As it turns out, we were among 15,000 people a year who CEDO draws together for eco-adventures, natural history talks, nature walks, and other tourism and environmental activities providing conservation education about the Gulf of California and the adjoining Sonoran Desert, in which Puerto Peñasco is set like one more kind of star.

With a 26-year track record of letting folks know about the interaction of arid ecosystems, wetlands and wildlife biology in the western U.S.-Mexico border region, CEDO is the only non-governmental conservation organization in Puerto Peñasco. Its academic, research, and didactical programs are an important cornerstone of the community, especially now that Mexico’s second-fastest growing tourist destination is precisely here.

Puerto Peñasco’s reason for being is the fishing in the Upper Gulf of California, notably shrimping. The once-sleepy fishing village also holds a place in the hearts of snow birds and related foreign visitors who named it Rocky Point. Long before Puerto Peñasco’s current boom made it known as Arizona’s beach resort, CEDO was the main cultural attraction and motor of sustainable development initiatives here.

But now it looks like the very same boom that aims to capitalize on the appreciation for the natural wonders that CEDO teaches is undermining the research institute. Early this month, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Clifton-Meridian Corp. erected a chain-link fence at the entryway to CEDO’s main building. The action was the first in a series of threats that come as part of the company’s intended construction of 38 condominiums in the 16-acre, US$1.5 million Fuentes del Mar development, being undertaken together with the Seawater Foundation.

The Seawater Foundation, by the way, is a force to be reckoned with. Not only are its founders also co-founders of CEDO, they are the prime movers and shakers behind a US$20 million investment scheme in Sonora for a highly experimental coastal megaproject called Seawater Farms Bahia Kino that would grow saltwater-loving plants on thousands of acres flooded with fish farm residues.

It’s anybody’s guess why the Seawater Foundation, after approving the donation to CEDO of the place it has operated since 1980, would want to be involved in blocking the institute’s activities. But the fact is that after putting up the chain-link fence, a work crew proceeded to demolish the low wall surrounding the adobe two-story office building, its associated botanical garden and its earth-ship visitors demonstration center made from tires and other reused materials.

In a classic example of environmental activism, CEDO staffers and volunteers defied threats of arrest and stopped the demolition by sitting on the wall in front of and advancing bulldozer. Elementary students at a CEDO marine biology summer camp pleaded with equipment operators to let them pass by the dozer for a beach outing. Eventually, a judge barred any further devastation and reopened the access, when CEDO obtained a temporary restraining order based on the argument of illegal invasion.

CEDO’s educational programs include classes for all fifth graders in town, contests, annual beach cleanups, four natural history talks a week free to the public, guided nature walks, training for agricultural producers, summer camps and a rich library. Its research facilities provide lodging and classrooms for study groups, as well as a laboratory.

The institute supports scientific investigation and application for appropriate technology in tourism, fishing and other natural resource management. In addition, CEDO personnel alert community members to projects that threaten the environment. The institute’s Gran Desierto Botanical Garden, a prime target of the developers, is a showcase of native, rare and endangered plants of the region.

CEDO’s contributions are all the more significant given that the government is short on money for environmental education. For example, the intended federal visitors center at the field station for the nearby biosphere reserve protected area is nearly abandoned due to lack of funding, and its displays are collecting dusk in darkened rooms.

If you want to shore up CEDO’s chances of surviving in tact, some simple steps to take are: Join the more than 800 people who have signed the petition in support of CEDO at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/CEDO7/; send money to help CEDO pay lawyers’ fees; let other people know about the situation; and above all, make sure nobody buys any condos from Fuentes del Mar.