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New video offers bird’s-eye view of city’s preserve
Oct. 9, 2009
Contact: Mike Phillips, Web and Media Services editor, (480) 312-7825
New video offers bird’s-eye view of city’s preserve
A new video uses high-tech imaging to provide a bird’s eye view of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and the terrain served by recently opened trails.
The video is available on the city’s Web site at: http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/preserve
The 3 1/2-minute video provides an aerial overview of the Preserve, located in central and northern Scottsdale. It also features a 3D tour of several trails that opened last May in the Preserve, including East End, Tom’s Thumb and Lookout.
October is McDowell Sonoran Preserve Month – a great time to explore Scottsdale’s scenic open spaces.
Events celebrating the preserve continue next Thursday, Oct. 15, with a special outdoor Mayor and City Council Breakfast. The program 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 to begin 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 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 on the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is available at the Web link referenced above.
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