To address obligations linked to the recently approved Pima County Multi-species Conservation Plan, I identified and estimated the quality of habitat for the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum; hereafter “pygmy-owls”) and surveyed owls on Pima County Conservation Lands in south-central Arizona in 2017.
The Sierra la Mariquita is a Sky Island mountain in northern Sonora owned by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), the Mexican national astronomy agency. The Observatorio Astrofísico Guillermo Haro was built on the summit in 1987. It is located northwest of the copper mining town of Cananea, only 26 km south of the Arizona border. The Sierras la Mariquita and Elenita form a high elevation Sky Island complex connected by oak woodland in Puerto Cananea, north and south of Mexico Federal Highway 2.
This was a long trip over a short distance. A large cadre of biologists from Arizona and Sonora made the trip to enhance biological data about the mountain and region.
The trip was initiated near Nacozari de Garcia with the destination being the high point of the Sierra el Tigre just above the small community of El Tigre.
The Sierra la Mariquita was decreed a Voluntary Protected Natural Area on May 12, 2015. This Sky Island is owned by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofiscica (the Mexican national astronomy organization).
This presentation is meant to stimulate action by informing others of the nature of our goals and the urgency of the need for persons with the expertise in real estate law and land acquisition to engage our problem.
For the last 12 years, the Alamos Wildlands Alliance, a non-profit conservation group, has been operating a biological field station in the southwest corner of Sonora, a long day’s drive from Tucson. From mid-November through March, we teach and study the flora and fauna of this diverse landscape on the shores of the Agiabampo Estuary.
Rancho El Aribabi is half of an hour east of Imuris and stretches (the long dimension - 10,000 acres total area) from the Rio Cocospera up into the Sierra Azul.
