Write Stuff Challenge for Big Prizes
McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Why Is It Important?

1st Place Entry
By Susan Strom

"Newlyweds"

Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve is important because…

...Divorce is just No Fun.
The desert was here. We moved in. Now, living side-by-side, coexisting with each other, we're newlyweds.

          Whether we realize it or not, we're joined in a kind of holy matrimony.

We can decide what kind of relationship we want to have. One based on care, stewardship, and love for the desert brings life, renewal, and happiness. We'll respect and depend on each other. Good things will result. We allow the desert to thrive, and the land returns in kind. We will make happy memories, a rich legacy, and live together to a ripe old age.

If in our blindness we withdraw the things that are necessary for our desert's survival - chip away at open space, fence off the wildlife corridors, develop irresponsibly for short-term gain - divorce will be the result. Irreconcilable differences. Both parties lose, but in this divorce, the damage cannot be undone.

This is a defining moment, the pledge we make. The desert has been here for millennia. We're new to the scene.

           Now is the time to decide what kind of relationship we're going to have for the hereafter.
           So what God has joined, let no one put asunder. This marriage is for keeps.

           Best wishes, congratulations, and many happy anniversaries to come.

 Susan Strom is a resident of Fountain Hills. Susan specializes in photographing lightening and sever weather. Visit www.lightninglady.com to see some of her photographs. .

 

2nd Place Entry
By Bobby Alpert

Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve is important because …

… it is a vital living terrain that we, residents of Scottsdale, are responsible for.

The McDowell Mountains are 100s of millions years old and will be here long after we are gone. Our responsibility is to preserve and protect this natural wonder for generations to come. Our children and their children should have the same opportunities to enjoy a pristine Preserve as we now do.

The natural beauty and health of the Preserve can only be protected if we respect this environmentally rich area and its right to grow without being inhibited by homebuilders who wish to abuse and ignore the natural beauty of the McDowells in order to fill their pockets.

The McDowell Sonoran Preserve is also home to hundreds of species of animals who depend on a natural environment to live long, natural lives.

Those of us fortunate enough to live in the shadow of the Preserve can feel an inner peace and strength that emanates from the mountains. Ignoring the beauty of this magnificent gift that God has given to us would be a crime. The ethereal feeling we experience while hiking, biking, or riding in the Preserve should be treasured by us all.

The Sonoran Desert is truly blessed to be crowned by this majestic Preserve. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve deserves our respect and protection.

The future of the Preserve starts with us

Bobby Alpert is a resident of Scottsdale.

3rd Place Entry (Tie)
By Amanda Schaefer and Merri Zohar

Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve Is Important Because …

There is something quite unsettling about churned up and leveled earth and saguaro bunched into a prison camp where there was once natural desert landscape.

Without Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve, we will lose whole ecosystems. The balance of nature, though resilient, is delicate and dependant on the very enemy that is destroying it in order to save it. We are that enemy.

We are in an era of Cosmic Consciousness. But for our eyes to have the luxury of looking up we must first look down and honor what is at our feet. Our desire to preserve must come from acknowledging our responsibility to it. Zoning must take into consideration that the very landscape we are destroying is the one that has brought us here to begin with. We must put into place better recycling and disposal methods and new energy sources that don't destroy the environment- We must not base our behavior solely on profit.

A sign at the World Wildlife Zoo says that 3% of the earth's mass is rain forest where 98 percent of the animal kingdom thrives. Are humans really that selfish? Our egos have surpassed us in spatial necessity! We must give all living beings room to exist and grow or there is no space for any of us.

I want to say that it is because my children deserve the chance to enjoy Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve that it must be protected. But I deserve it as well. We all deserve to grow old enjoying the beauty that naturally surrounds us. 

Amanda Scaefer and Merri Zohar are residents of Cave Creek.

** Photo Credit. The photograph was taken by Steve Noettl of north Scottsdale. 

3rd Place Entry (Tie )
By Merri Zohar 

  There once was a Sonoran Preserve
            Developers came - Oh the nerve!

            They tore it all down
            To build a new town

            Silence gets what it deserves.

 Merri Zohar is a resident of Cave Creek.