SOUTHERN UTAH — Surrounded by towering red cliffs and jet-black lava beds, the breathtaking setting of Black Desert Resort is soon to be Southern Utah’s premier destination for championship golf, world-class hospitality and exhilarating adventure.
Black Desert lies at the heart of three significant geographical convergences: the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert. In this episode of “Made in Southern Utah,” host and managing partner Patrick Manning highlights the resort’s commitment to preserving this unique landscape.
Learn more about Black Desert Resort’s conservation efforts in this episode of “Made in Southern Utah” in the media player above.
“We were, from the very beginning, very committed to being good stewards of the land,” Manning said.
Black Desert’s conservation efforts are spearheaded by environmental services director Joseph Platt, Ph.D. Platt, who also teaches environmental science at Utah Tech University, is on site nearly every day as he works to catalog the property’s wealth of ecological resources.
The resort has already set aside 200 acres of undeveloped land as a conservation area with the goal of building approximately 7 miles of accessible trails for the community, complete with viewpoints and educational signs.
Recently, Platt collaborated with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to relocate 400 Virgin River chubs to the lakes of Black Desert’s golf course, a more controlled environment free from the dangers of dewatering, pollution and natural predators. The resort will now serve as a safe haven to help ensure the long-term survival of this endangered species.
Black Desert is enrolled as a platinum member of Audubon International’s Signature Sanctuary Certification program, which was developed to promote environmental planning for golf courses, resorts and communities. Once construction is complete, the resort will seek official certification, becoming the first sanctuary in Utah and one of few platinum-level sanctuaries worldwide.
With Platt’s guidance, Black Desert is also planning to build a nature center that will be open to the public. Similar to a national park visitor center, it will aim to educate locals and tourists alike about the area’s geology and native plants and animals.
“We’re in the middle of such an incredible ecological site,” he said. “People will be coming from all over the world to Black Desert, and they just want to know what’s here.”
Resources
- Black Desert Resort | Address: 1500 E. Black Desert Drive, Ivins | Email: [email protected] | Website.
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