MTJP CORPS · MORE THAN JUST PARKS ·MTJP Corps
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MTJP CORPS · MORE THAN JUST PARKS ·
A place we watch

Sonoran Desert National Monument

Timing

Nothing is open on this one today. It is a place the Corps keeps an eye on, so we see the paperwork the day it lands.

What is worth photographing here

In the saguaro forest where cattle are running, photograph the ground under nurse trees: are there any young knee-high saguaros, or just cropped native grass, bare dirt, hoof churn and invasive grass?

Why we watch it

Nearly half a million acres of saguaro forests, ancient desert pavement, and wide-open Sonoran landscape under assault from every direction. Livestock grazing is devastating arid landscapes across the monument while BLM expands target shooting areas following NRA litigation, threatening resources and Indigenous sites. Solar farms, subdivisions, and border walls close in from the edges.

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the stream banks where stock reach them: trampling, bare soil, slumping.
  2. 02Photograph the grass height with a pole or a tape beside it. If there is a fence with cattle on one side and none on the other, photograph both sides from the same spot.
  3. 03Photograph any water source stock use, and its condition.
  4. 04Note the date. How short the grass is means nothing without knowing the time of year.
  5. 05Write one paragraph on how this ground has looked over the years, if you have known it that long.
What would count
  • Inside versus outside a fence, same day, same scale.
  • Bank condition on a dated photo.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Nothing to answer yet

Nobody is asking you to go here today. We watch this place so that the day a decision opens on it, the people who already know it hear the same week. If you are out here anyway, what you photograph now is worth more later than anything taken after the paperwork lands.

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.