endangered-species-list/amphibians/chiricahua-leopard-frog/. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Desert Tortoises.” Arizona Game and Fish Department, https://www.azgfd.com/wildlife/nongamemanagement/tortoise/. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl.” Audubon Field Guide to North American Birds, https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/ferruginous-pygmy-owl. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Huachuca Water Umbel.” Center for Biological Diversity, https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/plants/Huachuca_water_umbel/index.html.
Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Mexican Long-Tongued Bat.” Pima County, https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=571823. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Needle Spined Pineapple Cactus.” Priority Vulnerable Species Fact Sheets, Pima County http://www.pima.gov/CMO/SDCP/species/fsheets/vuln/nsc.html. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Petition to Protect Tucson Shovel-nosed Snake Under Endangered Species Act.” Center for Biological Diversity, https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/petition-aims-protect-tucson-shovel-nosed-snake-under-endangered-species-act-2020-09-24. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Pima Pineapple Cactus.” Pima County, https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=494960. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Sonoran Desert Tortoise.” Pima County, https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=452151. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Sonoran Desert Tortoise.” Tucson Herpetological Society, https://tucsonherpsociety.org/amphibians-reptiles/turtles-tortoises/sonoran-desert-tortoise/. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Tucson Shovel-nosed Snake.” Priority Vulnerable Species Fact Sheets, http://www.pima.gov/CMO/SDCP/species/fsheets/vuln/tsns.html. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
“Tumamoca macdougalii – Tumamoc globeberry.” Tumamoc.org, http://www.tumamoc.org/Fireflyforest/Tumamoca_macdougalii.html. Accessed 14 Jan., 2022.
Email us at district5@pima.gov with any questions!