Volunteer of Excellence 

In 1994 North Scottsdale Road, part of the upper Sonoran Desert was in danger of becoming a speedway with destruction of native plants, complete loss of desert character and diminished the quality of life for residents and discouraging needed tourism. 

 A group of concerned citizens led by Les Conklin came together to lead the community in an effort to minimize the impact on the Scenic Drive area. This group incorporated in 1994 as the Friends of the Scenic Drive (FSD) with Les as the president.  

Under the leadership of Les the FSD have accomplished wonderful things in the nine years of his presidency. 

Les organized an effort to restore the plant exhibit signs along the Scenic Drive, which were originally installed by area residents in 1963. When Scottsdale Road was widened to four lanes, Les worked with the City of Scottsdale to salvage plants and then organized the effort to re-establish plant exhibits on the east side of the road.  He initiated  the effort to raise funds to install Scenic Drive entry signs, create an exhibit for visitors and enhance the Scenic Drive monument sign that had been installed by Maricopa County in 1968.

Les was instrumental in restoring and enhancing a large drive-in exhibit with naturally occurring native plants identified. Visitors can stroll the paths, see the plants named, and then return to the monument to read the information on the plants they have seen and indigenous animals 

Working with the city, Les and the FSD turned what was once a trash filled parking area for pickup trucks and school buses into a beautifully designed desert vista, with a walking trail through it. 

Encouraged by Les, and in cooperation with many neighborhood and environmental groups FSD was instrumental in having the ugly power lines along the Scenic Drive buried. A few years later, Les initiated an effort that resulted in the City of Scottsdale re-vegetating a half-mile stretch of the Scenic Drive where the power line burial project had exposed residential walls. He organized a neighborhood effort to paint the walls the same dark color.

During the past seven elections, FSD implemented a successful voluntary ban of political signs from the Scenic Drive.  

With the cooperation of the city of Scottsdale, and under the guidance of Les, FSD helped fund and implement the use of a more subtle color for use on light poles, traffic signals, sign posts and backs on the Scenic Drive. 

In 2002, FSD, with the cooperation of local utility companies funded and implemented the painting of all utility boxes on the Scenic Drive in less unobtrusive desert color. 

When a new mall was proposed on the Scenic Drive, with high intensity lights, and brightly colored stores, including a Target store, FSD, in cooperation with other community groups successfully negotiated with the developer to lower the height of the lights, lessen their intensity, and use subdued desert colors. 

Six times a year the Friends of the Scenic Drive, an Adopt a Highway member, sponsor trash pickups on the Scenic Drive with hundreds of volunteers participating. Les doesn’t just organize the pickups, he works them.  

FSD have created (or restored) and maintained over sixty plant exhibits of all the natural occurring species along the Scenic Drive. Les was one of the people this spring out painting the rocks to identify the exhibits.  

In May of 2003 FSD established the Adopt a Plant Program allowing individuals to purchase the right to be “Plant Parents” encouraging community involvement in the Scenic Drive.   

This FSD website, established in 1997 and maintained by Les Conklin is a wealth of information on the Sonoran Desert, history of the local area, the Scenic Drive, local plants and critters, area attractions, opportunities to volunteer, links to other preservation groups and the organization itself.  To date, it has had more than 38,000 visitors to the website, with queries coming in from the local area, the region, the state, the US and many foreign countries.   

Les wrote extensively in local publications about the Scenic Drive and FSD activities. His article, Discovering the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, which described the history of the Scenic Drive was published in the Summer Edition of Scottsdale Magazine. 

Les was the prime mover in the establishment of the annual “Cookout at the Ranch”. Guests ride a hay wagon from the parking area deep into the desert where exhibitors like Liberty Wildlife, SW Wildlife, AZ Game and Fish, AZ State Parks, Scottsdale Historical Society, COPP and others are ready to inform and entertain. Some have live desert animals for guests to observe.  

Les has been the organizer, public relations person and general do-it-all person for the cookouts which has gone from 75 guests in year one to 450 this year. 

Les has the ability to work well with everyone. He has established and maintained good relationships with such diverse groups as the city of Scottsdale, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association, Scenic Pima Road Association, the Black Mountain Conservancy, McDowell Sonoran Land Trust and other preservation groups, builders, businesses, and hundreds of citizen volunteers, all of whom respect him. 

Les has recently resigned as president of FSD to take on the duties of president of the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association (GPPA) and the editorship of A Peek at the Peak magazine.  He was honored by the FSD for his vision, inspiration and dedication over the past nine years. 

Thank you Les.  We all owe you a lot and wish you very well in your new endeavors.