Fudala: 25 years later, I’m still thanking each of you

In this COVID-19 era, I’m thankful for so many things --- my health, the ability to make ends meet, close friends and family, and living in a city with like-minded people who value these same personal treasures.

On Saturday, May 23, I’ll be focusing my thankfulness on one special group of Scottsdalians. To the residents here in 1995 who voted to fund land purchases that have created the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, I send my heartfelt thanks!

Your ability to weigh the “pain” (a very modest 0.02 percent sales tax increase) versus “gain” (a then-envisioned 16,000-plus preserve that would save the McDowell Mountains from imminent development) was visionary and civic-minded.

Your vote on May 23, 1995 created a mandate for city and volunteer leaders to follow, stating with your ballot that preserving Scottsdale’s natural environment was a top priority.

Twenty-five years later we have protected Scottsdale’s signature natural asset, become a leader in environmental advocacy and education, expanded the McDowell Sonoran Preserve to over 30,000 perpetually protected acres, and given tens of thousands of residents, students and visitors an unforgettable experience as they hike, bike, ride a horse, photograph, or simply enjoy a gentle stroll at one of the Preserve trailheads.

We’ve also created a wildlife corridor, and protected archaeological, plant and animal resources unique to the Sonoran Desert.

Beyond thanking individual voters, there are quite a few individuals we should thank for their courageous leadership during the run-up to that historic 1995 vote.

The City of Scottsdale recognized 12 Preserve Pioneers last October; we can never thank them enough. With apologies to those pioneers not mentioned again here (I know who you are, and love you for your long-term Preserve advocacy!), I’d like to single out four: Jane Rau, Carla, Virginia Korte and Art DeCabooter.

Jane and Carla were tireless in their efforts to raise our awareness of the immediate need to preserve the McDowells and surrounding desert. They organized environmentalists, students and the tourism community to support the 1995 ballot initiative in innumerable grass-roots ways.

Virginia and the late Dr. Art provided the essential bridge between the business community and the so-called cactus huggers to ensure that advocates for a sales tax increase to fund Preserve land purchases spoke with one united voice.

Virginia, at the time a McDowell Road car dealer whose business collected major amounts of sales tax, was hand-picked by then-Mayor Herb Drinkwater in 1993 to chair a citizen-comprised McDowell Mountain Task Force.

She brought her business/retail background, her biology degree and her life-time passions for the environment and horseback riding to the table, and with the other task force members, recommended that the city take the lead in “saving the McDowells,” find an equitable way to pay for the land, and create a city-appointed commission to plan for and oversee a future preserve.

To borrow a phrase from Virginia’s former Korte Chevrolet commercials, Scottsdale voters, city officials, business and tourism leaders and the non-profit McDowell Sonoran Conservancy created a deal --- the McDowell Sonoran Preserve --- that we and all future generations can “hang our hat on!”

And for this, I say: thank you, thank you, thank you!

Editor’s Note: Joan Fudala is Scottsdale’s community historian and a resident of the city.