Palm Springs course to become nature preserve

Palm Springs soon will have its own “central park” — or more accurately, a “central preserve,” after Oswit Land Trust converts the Mesquite Golf Course into a desert nature preserve.

Jane Garrison, executive director and founder of Oswit Land Trust, announced the nonprofit’s acquisition of the golf course to a room full of more than 100 emotional supporters at Demuth Community Center on Tuesday. For years, Oswit Land Trust has eyed purchasing closed or struggling golf courses into Palm Springs and restoring the courses to natural desert habitat. Formerly called the Mesquite Desert Preserve, Oswit has called the project “the largest desert restoration project in California.”

The project was renamed on Tuesday to the Prescott Preserve, after longtime Palm Springs resident Brad Prescott, whose Prescott Foundation purchased the golf course and donated it to the Oswit Land Trust.

The sale price wasn’t disclosed on Tuesday, but the most recently assessed value of the course was $1,517,584 in 2022, although the property was listed for much more than that — $15 million when it was first listed for sale in 2018, according to Garrison.

Prescott’s purchase of the course allowed Oswit Land Trust to skip the lengthy process of applying for grants to purchase the property, which could have allowed a developer to beat the organization in purchasing the course, according to Garrison.

“We envision a place where everyone can walk with their leashed dogs, a place where regardless of your age, regardless of your fitness ability, you’re able to enjoy nature… This is like our, not our central park, it’s going to be our central preserve right in the middle of our community. We envision lush gardens, we envision butterfly gardens, educational signage, floating docks for migratory birds,” Garrison said.

Oswit Land Trust also plans on converting a maintenance building on the property into an education and nature center, and will establish a memorial forest where desert trees can be dedicated in the memory of a loved one. Garrison announced on Tuesday that the very first tree planted on the property will be dedicated to Prescott’s late husband.

Over the past couple years, Oswit Land Trust has touted the Mesquite Desert Preserve as its most ambitious project: purchasing both the Mesquite Golf Course and neighboring long-shuttered Bel Air Greens and restoring the two courses into desert habitat.

According to Garrison, Oswit Land Trust has secured…