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The Fire Management Program at Saguaro National Park received special recognition from the Sky Islands Wildlands Network for exemplary efforts to protect and restore Nature.
The award was given at the October 2002 Sky Island Conference. The Park was presented a plaque for their great efforts in the ecologically appropriate restoration of fire to fire-prone systems within the Park.
Sky islands are mountain ranges that are isolated from each other by valleys of grassland or desert. “The valleys of this basin and range country act as barriers to the movement of woodland and forest species somewhat like saltwater seas isolate plants and animals on oceanic islands. The 40 ranges of the Sky Island system may be thought of as an archipelago.”
“The greater Sky Islands region is globally important for its biological diversity, biogeographical location, the "land ethic" lessons it provides, and as the birthplace of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
The Sky Islands Wildlands Network (SIWN), encompasses about 17.3 million acres and extends from the Mogollon Rim in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico south to the northern Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. At the center of the region, covering about 9.9 million acres, are the Sky Islands.”
The Plaque is currently being displayed in the lobby of the Fire Management Office.
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