Carolyn Campbell is executive director of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection.

Other articles by Carolyn Campbell:

Public transit will work if it gets proper support Misinformation on transportation Now for the real work on enviro plan Board should OK conservation bonds

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Western pioneers viewed our region as a promised land full of endless resources. As a result, residents over the last 100 years in Arizona have exploited these lands without a care as to the long-term environmental implications. Today we know those resources have a finite timeline.

Riparian areas — the life sources for countless species in the Sonoran Desert — are shrinking at an alarming rate to make way for growth in areas that cannot sustain it. Majestic species such as the desert bighorn sheep are disappearing from the mountainside now dotted by gated subdivisions. Fifty years ago, Southern Arizonans considered the black-tailed prairie dog to be a pest and successfully eliminated it from the region. Our past shows the making of a sorrowful legacy.

Our community leaders are taking steps to change that legacy into one that is forward- looking and honorable.

Efforts are under way to reintroduce the prairie dog into Las Cienegas National Conservation Area with plans to expand the program into other areas throughout Southern Arizona. Our region embraces the species once considered vermin. We recognize the benefits it brings to the ecosystem, including the burrows that provide habitat for other species, aerate the soil and facilitate groundwater recharge.

The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection has led the effort to protect the biodiversity of the area through the creation and implementation of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. Adopted by the Pima County Board of Supervisors in 2000, the plan outlines the steps for protecting critical and sensitive habitat, restoring riparian areas, protecting and enhancing wildlife corridors, and expanding our regional open-space park system.

This plan helps ensure that development activity does not negatively affect a number of species that are threatened, endangered or on the cusp of becoming so.

Recently the city of Tucson and the town of Oro Valley adopted policies that are consistent with the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. Cooperation between all communities within Pima County is necessary to protect what makes this area special. Wildlife cannot tell the difference between Pima County and Marana. Therefore, it is imperative that conservation policies be compatible and applicable across all jurisdictional lines.

The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan was the precursor to the current broader conversation on sustainability.

Pima County and Tucson are in the midst of a water study that seeks regional cooperation. Oro Valley has proposed a policy for a 9,000-acre development that would require securing wet water supplies before giving entitlements, as opposed to paper water, which allows the developer to reduce groundwater levels in exchange for recharging water in a different area. This proposed development also would protect a wildlife corridor between the Catalina and Tortolita mountains as open space.

The invasive nature and wildfire danger posed by buffelgrass has sparked a unified front. Every jurisdiction in Pima County has undertaken eradication efforts. Neighborhood groups, elected officials, conservationists, scientists, recreationists and the business community support these initiatives. This is the kind of cooperation we need to protect the biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert and mitigate damage.

The city of Tucson and Pima County also are working on comprehensive sustainability initiatives related to climate change, such as green building, transportation alternatives, waste reduction and carbon footprint reduction. Other jurisdictions are making similar moves. These forward-thinking activities need more support and coordination. As well, exciting public-private partnerships are emerging that look to a greener future.

We as a community — public agencies, private businesses, non-governmental organizations and citizens at large — need to step up.

On Dec. 3, a Community Conversation on Regional Land Use will be held at the Tucson Convention Center. We hope this forum will bring the area together to build a sustainable future.

Doing so will take all of us working together for the Tucson region. Sustainability is not simply a buzzword; it takes action to achieve it.

We owe future generations the natural legacy they deserve; regional planning for the natural and built environment is one tool to help us fulfill that obligation.