The Many Colors of Desert Museum Conservation

As our visitors quickly realize after spending a day at the Desert Museum, we are much more than a museum, or a zoo, or any one thing! Our diverse approach to education and conservation allows for a variety of ways for our community to engage in the work we do and deepen their understanding and…

Creating passage for wildlife across the U.S.-Mexico border

by Emily Burns, Ph.D | Sky Island Alliance Thanks to our community partners, Sky Island Alliance, for providing this guest blog for Desert Diaries. Support their border conservation work by following them on social media, volunteering, and donating! Standing at the foot of the border wall in southeast Arizona is intimidating. The wall rises 30…

Bees, Barcodes, and Biodiversity

Desert Museum Volunteers Build Barcode Reference Library of Native Bees By Kim Franklin Eight years ago I launched a small study of the native bee diversity in Las Mipiltas de Cottonwood, a small urban farm in Tucson, Arizona. With the help of a few intrepid volunteers, we began sampling bees every two weeks with pan…

Pop the champagne, it’s time for RAIN!

Herpetofauna awaken with the rainy season An Arizona summer is dry. It’s hot. There’s not a drop of moisture in the air. Life is seemingly absent at first glance as humans are indoors while the wildlife is underground or minimally active in cool shady hideouts. The desert is one of the harshest climates to live in,…