When you think about living the dream, you think about Jonathan Hanson. The native of rural Tucson who with his wife Roseann now lives southwest of Tucson, is building their home from sustainable materials and is a writer who edits and co-owns an eco-adventure magazine. He sea kayaks in the Sea of Cortez, leads African safaris, and is a vocal advocate for open space protection and preserving our wild public lands as Wilderness.
When Jonathan was seven years old, his parents moved their family from Tucson to a wide open spot of the Sonoran Desert, outside the city limits. "I grew up in the desert, next to National Forest lands and a perennial stream that ran from the mountains," says Jonathan. He was exposed to the natural world early and fell in love with it. However, by the age of ten Jonathan was already seeing the desert he loved being paved over for development. It was this early in his life that he began to understand the need to protect the fragile desert he loved and grew up with.
For years, Jonathan has been active in trying to stop the loss of wild lands, desert habitat, and open space around his hometown. He and many others, including his wife Roseann, have worked successfully to protect open space in Tucson. "It is natural for me to fight unplanned growth by the way I vote and by donating to various groups," he says. The couple and many others worked to successfully pass an open space bond that has resulted in the purchase and protection of lands to guarantee that open space is protected as Tucson grows.
But Jonathan's activism does not stop there. A former board member of the Tucson Audubon Society, Jonathan was also a volunteer naturalist at the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge. An avid hunter, he helped found and is a member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) – a group that wants to ensure America's outdoor heritage in a natural setting, through education and work in behalf of clean water and wilderness. "The members of BHA are like-minded people who work to protect the habitat in which they hunt, and they practice the same kind of hunting as I do," he says. "They know that getting away from roads gives you a higher quality experience. It's important to earn what you shoot." Jonathan came to hunting late in life. It wasn't until he started considering more closely where his food came from that he began to hunt. "Knowing the source of your food and hunting for your food is an honorable practice."
As a naturalist at the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge – a refuge comprised of high grasslands and sky islands located south of Tucson – he and his wife were caretakers of a remote cabin, living for three years in the Baboquivari Mountains. "We lived in a place that was a perfect example of sky islands. We had saguaro cactus out our door, oak trees on the opposite slope, and a few miles up you could walk into pinion and juniper habitat." The refuge also had many rare birds and was home to mountain lions and jaguars.
Jonathan Hanson
Jonathan's love for these sky islands – mountain "islands" and forested ranges separated by vast expanses of desert and grassland plains which are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world – is evident in his work to protect them.
Mike Quigley, Wilderness Campaign Coordinator with the Sky Island Alliance, (a grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the rich natural heritage of native species and habitats in the Sky Island region) has worked with Jonathan over the years to save this special place. "Jonathan taught me to track when I first came to the desert. It's been a pleasure and an education working with him to preserve wild Arizona," says Mike. "Jonathan has a special perspective on conservation – blending science, tradition, common sense, and what's right, into the larger picture. Jonathan's a true westerner and Arizonan – and Arizona and the West benefit from that."
Jonathan has worked with the Sky Island Alliance to advocate for protection of one of the most unique landscapes in North America, pushing for legislation now before Congress to permanently protect more than 130 square miles of Sonoran Desert – the largest roadless parcel on national forest lands in Arizona. The Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Act, introduced by Congressman Raul Grijalva, would ensure that the Tumacacori Highlands – a biological hotspot that is home to one of the highest concentrations of rare plants and animals in the country – would forever stay as it is today.
Recently, Jonathan appeared in a print ad sponsored by the Sky Island Alliance and the Campaign for America's Wilderness, in support of protection for the Tumacacori Highlands. In it, he says, "Whether I am hunting or not, I cherish the chance to experience these bits of the real Arizona – a land of silence and space and nature unspoiled by pavement and steel."
Jonathan has also written many articles, letters, and op-eds about the Highlands to help raise visibility about their importance and the need to protect them. So it was fitting that it was when he was living in a sky island that his writing career took off. Before moving to the Baboquivari Mountains, Jonathan owned a sea kayaking guide business leading tours on the Baja and Mexican mainland side of the sea of Cortez and wrote for Sea Kayaker magazine. Later, he became a correspondent for Outside Magazine. He also wrote for National Geographic Adventure and other magazines including the Rocky Mountain Elk Fountain's Bugle.
His current project is as part founder and part owner of the magazine Overland Journal, which bills itself as "the publication for environmentally responsible, worldwide vehicle-dependent expedition and adventure travel."
For Jonathan and his magazine's co-founder, it is important to promote conservation; they both have a strong wilderness ethic and it troubles them to see vehicle owners acting irresponsibly and in ways that destroy fragile lands and habitat. "I'm aware that there are a lot of different views of wilderness," says Jonathan. "However, so many wild lands that are primarily untouched are disappearing at a rapid rate and we need to protect every bit that is left. Once it's gone it's gone. There are some places where machines don't belong. And I am happy to say that, as the editor of a magazine centered around machines."
