Sky Islands
At The Hacienda Center
3101 N Sabino Canyon Road
Tucson, AZ 85715
Map it!
(520) 382-9210
office@skyislands.org
Once again, Sky Islands has been highlighted in “Natural Awakenings”, Tucson’s monthly Green magazine. The article, written by Dr. Shari Popen, describes some of the highlights from this past school year, including our many field trips and projects. To view the article, please click here.
If we were to let nature take its course with the pond on our site, the desert would reclaim it slowly, turning it from a pond to just another dry place. Over time, the pond’s water level dropped due to evaporation and the bottom of the pond has been filling up with algae. So, this Spring a restoration project to repair the ecology and health of the pond area took place. A small amount of cleaning out took place to remove some of the algae around the edges of the pond.
Jason Tankersley supplied the earthmovers and personal hours of loading rock to create the spectacular waterfalls and plantings at the east end of the pond. The waterfalls help to improve water quality in the pond and to re-establish the pond and surrounding area as a focal point on the Hacienda 17-acre site. It will provide an excellent site for class groups to see tadpoles, frogs and toads, mammals (like our resident bobcat “Pickles”) and fish, migrating and local birds, to conduct research and observation, and to maintain or enhance biological diversity.
Students and staff will also seek this area out for restful lunches, quiet spots for independent reading, and reflective moments. Thanks, Jason, for your on-going contributions to Sky Islands and our programs!
It’s been a long time coming, but students were finally able to mount the Kestrel and Screech Owl nesting boxes they created last year for the Roots and Shoots program. On scene were reporters from the Arizona Daily Star, Juan Barba, an arborist and consultant, and Carl Stoekel, our helpful bird expert! To read the article, please click on this link.
Sky Islands also offers our deepest thanks to the great people at Bartlett Tree Experts, who graciously donated their time and equipment to help us hang the nesting boxes, and even let the students get involved and operate the buckets!
Sky Islands High School was featured in the April 2011 Earth Day special edition of Natural Awakenings in a two page article about the school, its history, and about some of the exciting things that our students have done in the 2010-2011 year. To view the article, please click on this link (note: requires flash player).
Watch the video of us on KUAT—Arizona Illustrated
Sky Islands’ students working at Tucson Village Farm
Sky Islands High School partners with Tucson Village Farm
Tucson’s first youth-centered working urban farm
Creating an urban farm for Tucson’s youth has now caught the imagination and spirit of the Tucson community—
Leza Carter’s Tucson Village Farm/TVF is launched!
TVF has partnered with Sky Islands High School, Prescott College’s Center for Children and Nature, UA Campus Ag Center/CEAC, Pima County Cooperative Extension, and 4H. Groundbreaking is planned for December on the Northeast corner of the UA Campus Farm on the Northeast corner of Campbell/Roger— Up against the Rillito! Out of this alliance, a dynamic agricultural literacy program for grades K-12 will develop.
Tucson Village Farm will serve as an outdoor hands-on learning lab where children can trace their food from seed to table. Young people will have an opportunity to learn about local food production, nutrition, vermiculture, composting, botany, and pollination in ways that are active and educational.
“Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem weak, but to reach the sun they break brick walls.” – Dr Jane Goodall
Roots & Shoots is a powerful, youth-driven, global network of more than 8,000 groups in almost 100 countries. Together, youth of all ages are taking action to improve our world through service learning projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment, and the human community.
This year, Sky Islands was one of the four schools in Tucson selected by the Jane Goodall Institute to plan and implement community-based projects. Students at Sky Islands, as part of their classwork, will build and install raptor houses, and campaign for a bottle bill in Arizona.
Sky Islands has been featured in the Winter 2008 edition of the Watershed Management Group’s quarterly on-line newsletter. Check out the article by visiting this link.
A dozen reasons to choose Sky Islands High School
Make Sky Islands YOUR School.
The Blue Adobe Project was formed in 2006 by Dr. Shari Popen as the non-profit parent organization of Sky Islands School.