The Living Desert manages over 1,200 acres of Colorado Desert. Approximately 80 acres are development for desert exhibition and interpretation through the zoo and gardens. The remaining 1,120 acres are preserved as undisturbed, pristine Sonoran Desert Scrub. Topographically, the area includes a smoke tree arroyo and granite boulder mantled slopes to the Santa Rosa Mountains.

Through a grant and cooperative relationship with the Bureau of Land Management, The Living Desert is working to rebuild native plant populations in local restoration areas. Through advanced research and propagation techniques, our garden department is working to grow genetically appropriate native plants for restoration efforts in the southern portion of the Mojave and Sonoran Desert Ecoregions. Throughout the year, The Living Desert garden propagation team grows plants from seed to support habitat restoration efforts of the BLM.