User:AZbaglady/Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center

The non-profit Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center (SABCC) was established in November 2008 to provide a regional information center that emphasizes an integrated management approach to control the spread of the invasive buffelgrass and the growing fire risk in the Sonoran desert in Southern Arizona.

Rapid spread of buffelgrass and conversion of flameproof desert to flammable grassland have become one of the region's most pressing environmental issues. Buffelgrass is spreading across both private and public lands, affecting all jurisdictions, from right-of-ways and neighborhoods to national parks and forests. Buffelgrass is transforming large tracts of fire-proof and plant- diverse Sonoran Desert into a flammable and impoverished savanna. The Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center was formed by the efforts of the entire community including federal, state, and local governments, the utilities, private businesses and business organizations and private citizens. SABCC has become the most battle-ready organization to address invasive grasses and altered wildfire regimes across all jurisdictions in the Sonoran Desert.

As an independent non-profit, SABCC works closely with Federal, State, Local, and private entities, including private citizens in developing strategies, tools and resources for mitigation of an invasive species. We believe that this effort may serve as a template for other environmental issues nationwide. The model of collaboration SABCC is creating provides a new framework for coordinating invasive species mitigation across federal, state, and local jurisdictions that could provide a template for addressing other extensive environmental problems including the ecological impacts of climate change.