Collaborative conservation in the Madrean Sky Islands

In the Madrean Sky Islands, deserts meet mountains in a patchwork of multiple biomes including desertscrub, grassland, woodland, and forest. The Sky Islands comprise the Madrean Archipelago, one of Conservation International's 35 Global Biodiversity Hotspots, and contain over 7000 species of plants and animals (Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative 2019). This unique landscape faces complex threats and stressors, including longer and more extreme droughts, spatial and temporal changes in precipitation, increased groundwater withdrawal, invasive species, changing fire regimes, and expanding human communities. A collaborative group, the Madrean Transboundary Watersheds Landscape Conservation Design (Madrean LCD), has developed for the purpose of integrating social values with ecological goals to promote resilience in the Sky Islands. This article describes the Madrean Sky Islands and the process, lessons learned, and ongoing conservation priorities of the Madrean LCD.