Sky Island Alliance

Plant seeds of hope with us in 2025!

This start of 2025 has been heartbreaking and daunting. And yet, as I sit in my Tucson yard watching hummingbirds sip from blooming penstemon and chuparosa, I think of you and I’m filled with courage and hope. So much of Sky Island Alliance’s work is based on people taking small actions against difficult odds with the belief that we can bring good things to fruition in the Sky Islands.

All life in the Sky Islands depends on the health of our native flora.

Our region is full of daily reminders of what can grow over time. Take our Ash Spring project in 2014. We restored and reconstructed three spring oases and planted native plants high in the Chiricahua Mountains as water sources there grew scarce. 

Now, a decade later, the plants in this area are thriving and support threatened Chiricahua leopard frogs and pollinators like bats, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Work like this takes an alliance of partners, volunteers, and donors like you.

These are trying times for all of us who care deeply about the plants and animals for the Sky Islands, as well as our cross-border communities. Please join us in planting seeds of hope, so that together we can create a brighter future.

Sincerely,

Louise Misztal - Executive Director

P.S. Not only will all gifts get matched, but we'll include your very own seeds of hope to plant as a thank-you in your gift receipt!

Our mission is to protect and restore the diversity of life and lands in the Sky Island region of the U.S. and Mexico. We envision the Sky Islands as a place where nature thrives, where open space and clean water are available to all species, and where people are deeply connected to the region and its innate ability to enrich our lives.

Testimonials

From Board Member Martha McKee:

My favorite plant of the Sky Islands is the Santa Rita Prickly Pear. I love its purple color in the colder months. It’s pink flowers in the spring are gorgeous! Sadly, in my yard, the javelinas also enjoy it. That is okay, it’s a tough cacti and it comes back after the herd comes through. The resilience of native plants is inspiring. We will need to be equally resilient in the coming years. Sky Island Alliance is preparing for whatever comes our way and is determined with our community to continue our mission of conserving and protecting the Sky Island region.

From Board Member Eric Aldrich:

The devil's claw plant represents what I love about the sky island region: hardiness, resourcefulness, and resilience of the people and wildlife that live here. The devil's claw - especially the iconic seed pod - is a fascinating example of evolutionary engineering. Like the devil's claw, Sky Island Alliance adapts, innovates, and evolves to meet the challenges facing our ecosystems. Please join and support SIA in our work to protect the spectacular plants and animals that call the borderlands home!

From Board Member Pam Rossetter:

My favorite type of plant in our region are legumes like Palo Verde, Mesquite, Ironwood, and Acacia. These plants’ roots form associations with bacteria that take atmospheric nitrogen and make it into nitrogen that plants and other critters can use. That nitrogen is essential in our low nutrient desert soils – legumes are nature’s fertilizers! Without legumes we wouldn’t have saguaros or most of the plants that grow in our deserts. 

Legumes act as nurse plants, protecting saguaros for their first 40 years or so. They also provide nutrient rich beans that many animals eat. In the early part of the 1900s humans cut lots of these trees for fuel and building. The saguaro population crashed without the nurse trees. It’s important to understand the connections in nature so we can help protect these essentials plants. This is what SIA works to do, we work to remove invasive species, rewild natural areas, and protect freshwater sources for wildlife and humans. 

From Board Member Carol Clark:

I'm very captivated by the native plants of Arizona! Their beauty and incredible resilience in our deserts, highlands, and urban landscapes inspire me. The Cholla cactus, with its stunning silhouette, is one of my  favorites. To me, Chollas have such a vibrant personality! Those sharp spines may pose a threat to us humans, but they're essential to our ecosystem. I treasure all types—Buckhorn, Club Chain-Fruit, Teddy Bear—you name it! Watching them during bird nesting season is particularly fun. The spiny Cholla branches provide a safe haven for nesting birds, and when they bloom, their fruit becomes a vital food source for pollinators and wildlife. What a remarkable display of life and survival!