Greetings!
Despite the rising temperatures, it's a beautiful time of year in the Foothills! The desert is still in bloom, and yet we sense the heat of summer just over the horizon. Remember that many of Desert Foothills Land Trust's preserves are open for exploration - P.A. Seitts Preserve at Go John Canyon, the Jewel of the Creek near Spur Cross, and Saguaro Hill near the library are among the favorites. We hope you'll visit these wonderful protected lands right here in our community to enjoy these last spring days.
We also invite your volunteer or financial support of our work. We are a community-supported land trust, and we welcome your ideas and enthusiasm. Visit us at www.dflt.org to join or renew as a member or to sign up as a volunteer. Thank you for your support! |
| Black Mountain Elementary School Raises Money to Protect Land | |
Students at Black Mountain Elementary School have been hard at work raising funds to help Desert Foothills Land Trust and the Town of Cave Creek acquire 4,000 acres of open space from the State Land Department. Led by Heidi Befort's 4th and 5th grade class, students at the school did chores for donations from their families (their "Serve to Preserve Spur Cross" campaign), collected money with "Buck for a Bobcat" donation boxes in various businesses around town, and wrote letters to business owners asking them to donate. Additionally, P.E. teacher Jody Chase, collected donations for a trail run and raised more than $450 for the school's fundraiser. With that donation, the kids have collected more than $1,500 to date, and they're not done yet!
Perhaps most importantly, the 4th and 5th grade classes visited Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area to get a feel for the land they were helping to protect, and learned a great deal about our beautiful Sonoran Desert. They also had guest speakers in their classroom, including Cave Creek Mayor Francia, Bob Fox from Wild at Heart (who brought an owl!), John Gunn from Spur Cross, the Phoenix Herpetological Society, and Land Trust Executive Director Sonia Perillo.
It has been tremendously gratifying to see the enthusiasm from these kids, as well as the commitment from their teachers and parents. They are such an inspiration!
Principal Elie Gaines and students from Mrs. Befort's class present DFLT Executive Director Sonia Perillo with funds raised to acquire open space in Cave Creek.  |
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| Cave Creek Trail Run a Huge Success |
 The Cave Creek Trail Run on April 3 was an overwhelming success! With more than 250 participants, the event raised nearly $5,000 for Desert Foothills Land Trust and the Town of Cave Creek's FORCE initiative to acquire more than 4,000 acres of open space. Organized by Korina and Mitch Riggin and Town of Cave Creek staff, and staffed by dozens of volunteers, the event drew participants from throughout the Valley and even other states. The event featured a 2K kids' desert awareness walk, a 5K walk/run, and a 10K run. The Trail Run was held on some of the beautiful lands we are working to protect and was a great opportunity to allow our community and visitors to see this beautiful landscape! |
| Sponsor Our Saguaros |
ASU graduate student Todd Elliot surveys the saguaro plantings on Tonto National Forest. | "Sponsor Our Saguaros" was launched in 2006, following the devastating Cave Creek Complex Fire, which burned more than 250,000 acres of land in and around Tonto National Forest. Residents of Desert Mountain and surrounding communities initiated this campaign to fund the revegetation of saguaros. Because the Sonoran Desert is not a fire-adapted natural community, the desert is slow to recover after such a devastating fire. It could have taken generations for saguaros to re-establish themselves.
Desert Mountain residents hosted a party, underwritten by Northern Trust, to raise money for the project - collecting more than $18,000 in one evening! Other donations were collected from other families, most of whom were honoring their grandchildren with their gifts.
Tonto National Forest agreed to undertake the planting, and the Land Trust agreed to manage the donations and coordinate the purchases. Since then, more than 600 saguaros have been planted at several locations near the Cave Creek Ranger Station. Todd Elliot, a graduate student at Arizona State University, has been studying the success rate of the plantings, and his monitoring will continue for at least another year.
On March 31, the original donors and participants in this unique partnership celebrated the successful completion of the revegetation efforts with a reception at Bartlett Lake. The Land Trust is grateful to all of the donors, as well as Tonto National Forest representatives Gene Blankenbaker, Colleen Madrid, Sharon Wallace and Todd Willard and Sponsor Our Saguaros Committee members Pat Dalton, Lisa Elliott, Paulette Maslick, Sylvia Owens and Karen Silva for all of their hard work on this project! |
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| Black Mountain Photo Contest Winners | |
People's Choice winning photo by Thomas McGuire. |
The votes are in and Thomas McGuire is the People's Choice winner in our 2010 Black Mountain Photo Contest! His photo will be featured on the cover of the 2011 Black Mountain Photo Contest calendar. All of the other winners will be featured inside the calendar, available from the Land Trust this fall. It's not too late to see these beautiful photos! They will remain on display at the Cave Creek Museum through the end of May.
We are grateful to the participants in the contest, as well as donors of the photo contest prizes: Bad Donkey Sub, Salad and Pizza Co., Bryan's Black Mountain BBQ, Carefree Resort & Villas, Cartwright's Sonoran Ranch House & Lounge, Heart & Soul Cafe, Majerle's Sports Grill, Massage Envy, Phoenix Suns and Tonto Bar & Grill. We're also grateful to our local CVS Pharmacies for collecting the entries, and to the Cave Creek Museum, Desert Foothills Library and Sonoran Festival of Art for displaying the photos.
Special thanks go to contest judges Don Asakawa, Alan Lowy and Jerry Sieve, awards reception emcee Don Sorchych, committee chair Pat Patterson and committee members Debbie Maurer, Joanne Rebollo and Andreas Schmalz. We are grateful to all of these participants for their help drawing attention to the beauty and diversity of our Sonoran Desert landscape! |
| Gallery Sells Artwork to Benefit Land Trust | |
Cooper's Art Gallery & Brokerage, the beautiful gallery located near the Sundial in Carefree, has generously offered to display and sell a number of pieces of artwork for the benefit of Desert Foothills Land Trust. A generous local family downsized their home and offered to donate some of their art collection to a nonprofit organization. The Land Trust would be hard pressed to sell them on our own, and we don't have the facilities to properly store them for use at a later silent auction. Cooper's worked with the donors to secure the donation for the Land Trust, and will now display them in one of the rooms of the gallery.
We invite you to stop by Cooper's to see and purchase these pieces. The gallery is located at 11 Sundial Circle, just east of City Hall. All sale proceeds from this donation will benefit the Land Trust! Cooper's also intends to offer this option to other select art donors, who can choose to direct their donations to Desert Foothills Land Trust or SouthWest Airedale Terrier Rescue. If you are interested in making an art donation, call the gallery at 480/575-6742. We offer our sincere thanks to Cooper's Art Gallery & Brokerage and the generous art donors for their support! |
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With thanks,
Desert Foothills Land Trust |
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Local Artists Join Forces to Support Land Trust |
After the Ride, Kenneth M. Freeman | | |
Our region attracts artists and art afficionados from around the world, and many of them are drawn by our breathtaking desert landscape. In an effort to help preserve this landscape, Bonnie Adams- Freeman, curator of the Kenneth M. Freeman Legacy Collection, and artist Sharon Brening have each chosen a print that will be used to help the Land Trust raise $125,000 to support our important land conservation mission.
Kenneth Freeman's print, "After the Ride," features well-known local musician and cowboy Ray Herndon. 1000 limited edition prints will be issued, and $100 per print will be donated to Desert Foothills Land Trust!
Mother Earth's Little Protector, Sharon Brening |
Sharon Brening's print, "Mother Earth's Little Protector," features a young Native American boy, Wild. 250 limited edition prints will be issued, with $100 per print benefiting the Land Trust.
We are tremendouly grateful to Bonnie and Sharon for their commitment to the Land Trust and local land conservation. This is a truly transformational gift!
You can learn more about these artists, as well as purchase your prints at:
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Fabulous Sonoran Stars! |
 Desert Foothills Land Trust hosted Sonoran Stars, our fabulous 15th annual fundraising event, on Saturday April 24 at Rancho Manana Golf Club! A divine dinner by Tonto Bar & Grill was followed by performances by Lacy J. Dalton and Rex Allen Jr. The release of a rehabilitated Great Horned Owl by Bob Fox from Wild at Heart was a highlight of the evening.
The Land Trust is grateful to Sonoran Stars committee co-chairs Diane Low and Shari Flatt, as well as their wonderful committee for all of their hard work planning the event. We are also grateful to the sponsors and other guests for their support of the event and the Land Trust, as well as the donors who contributed silent auction or raffle items or other in-kind services.
Sonoran Stars is the Land Trust's largest fundraiser, this year raising approximately $80,000 for the Land Trust. It is also a community-building event, and we want to know your thoughts. Please don't hesitate to call or e-mail the staff with your ideas for the event so we can make it even more enjoyable each and every year!
You can view and purchase photos of the event at FishEye Photography's website. We will also be posting video clips by DM Productions on the Land Trust's website at www.dflt.org - check back soon to see those clips . |
| Sonoran Stars Raffle Winners | |
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2010 Sonoran Stars Raffle:
Rebecca Lombardo, winner of the elegant club chair and ottoman, donated by Valerie's Furniture & Accents and Burton James.
Mary Seidler, winner of the Phoenix Sports Package, donated by the Phoenix Suns.
Mary Siepmann, winner of the getaway weekend for two at Tubac Golf Resort, donated by Ron and Joyce Allred, Eric Flatt, John Malcolm and Ernie Andreas.
Many thanks to all of the donors of our raffle items, as well as to everyone who purchased tickets. The proceeds from the raffle will support Desert Foothills Land Trust's conservation work in our community! | |
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| Conservation Deserves More Than 2%* |  |
Please help us receive this significant, renewed CHALLENGE GRANT supporting the critical work of Desert Foothills Land Trust. Our goal is to raise $150,000 by September 30, 2010. Please join as a member or renew your membership today!
*Conservation only receives 2% of all charitable giving. Most people believe it deserves more. (Source: Giving USA) |
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Desert Foothills Land Trust Newsletter
