Springs and the Bighorn Fire
June 17, 2020On June 5, 2020, lightning ignited the Bighorn Fire which continues to burn this week across the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. Fire is a natural and necessary component…
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Coffee Break Recap—The Incredible Story of Jaguars in the Borderlands
June 16, 2020Together we celebrated World Jaguar Day last week with Turtle Southern from the Northern Jaguar Project and Randy Serraglio from the Center for Biological Diversity. They both shared inspiring stories of jaguars roaming across the borderlands and discussed conservation opportunities for jaguars in both the U.S….
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Friday Flora Feature: Monkeyflowers
June 12, 2020Monkeyflowers are iconic desert plants found here in the Sky Island region and in much of the Western United States. Today’s Friday Flora Feature highlights the scarlet monkeyflower (Erythranthe cardinalis) and the seep monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata). It’s all in the name..or is it? Biologists and nature enthusiasts tend to use scientific…
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Springs—Oases of the future?
June 10, 2020Last week, a new paper in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment by Jennifer Cartwright and colleagues (including Sky Island Alliance’s very own Sami Hammer and Louise Misztal) was published that describes the inspiring potential for springs to provide refuge for a…
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Mexico Abandons its Protected Areas
June 5, 2020Ignored for many decades, Protected Areas (PAs) in Mexico finally got the attention of the federal government in the mid ‘90s thanks to the demands of civil society and prominent environmental groups. Between 1996 and 1999, a series of new PAs were…
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A Time For Transformation
June 3, 2020At Sky Island Alliance we deeply value the cultural diversity that is found in this shared region between the U.S. and Mexico. We work to protect and restore the diversity…
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A Stroll on the San Pedro River – Virtual Coffee Break Recap
Last week, our Executive Director, Louise, immersed us in an enchanting virtual tour of the San Pedro River during our first Coffee Break with Sky Island Alliance. During the webinar,…
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Friday Flora Feature: Mexican Blue Oak
May 29, 2020Oaks are extraordinary creatures. They are one of the most ecological important genera of trees in the northern hemisphere. They support critical food chains and ecological processes wherever they occur….
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Enhancing Resilience to Catastrophic Wildfire
May 27, 2020What do wildland fires have to do with water? Lots, actually! In addition to the more obvious and immediate impacts—burned vegetation and habitat destruction—wildfires have extensive hydrological and ecological effects on watersheds. These impacts include erosion, debris flow, flooding, and changes in water quality—all very important factors for ecosystem health. …
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Friday Creature Feature: Hooded skunk
May 22, 2020 Today’s Friday Creature Feature is the hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura). This little creature has been captured on Sky Island Alliance cameras as part of the Border Wildlife Study and…
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