Sky Islands Spotlight: Rodolfo Dirzo
October 13, 2020This month, Sky Island Alliance is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month. National Hispanic Heritage Month has been observed in the United States since 1968. From September 15 to October 15…
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Arizona’s First Indigenous Peoples’ Day
October 9, 2020What does it mean to decolonize conservation? Why does mainstream environmentalism still recognize the 1960s as the “birth of the environmental movement” when communities all around the world have protected Earth’s ecosystem for centuries? How do we as…
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Celebrating World Habitat Day
October 7, 2020This year’s World Habitat Day was on Monday, October 5th! As communities around the globe take a moment to observe and appreciate the species and ecosystems that make up our planet, let’s also…
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Four Myths About Mining the Patagonia Mountains
September 28, 2020Roughly 60 miles southeast of Tucson—past Sonoita, Elgin, and Mt. Wrightson in the Santa Ritas—rests an eight-mile stretch of canyons and corridors known as the Patagonia Mountains. One of the largest transboundary Sky…
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Friday Creature Feature: Turkey Vulture
September 25, 2020Our bird of focus for this week’s creature feature is the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura). Despite the name, turkey vultures are more vulture than turkey—they belong to the vulture family—and…
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Notes from the Field: The Border Wall
September 18, 2020A large part of my job is maintaining our field cameras for the Border Wildlife Study stretching between the Patagonia Mountains and the Huachuca Mountains. I’ve always loved fieldwork—a chance to escape…
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Friday Creature Feature: Lesser Long-Nosed Bat
September 17, 2020For this week’s Friday creature feature, let’s take a closer look at the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae), one of the Sonoran Desert’s most important pollinator species for plants like agave…
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20 Fun Facts about Sky Island Geology
September 14, 2020Did you know that all of our favorite Sky Island mountain ranges are the direct result of millions of years of geological expansion, erosion, volcanic activity, landslides, snow melt, and…
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Supporting Pollinator Restoration in the Sky Islands
September 10, 2020The Sky Islands of southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora are home to a diverse range of pollinator species, including insects (like bees and butterflies), hummingbirds, and bats. U.S. Fish and…
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Youngsters on the Wildlife Cameras
September 9, 2020 This is my favorite season for wildlife cameras, baby season! This year’s young are finally large enough to follow their mothers around and show up on camera. With the…
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