Save Green Valley’s West Desert Preserve! Sunday, April 22, 2007 9:15 AM MDT Editor: One of the prime ecological reasons for our annual winter sojourn in Green Valley for the last five years has been the unique beauty of the Sonoran Desert which surrounds the Green Valley. Recent urban growth into the fragile desert current and proposed expanding mine activity, increased Interstate highway traffic and the exodus of illegal immigrants from Mexico are beginning to threaten with irreversible damage the unique environment of the Sonoran Desert. The Green Valley area has mainly expanded into a community of persons from northern climates seeking winter refuge from their frigid roots. It is nestled in a slender slice of the verdant desert bordering the Santa Cruz River and distinguished by the giant twisted forms of the rare Saguaro cactus and home of the threatened and endangered Pima pineapple cactus and other unique forms of vegetation and wildlife. The proposed approximate 2,000-acre West Desert Preserve which borders much of the western border of Green Valley is part of the State of Arizona Trust Lands and could be sold for further private development. Today, the unique natural area is being proposed for permanent preservation and protection for the health and benefit of the region’s wildlife, rare vegetation and the appreciation of the expanding human population. Presently, the proposed area is a hiking and mountain bicycling Nirvana for many residents and offers a natural buffer and refuge between the urban area on its eastern border and the mining region to the west. I would urge visitors and permanent residents to visit this area and strongly support the West Desert Preserve to NOT be sold for commercial development. This area and other similar areas near Madera Canyon and within the Coronado National Forest need advocates for preservation and protection. The giant saguaro is a symbolic and sacred silent sentinel. They watch and wait for the stewards of the land to make their decision. Hank Deutsch, Viroqua, Wis