> Home > News Releases > Oct. 15 event celebrates preserve and its namesake
Oct. 15 event celebrates preserve and its namesake
Oct. 1, 2009
Contact: Pat Dodds, public affairs officer, (480) 312-2336
Oct. 15 event celebrates city’s preserve
and the birthday of its namesake
A special outdoor Mayor and City Council Breakfast will trace the history and progress of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and, coincidentally, celebrate the birthday of its namesake, a 19th-century U.S. Army general.
The event is set Thursday, Oct. 15, beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Gateway to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, 18333 N. Thompson Peak Parkway. Coffee and juice will be available. The formal program begins promptly at 8 a.m.
The event is free and open to the public. It is among a series of events celebrating McDowell Sonoran Preserve Month.
The breakfast will feature remarks from Mayor W. J. “Jim” Lane, Councilman Tony Nelssen, representatives of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission and the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy about the beginning of the preserve, current efforts to protect it, the role of volunteers in preservation and future efforts to protect additional land.
There will also be a brief presentation on U.S. Army Gen. Irvin McDowell, a Union general in the Civil War who later commanded troops in the West. Fort McDowell, McDowell Road and the McDowell Mountains are named for the general. Oct. 15 is the 191st anniversary of his birth.
The city has already purchased or obtained control of all of the private land targeted for preservation and is now focusing on purchasing and protecting more than 19,000 acres of state trust lands within the preserve’s planned boundaries. Scottsdale now owns or has protected more than 16,000 acres. The future boundaries encompass about 36,000 acres, an area roughly equivalent in size to Bryce Canyon National Park.
More information:
Fact sheet on the McDowell Sonoran Preserve
