The Arizona We Want: The Decade Ahead
August 15, 2024Join SIA staff for a virtual Coffee Break as we host Dr. Sybil Francis and Ian Dowdy from Center for the Future of Arizona. Our guest speakers will review the results of their groundbreaking Gallup Arizona Project. And they’ll share more on what they learned about what an overwhelming majority of Arizonans agree on related to shared appreciation, concern, and aspirations for our air, land, water, and wildlife — plus how Arizonans’ shared public values can shape the decade ahead. Don’t miss this informational talk as we head into election season!
The Sonoran Desert: A Bee Diversity Hotspot
July 31, 2024Did you know that the Sonoran Desert is a hotspot of bee diversity, home to more than 1,000 species!? How many of these can you name? Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more from Kim Franklin, associate director of conservation at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. She’ll take us on a tour of this incredible bee diversity, from the tiny Perdita species that pollinate our tiniest flowers to our gentle giants, the carpenter bees, which are both critical pollinators and pollen “thieves.”
Coffee Break: Searching for the Southwest Spring Firefly
June 24, 2024Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about the Southwest spring firefly, a nocturnal species associated with permanent streams and marshy areas in the Sky Islands and surrounding foothills of southern Arizona and New Mexico. This rare and imperiled firefly is currently under review for Endangered Species Act listing. For this talk, we’ll be joined by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Rachel Laura and Xerces Society biologist Candace Fallon. They’ll discuss this firefly’s life history and the threats it faces, efforts to map its distribution, current research and conservation needs, and the ESA listing process.
Coffee Break: Porcupines in the Sky Island Borderlands
June 5, 2024North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) are found across Arizona, but little is known about their distribution in the Sky Island region, and public perception is that porcupines do not live in the borderlands at all. Join SIA Wildlife Specialist Meagan Bethel for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about these fascinating creatures, surprising detections on our Border Wildlife Study cameras, and their documented crossing of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Time to Take Action: Protecting the Patagonia Mountains From the Hermosa Mine
May 17, 2024Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about what you can do to help protect southern Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains from destructive mining. A company called South32 has requested to expand a mine onto U.S. Forest Service land, which will require the discharge of up to 6.5 million gallons of precious groundwater per day and lead to many other irreversible damages. In this talk, SIA staff will share updates on the project, and we’ll have a chance to hear from our local partners.
Coffee Break: Mediating Wildlife-Human Relationships Through Behavioral Ecology
March 13, 2024Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about some of the latest research being done to understand wildlife-human relationships and reduce conflict. Our presenter is Allie Burnett, Ph.D. candidate within the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment. For her research, she has focused specifically on the dynamics at play in Tucson.
Coffee Break: Unwinding the Regulatory Story of the Jaguar
February 6, 2024With several new jaguar sightings in Arizona within the past year, both old and new questions are resurfacing as to what this means for the future of the species in the U.S. So join us for our next virtual Coffee Break to hear from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Marit Alanen, who is the agency’s jaguar expert and liaison to the Jaguar Recovery Team.
Invasive Plants: The Biggest Local Threats and What We Can Do
January 17, 2024Join us for our next virtual Coffee Break with Saguaro National Park’s botanist Dan Beckman. He’ll present on some of the most concerning invasive plants in the region, including buffelgrass,…
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Coffee Break: Using Sky Islands to Study Climate Change Across the Globe
November 8, 2023Join us to learn more about how sky islands across the world are being used to study ecological and evolutionary impacts of global climate change. Our presenter, Sarah J. Love,…
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Coffee Break: Protecting the Origins of Water in the Sky Islands
October 6, 2023Join us to learn more about the Sky Islands’ role as a crucial source of water in our region, as well as efforts to protect this water through a binational…
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