Explorer News Article on Audubon Project

Volunteers Marianne Berlan and Missy Goerner put in plants for pollinators along the sixth hike at the Pusch Ridge Golf Course in Oro Valley. The plants are part of a new butterfly garden. (Carolyn Weinig / Submitted)

By Dave Perry Tucson Local Media Contributor Mar 11, 2026 Updated Mar 18, 2026

"Dee Ann Leuzinger and Jim Schilling spent part of a warm February morning poking signs into the dirt near desert plants at the Pusch Ridge Golf Course in Oro Valley.

First, they had to identify which plant was which.

Is that a jumping cholla, cylindropuntia fulgida? Might that be a bunny ear cactus, Opuntia microdasys? Each sign has both a plant’s common and scientific name.

Once installed, Leuzinger stepped back and marveled. “It looks so professional,” she said.

Leuzinger, Schilling and many others are part of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf certification effort now under way at the Pusch Ridge 9-hole course. To “add prestige and environmental value to the Oro Valley community,” an all-volunteer group is making improvements to earn environmental certification for the course, which surrounds El Conquistador Tucson, A Hilton Resort. Oro Valley’s golf course operator, El Conquistador Golf, and the town itself are partnering with the Friends of Pusch Ridge Golf in pursuit of the designation."

Read the full article here.