The Sonoran Desert is one of North America's largest and hottest deserts. It is also one of the wettest, with over 300 mm of rain falling in some places. It is located in the south-west of the USA, straddling the lower states of Arizona and California and stretching south into Mexico. The Sonoran Desert is stunningly beautiful and is home to a great diversity of flora and fauna including the saguaro cactus.
The USA is able to respond differently to the challenges and opportunities of a desert environment compared with poorer countries such as India (Thar Desert) or the African desert bordering the Sahara Desert. Money enables many of the physical difficulties to be overcome.
The physical extremes of the climate can be overcome to some extent by using air conditioning for vehicles, houses, workplaces and shopping centres. With plentiful supplies of relatively cheap energy, this is perfectly possible in the USA.
Water can be relatively easily piped into the area for irrigating crops, to supply drinking water and for filling swimming pools and watering golf courses,
The clear, clean atmosphere and open spaces form an attraction to short-term holidaymakers and long-term migrants. A recent trend in the Sonoran desert has been retirement migration, where people decide to retire to newly built housing complexes with swimming pools and golf courses.
Marana: The Tale of One Town in the Sonoran Desert
Marana is a town of around 30,000 people located a few kilometres north-west of the city of Tucson in Arizona. Over the years it has developed into a thriving business town and leisure resort.
The town began as a mid-19th century ranching and mining community along the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1920 a new irrigation system enabled it to become an agricultural centre specialising in cotton, a crop that does well in hot conditions provided it is well watered. Families migrated to the town to work in the cotton fields. Agricultural production increased during the 1940s and expanded to include wheat, barley and pecans.
However, since the 1990s farming in the area has declined to be replaced with housing developments. Today only 15 cotton farms remain. Durum wheat is grown and exported to Italy to make pasta. A heritage park has been opened to celebrate the town's agricultural heritage.
In 2007 Marana began hosting golf's PGA Matchplay Championship.
Managing the Sonoran Desert
In 1998 the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan was initiated in Pima County, the administrative region incorporating Tucson in south-west Arizona. This is a plan to 'conserve the county's most valued natural and cultural resources, whilst accommodating the inevitable population growth and economic expansion of the community.' The plan resulted from concern about threats to wildlife habitats as housing developments expanded into the desert. An endangered species of pygmy owl was considered to be particularly vulnerable. Among other initiatives, the plan has led to:
Detailed mapping and inventory of the country's natural and cultural heritage.
Development of buffer zones around areas of ecological significance
native plant protection
hillside development restrictions
home design recommendations to conserve energy and water