Sonoran Institute

Organization Description

The nonprofit Sonoran Institute, founded in 1990, works across the rapidly changing West to conserve and restore natural and cultural assets and to promote better management of growth and change. The Institute’s community-based approach emphasizes collaboration, civil dialogue, sound information, local knowledge, practical solutions and big-picture thinking.

The Sonoran Institute contributes to a vision of a West with a civilization as magnificent as the scenery that surrounds it, with healthy land, clean water, sustainable energy, resilient economies and vibrant communities.

Realizing this ambitious vision requires engaging diverse perspectives and interests to make collaborative decisions. Since its creation, the Sonoran Institute’s work has been based on a belief that civil dialogue, meaningful public participation, and access to the best information and most innovative tools will help people in communities and government make better land use decisions and forge effective and enduring conservation solutions. Sonoran employs five key strategies in their work:

• First, Sonoran carries out place-based projects to promote conservation and smart growth. Their work is grounded in the lessons learned in the field.
• Second, their research and analyses give decision-makers and communities the information and tools to better manage growth, promote conservation and create sustainable futures. Sonoran provides research to help communities understand their local and regional economy, assess the impacts of growth, energy development, and climate changes, and understand the implications of various growth scenarios.
• Third, the organization trains key decision makers in the West. Working with the National Association of Counties, the Institute trains local leaders across the West to help them better manage growth and change.
• Fourth, they expand public awareness of the need for conservation, smart growth and sustainable solutions. To nurture and build an emerging, broad-based conservation constituency in the West, Sonoran articulates an inclusive vision linking a healthy environment to economic prosperity and quality of life.
• Fifth, Sonoran advocates for state and federal public policies that better protect natural areas, promote sustainable resource use, and provide authority and resources to manage growth.