Conserving a Gift of Nature: The McDowell Sonoran Preserve

By Kevin Downey

Photos by Robert Grebe, James Hamilton, Don Meserve, Stephen Parsons, Chuck Williams

It’s easy to overlook a piece of land, no matter how expansive, beautiful, and unique. Case in point: the breathtaking McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which includes the McDowell Mountains that hug the northeast corner of the Valley. This is land—dirt, bushes, stones—but it’s much more: It’s a treasure that needs to be saved.

It’s also easy to overlook people like Carla, which is her full legal name. Carla is a commissioner on the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission and has tirelessly worked for decades to preserve vast stretches of the North Valley that have lured millions of visitors and residents to the area for generations. She maintains that protecting the environment is unto itself a noble cause.

“At the core, economically, keeping this beautiful open space is what draws visitors here,” says Carla, 54, who’s lived in Scottsdale since she was a child. “If you develop all of it, you’ve killed the golden goose. We’re protecting one of Scottsdale’s key industries.”

There’s another reason that Carla’s made protecting this land a lifelong effort.

“We need it spiritually,” she says. “It’s where you can go hike 20 minutes in and completely escape urban pressures. And this is our children’s and grandchildren’s classroom.”

Carla is emphatic in saying that the Preserve is intended for all Arizonans and other Americans to enjoy, as she did as a child.

“I grew up here in South Scottsdale, with a scientist mom,” she says. “We weren’t allowed to have a TV. We were always told, ‘Go outside.’ So, for us, our enjoyment was family picnics in the northern desert or taking daylong hiking trips. It was our playground, and it was our classroom.”

The Preserve encompasses more than 16,000 acres, roughly north of Via Linda and east of Thompson Peak Parkway. It includes The Gateway: a visitor center, trailhead entrance, and educational path that opened in May 2009.

The vision for the land encompasses another 19,000 acres. In 1995, voters approved a sales tax increase to purchase the land. In 1998, voters approved funding for the expansion. Additional funding was approved in 2004. And Carla was there each step of the way. In 1992, she began volunteering for McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, formerly the McDowell Sonoran Land Trust. From 1998 until 2007, she worked for MSC.

“To make something big happen, it’s like rolling a boulder up the hill,” says Ruthie Carll, executive director of MSC. “It just doesn’t happen easily. The thing about Carla that is so amazing is that she kept pushing, even when it seemed the boulder was too big.”

Carla’s efforts will be recognized with a street being named in her honor: Carla Way. The city council was scheduled to vote on final approval of the street name on January 12.

“Carla is a great example of the impact that one individual can have on a community,” says Scottsdale’s mayor, W. J. “Jim” Lane. “She was an early advocate for preservation, and her continued passion for the cause has spurred other citizens to get involved.”