Welcome to Sonoran Desert Research Station
The Sonoran Desert, home of the giant saguaro cactus, stretches from the lowlands of Arizona into northern Mexico. Within it are some of the fastest-growing municipalities in both countries. This exceptional urban growth and increasing recreational use are causing excessive pressure on the region's natural resources and sensitive species.
The Sonoran Desert Research Station (SDRS) was started at the University of Arizona (UA) in 1973. The station collaborates with the Advanced Resources Technology (ART) Group in the School of Natural Resources (SNR) to gather, manage, and provide natural resource data to land managers throughout the desert region. The station maintains a node on a number of national geographic information system data serving systems such as the Federal Geographic Data Committee's Geographic Data Clearinghouse.