“Tucson’s own environmentalist Maeveen Behan is dead”

November 23, 2009 at 8:04 am (global warming, working together)
Tags: beauty of nature, ecosystems in crisis, endangered/threatened animals, environmental successes, global warming, saving endangered animals & plants, saving our environment, saving the biodiversity of planet, wildlife, working together

A life of dedication to saving the desert
Maeveen Behan, lawyer and  key developer of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, that saved 3 million acres of land in Pima County, Arizona, including the city of Tucson, and surrounding communities is dead.
Sharing a common goal she orchestrated one of the Nation’s most successful community multi-species

Maeveen is dead

conservation plans. The Tucson area plan united ranchers, builders, businesses, environmental groups, citizens and state and federal agencies to conserve southern Arizona’s unique cultural, historic, and natural resources, while still providing for continued sustainable economic activity in the region.

The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan works on several levels. It affords protective measures for protecting endangered species while saving the remainder of Tucson’s desert ecosystem. More than 100 biologists contributed studies; Habitat maps highlighting the locations of the greatest species richness were created. A series of conservation reserves covering 54 species, but in reality it will end up aiding the full spectrum of animals and plants across the ecosystem. The conservation reserves are pockets of biologically sensitive areas that are either adjacent to existing reserves or near parcels of developed land surrounded by open space. The idea is to create habitat corridors from the reserves by connecting them to other large tracts of undeveloped land.

Dr. Behan life was a model of dedicated service, respect for all people and the environment.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a partner in the planning process for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, renamed the Maeveen Marie Behan Conservation Lands System on the day of her death.

Thank you for a life well spent in service to the biodiversity of the earth and us all.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.ialtar.com/Memorials/Maeveen

Excerpts courtesy of  http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/317369

Image courtesy of  http://www.ialtar.com/Memorials/Maeveen/images/dinner2.jpg