By Jennie Duberstein, Sonoran Joint Venture

In March 2022 the Sonoran Joint Venture was pleased to host the first road trip for the US Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Region’s Regional Directorate Team (RDT) since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. This group, which comprises the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Director, as well as the high-level leadership of the major programs in the Service for the region, provides leadership and guidance for FWS operations across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. In addition to meeting to make progress on their own topics, the group had time for a tour, and SJV staff was excited to spend a morning in the field highlighting the work of some of our partners.

SJV staff took the group to Patagonia, Arizona to see the work of SJV partner Borderlands Restoration Network (BRN). For the past two years the SJV has funded BRN’s grassland restoration efforts on their Borderlands Wildlife Preserve, just outside the town of Patagonia. BRN staff member Tess Wagner gave us a tour of the restoration sites on their preserve and shared the many different things BRN and their partners do to support transboundary conservation for both wildlife and human communities. From there the group traveled several miles down the road to visit the world-renowned Tucson Audubon’s Paton Center for Hummingbirds. Here the team enjoyed lunch while watching for species including the iconic Violet-crowned Hummingbird, among many other birds, before the group departed for the airport in Phoenix.

In addition to being excited about the opportunity to share the excellent work of the SJV partnership, this was a great chance to talk about the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures in general, and build connections for future collaboration and coordination within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.