4 groups have it in their care
National monument in Arizona, 486,149 acres, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, designated in 2001.
The defenders
4 groups are on the record for Sonoran Desert, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
On the ground
Legal · Hailey, ID
Sued BLM over monument grazing in 2013 and again in 2021 with Advocates for the West as counsel; the August 2023 ruling halted grazing authorizations, and BLM’s December 2024 plan allows grazing only in years with above-average precipitation and forage.
18 staff85¢ to the workFounded 1993
Advocacy · Oakland, CA
The Grand Canyon Chapter has been co-plaintiff with Western Watersheds Project in the monument grazing litigation, including the 2021 case that produced the 2024 restricted-grazing plan.
10,895 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1892
Legal · Boise, ID
Represented Western Watersheds Project and the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter in suits over monument grazing filed in 2013 and 2021, winning the August 2023 ruling that halted BLM’s grazing authorizations.
14 staff + 41 volunteers79¢ to the workFounded 2003
Also in the fight
Legal · Tucson, AZ
Its Sonoran Desert campaign pushed BLM to close 89 miles of vehicle routes in the monument in 2008 and fought the agency’s 2012 retreat from a target shooting ban.
242 staff + 19 volunteers88¢ to the workFounded 1989
On the ground in Arizona
More ways in
The situation
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 reopens where target shooting is allowed, threatening resources and Indigenous sites. Solar farms, subdivisions, and border walls close in from the edges. A last stand for the flat-tailed horned lizard and a corridor for jaguars returning from Mexico, if the corridor survives.
Source: Federal Register · February 27, 2026
Source: Western Watersheds Project
Source: National Parks Traveler
No public comment window is open on Sonoran Desert right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
In the courts
The dockets we track that name Sonoran Desert directly. Active first.
Your move
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Sonoran Desert, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Sonoran Desert: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
4 groups on the record, Western Watersheds Project with 18 staff. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.
