Journey of BRN Sonoran Interns

By: Clarissa Moreno, Sofía Vargas, Anays Blanco & Jorge Chacón, BRN Sonoran Interns

Last summer, Mexican university students and young professionals completed Borderlands Restoration Network’s  Sonoran Field Course, hosted between the beautiful plateaus of the northern border of Sonora and Chihuahua, in the private natural reserve “Los Ojos", officially designated as an Area Voluntarily Designated for Conservation near Agua Prieta, Sonora.  As part of the program, we (Clarissa, Sofia, Anays & Jorge) were selected as the 2021-2022 Sonoran Field Course interns. Now, we find ourselves with blossoming ideas, preparing the second iteration of this course, which integrates the skills developed in its first edition and new aspects that will provide a more comprehensive, diverse, and renewed vision. ​

Sonoran Field Course 2021 graduates, facilitators Anays & Jorge, and Juliet Jivanti, BRN Education Coordinator.

We began a journey which has been essential to connect with our environment and with people who seek to improve their communities. Along the way, we have been adding partners, ideas, knowledge, experiences, and building a collaborative network that allows us to re-establish the link between the community and our natural environment, by building healthier and resilient spaces for the different life forms that share it.

Clarissa collecting native seeds for her pollinator garden project at the Instituto Tecnológico del Valle del Yaqui.

An exceptional elementary school: Palo Alto American School
Palo Alto Escuela Americana is a private bilingual school in Hermosillo, Sonora. The school has an Ecology Club that coordinates projects of aquaponics, vermicomposting and a small vineyard to encourage children’s environmental awareness perspective. From the summer of 2020 through spring of 2021, Sonoran Interns Omar, Miranda, Anays and Jorge worked together with Palo Alto to build a native plant greenhouse that is currently growing native trees that were first germinated last year.  We, as the new generation of Sonoran Interns, continue to support this project by helping with seed collection, facilitating native plant trainings including seed treatment and germination techniques and sharing knowledge about the importance of native plants.

Air-view of the median in front of the Palo Alto school (seen in the background), which is being restored, a collaborative work between the institution, BRN Sonoran interns, and interested parties.

Another project currently being developed with Palo Alto that is very exciting for us, involved the implementation of green infrastructure by restoring a median located next to the school. The project consisted of implementing passive rainwater harvesting systems and planting native plants into the landscape. Through collaboration, we worked on the design and agreements with the neighbors in the area, and the Hermosillo Municipality's Parks and Gardens Department, who have greatly supported this project. We hope that this median will act as a case study and a demonstration site for the next Sonoran Field Course.

Sofía working on a design and planning meeting with neighbors and collaborators of her green area restoration project in the north of Hermosillo.

In search for mobilizers
We are currently preparing for the 2022 Sonoran Field Course and we are looking for new leaders who will represent the ideals of conservation for their communities through the application of strategies that will strengthen collaborative networks by connecting with local partners and improving community spaces through their restoration. For this, we have conducted planning sessions in which we materialized ideas and a strategic plan that will allow the Sonoran Field Course to be more varied and diverse for learning of ecological restoration and economic restoration techniques. ​

Brainstorming and planning meetings for the Sonoran Field Course 2022.

The entire team of interns and graduates are collaborating to make possible this great learning experience that will begin in Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, to address the urban component and then move to Voluntary Conservation Areas such as Cuenca Los Ojos that are part of important biological corridors in the northeast of the state. We hope that this new approach can further inspire a new generation of conservation leaders.

To read the Spanish version of this blog, please click here.