Sky Island Alliance

Join us April 1 at 9:30 a.m. for our next virtual Coffee Break to learn more about our exciting new project bridging grassland bird conservation and regenerative ranching in Sonora: https://ow.ly/y5aB50Vl0TG. Our speakers will be SIA’s very own Wildlife Program Manager Eamon Harrity and Mexico Program Manager Zach Palma. The Sky Island region is home to priority grassland areas that are increasingly important habitat for neotropical migratory birds. These birds, especially those with threatened populations, depend on high-quality, intact grassland for wintering. But much of these areas of the Sky Island region are also dedicated to cattle ranching, specifically in Sonora. This presents a potential conflict of interests when managing these grasslands on a large scale. Since 2024, SIA has integrated this important work into our Ranchos Regenerativos program by building on our existing relationships with ranches and ejidos. This project’s goals are to train local biologists and conduct winter grassland bird monitoring, to educate on the importance of grassland habitat and sustainable rangeland management techniques, and to implement restoration activities together with ranches to increase habitat for threatened birds while creating more resilient and productive ranches. We are always excited to find new ways to continue our important stewardship work with Sonoran ranchers! #SkyIslands #Birds #RanchosRegenerativos #Sonora

Think you know a lot about birds? Or just curious to learn more about these modern-day dinosaurs? Birdle, a new app that riffs on the New York Times’ Wordle, is a fun way to challenge yourself and increase your avian appreciation and awareness. It’s easy enough for beginners but challenging enough for pros. Each day, you are tasked with identifying a different bird species in the U.S. in five guesses or less. And you’re given a variety of clues, such as the size of the bird, what it eats, where it lives, and its call, plus an image of the bird that reveals more after each guess. Have some fun today and check it out. Google Play: https://ow.ly/sOkR50Vl4Iy App Store: https://ow.ly/yZXk50Vl5cp Photo of elegant trogon in the Santa Ritas by Grigory Heaton/Flickr. #Birds?

Like many of you, we’re still processing the death last week of Congressman Raúl Grijalva — such a force in our region and a leader on the national stage for our environment and communities. To honor and remember Raúl, today SIA Executive Director Louise Misztal has shared a few thoughts from us here at Sky Island Alliance: https://ow.ly/bLWZ50Vl80M. We honor and celebrate his beautiful life and work and will continue to carry his spirit forward.

This weekend, as part of the Tucson Festival of Books, The Rewilding Institute and Sky Island Alliance are co-hosting a jaguar-themed table in Science City, on the University of Arizona Mall between Cherry Ave. and Campbell Ave. So stop by to learn all about jaguars and their home here in southern Arizona and northern Sonora: https://ow.ly/eKRN50VcUSZ #SkyIslands #TucsonFestivalOfBooks #Jaguars

Quick update on our community science project tracking fossil fuel emissions in the Tucson area. We still need volunteers to help with traffic counting using the Hestia app. And plant sampling is a go now that London rocket and other invasive annual plants are showing up around town. If you haven’t volunteered with either of these projects before, they’re fun! Head to our website to get started, and we’ll walk you through the steps: https://ow.ly/MA9I50UTqy3 #SkyIslands #CommunityScience #Volunteer #ClimateChange

Hey friends — we’ve made significant progress and are on the homestretch with clearing Tucson’s Rock Ledge Spring of invasive arundo! So come join us and help with the final push as we restore this desert wildlife oasis. We just added a new set of event dates in April. So find one that works for you and bring a friend: https://ow.ly/kzFo50UGtZh. As you can see in the photo, water has begun to pool to the surface as the spring recovers. And wildlife have noticed too. We’re seeing lots of tracks in the nearby mud. Once we finish work at this site, we’ll move on to another spring on our way to restoring nine springs in the Tucson area. #SkyIslands #Volunteer

In case you missed it, a fungus that can cause the deadly white-nose syndrome disease in bats was recently discovered in a cave near Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona, putting land managers throughout the Sky Islands on alert. Since 2006, white-nose syndrome has spread to 40 U.S. states and 9 Canadian provinces, killing millions of bats. At the moment, it’s just the fungus that’s been detected in our region — not yet the disease. And the disease does not pose a risk to humans or pets. But we should all do our part to report sick or dead bats and respect their spaces, especially when hibernating. Arizona and Sonora are home to dozens of bat species, and we owe much to them as pollinators and for insect control. Get more details from the Arizona Game and Fish Department: https://ow.ly/4lxx50VcST1. And learn more about white-nose syndrome: https://ow.ly/lL6450VcST4 Photo of cave myotis bats by Bruno Valente/iNaturalist and Issachar Leonardo/iNaturalist. #SkyIslands #Bats #WhiteNoseSyndrome

The past few weeks have been daunting for our alliance, with major blows to federal funding and the science that sustains conservation in our region. Many of our partners at federal agencies have lost their jobs. And federal funding sources that were granted to us continue to be effectively frozen. Amidst all this, Sky Island Alliance was set this week to convene parks staff from the U.S. and Mexico in person for the first time in 10 years to reinvigorate and reaffirm cross-border collaboration in federal protected areas through the Sister Parks program. But the rug was pulled out from under us and our partners by the Trump administration, and we were forced to cancel the meeting after months of planning. Where do we go from here? And how can you help advocate for the Sky Islands right now? Find answers to these questions and more in this blog from our Executive Director Louise Misztal: https://ow.ly/FzCr50Ve2AN.?And if you can,?donate?to support our work: https://ow.ly/Mm6A50Ve2AO. Monthly gifts in particular provide steady income and give us the nimbleness to respond to emerging threats/opportunities. ? Photo of saguaro by Omar Bárcena/Flickr. #SkyIslands #FundingFreeze

On March 19, from 5-7 p.m., we'll be gathering at Tucson brew-pub MotoSonora to celebrate you all — volunteers past, present, and future. Join us! We're looking forward to bringing folks together to honor the incredible work done this past year throughout the Sky Islands. We'll share some words, then hand out special patches to dozens of volunteers who have hit 50-hour, 250-hour, 500-hour, and 1,000-hour milestones. Mike's food truck will also be on hand, so it should be a good time to visit with other SIA volunteers, staff, and board members. Photo of SIA volunteers at Tucson's Rock Ledge Spring. #SkyIslands #Volunteer

On March 21-23, we’re hosting a volunteer weekend to survey springs in the Galiuro Mountains on The Nature Conservancy's Muleshoe Ranch. Join us! And help preserve these desert wildlife oases. We’ll be car camping each night, with the option to stay in casitas. And each morning we’ll form groups to hike out to various natural springs. Ocotillo are likely to be blooming, and who knows what birds and other wildlife we’ll see! These trips are also a great chance to meet other volunteers and get to know different corners of our Sky Islands. To learn more and register for the event: https://ow.ly/6XYr50VbrJj. Photos at Muleshoe Ranch by Joe Calhoun/Flickr. #SkyIslands #Volunteer, The Nature Conservancy