For much of this year, little rain fell across the Sky Island region. A dry winter in early 2025 gave way to a dry spring and disappointing monsoon season in many places. For us at Sky Island Alliance, we watched the landscape closely as Sky Island caretakers, and we felt the change across the lands deeply as the seasons gave way to the next with little rain in sight.
For Día de los Muertos this year, we honor and celebrate the many plants and animals that lost their lives to the drought. Our Día de los Muertos ofrenda, or altar, is on display for the public at the Tucson Presidio Museum from Saturday, Oct. 25, to Sunday, Nov. 9. More details are available at the museum’s website.
SIA Wildlife Specialist Meagan Bethel led this year’s ofrenda design and creation, and the raindrops hanging from above were made by SIA staff during a recent meetup in Naco, Sonora. Each raindrop honors species lost to the drought.
Our work to heal the Sky Islands continues, but for this moment we also pause to remember with love and appreciation our non-human neighbors that paid the ultimate price for climate change. Join us in remembering palo verde trees, cholla cactus, red-spotted toads, tiger salamanders, desert tortoises, manzanita shrubs, spring snails, oak trees, hedgehog cactus, prickly pears, and so many other remarkable plants and animals lost this year.
